The Vanished Return

by Kate Howard

Discover what happens in season 2 in this official Goosebumps novel based on the hit Disney Plus series! Includes an exclusive ending only available in this book!

This official novel tells the story of season 2 of the hit Goosebumps series -- plus additional scenes and information not seen on the show!

272 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2025

Reviews

[Gabriel Mero · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not sure if I like this one more than season one, but I definitely liked the characters better. I liked that this one had one main villain too.

[Angela Stillson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this season better than the first. I loved how it mixed so many of the Goosebumps into one movie/book. Not the best book I've read, but it was definitely an enjoyable read.

[Katilyn Presley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The goosebumps twists in this story are so good. Had me hooked from the beginning. Glad we got a conclusion to the mystery of the missing teenagers.

[Wolverinefactor · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up. The new ending is kinda fun

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Straightforward adaptation of the season. The alternate ending was decent.

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second longest Goosebumps book ever, “The Vanished Return” is an interestingly unfaithful adaptation of the eight-episode series on Disney Plus, and I’m having a flurry of emotions now having wrapped up this read. One giant commendation to this book was the writing: with its one grammatical error and mild pacing issues, it remained consistently good. Good job, Kate Howard. The alien aspects of the book were handled great, and actually better this time around. It was superbly entertaining, some episode felt better in writing (episodes 4 and 8), and for a send off to upsides, there was one huge thing that stuck out to me: the trillion changes. The Haunting Returns in contrast was incredibly faithful, but THIS was not. It upholds the same story structure, and nothing major changes besides CeCe and Alex kissing a lot earlier on in the story and them never having met before the story now, unlike the show where they knew each other at least vaguely, but there’s something about these changes that’s helps the story. Lots of things make more sense and it feels smoother, more polished. I prefer this version, and especially that fact that THE BIGGEST PLOT HOLE IN EPISODE 8 WAS FINALLY ANSWERED: the missing teens from 1994 were being controlled by aliens the entire time they were outside of the pods, their consciousnesses being fake, alien-made ones, manipulated by the creatures inside (or heavily implied that way). Thank you, Kate Howard. Also, bonus ending… it exists, all say that much; not good, not bad… just weird. Now for negatives: the story has some of the same issues with the show as well: semi plot holes, lack of explanation (for now only a few things), and sort of bland characters. A new thing, however, is that some of the changes in scenes and lines I don’t prefer over the show. Some of the best jokes are cut out, like the whole “coo’” thing (it appeared for one scene instead of multiple) and the “I’m a botanist, this isn’t what I do,” which isn’t a big deal, but I still prefer the jokes from the show and some of the directions they took. But, Kate Howard, I appreciate your bold rework here nonetheless—and I liked it more. 8/10, not amazing but a solid read. I surprisingly liked the Haunting Returns more lol… but not by a lot.

[Lissa Smith Reads'~A Bookaholics Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter asked for. I thought she wanted the book, which she did. But, I also learned it's a television series. She missed it but the book was interesting.