The Last Sleepover

Goosebumps House of Shivers #5

by R.L. Stine

Lily and her brother Rory have just moved into a new house after their family spent months renovating it. The formerly rundown, creepy old house is now totally transformed into a tech lover’s dream. Rory has installed a smart device called Mastermind that can turn on lights, lock doors, and even open the windows, among other things. He and Lily love showing off what the Mastermind can do. But someone doesn’t love the changes -- the ghost of the girl who died in the house. She’s angry -- and ready for revenge.

Genres: Horror, Middle Grade, Audiobook

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 2025

About the author

Robert Lawrence Stine known as R. L. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series.

R. L. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold.

Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. He lives in New York, NY.

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Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

    Alot of people gave been getting the newest Goosebumps House Of Shivers book,The Last Sleepover.Not only have they been getting it esrly,but people have been saying it's the best in the series so far.So when I got my copy I started reading it right away.The story starts off with a prologue with Enma-lee.She basically is telling the reader she wants her house back,that these people moved into it.We get to the main story and it follows two siblings in Lily and Rory.They just moved into a new house and Rory fixed it up to make it a smart home.They have some friends over one day and this girl named Megan tells them that this house is haunted by a girl named Emma-Lee who didapeard ten years ago.The story goes Emma -Lee was an outcast who didn't have any friends and really wanted these popular girls to be friends with her.She invites them over to a sleepover to try and let them get to know her.At the sleepover the girls are rude and don't talk to her so she goes to sleep upstairs.When she wakes up,she finds her hair has been cut and "I'm Ug" written across her forhead.I'm sure it was supposed to say "I'm ugly",but maybe the marker wore out.Emma-Lee freaks out and the girls get into a scruffle,only for Emma-Lee to go into this closet.When the girls open the closet back up,they don't see her.The girls leave,and the parents are in shock.They can hear Emma-Lee,but can't see her.They think she's behind the wall.We cut back to the kids and we find out Rory is in a ghost hunting club and they want to find Emma-Lee.Emma-Lee wants this family out of the house.So Emma-Lee puts up a fight.She puts a dead mouse in Lily's sandwich.She closes a window on top of a girls head,only its just her hair.She scares rorys friends away by touching them.She throws Lily down the stairs.This book was really good.I liked the origin of Emma-Lee,but I wish we had more.It turns out Emma-Lee fell through a ghost portal.I wish we got a scene in the ghost portal or something.I really liked the scene with Emma-Lee telling Alyssa,the Alexa like thing that she wants her to burn the house down.Its very creepy and witten really well.They also go to a Ghost hunters house for help named Morgan Strange and this part is really funny and creepy.This guy has other ghosts he's captured to help him.One is a chameleon ghost,who can transform into anyone.When Morgan Strange shows up though,he has something happen to him that scares him.and it's hilarious.Overall,I really liked The Last Sleepover.Its one of the best modern Goosebumps however I don't think it's my favorite House Of Shivers book.I'll.have to go back and look at previous reviews to.refresh my memory,but I feel like this is my second favorite.I give The Last Sleepover a four out of five stars.

[Shadyside Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this book with very low expectations considering how I felt about Book 4 - Say my name Say my name.
Boy was I pleasantly surprised!! This book felt very well organized/put together and was all about the spooks and scares! Absolutely no holding back! Stine even toned down the humor a bit to make it more scary. I love me a scary Goosebumps book so this really hit the spot. Can’t wait for the next book in the series!

[Austin Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite great, but a gigantic step up in quality from the last House of Shivers book. This feels more like a traditional GB book with Stine's signature writing. It had some creepy scenes in it and some unique elements, but also felt slightly bland with a plodding pace at times, and the ending was very abrupt without much of a proper resolution or conclusion.

Giving The Last Sleepover a flat 3⭐.
It was fine/decent overall.

[Clover · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5

This book will captivate you if you like Goosebumps, RL Stine, haunted houses, and smart devices. It has a classic Goosebumps tone, rewarding plot and pacing, relatable characters, and a perfect ending.

TLDR;
Characters: ★★★★★
Every day kids with hobbies and interests. Not annoying and good minor characters.
Atmosphere: ★★★★☆
Contemporary. Some scenes at school, mostly in the house that has been renovated into a smart home.
Plot, Pacing, and Premise: ★★★★☆
All solid, felt like Rory got the majority of the story and Lily was just in the background a lot.
Tone: ★★★★★
Typical Goosebumps/RL Stine. Spooky.
Intrigue: ★★★★★
A bit of a spin on the haunted house idea.
Versus (Strengths & Weaknesses): ★★★★☆
Strong characters and some spooky scenes were pretty solid. Some underdeveloped areas that left plot threads loose.
Audience:
Middle Grade, E for Everyone.
Themes: ★★★★★
Being left out, we've all felt it.
Ending: ★★★★★
An amazing ending that was surprising and satisfying.

Character
Lily, thirteen, doesn't believe in ghosts but her fifteen year old brother, Rory, does. When Lily's friend Megan shares the story of Emma-Lee, a girl who disappeared in the house, Rory decides to prove she exists.

Rory and Lily don't change much over the course of the story. I enjoyed how Megan handled her hair, it was quite mature. However, this is a Goosebumps book, so there's not much time for character development other than from skeptic to believer.

The kids were portrayed well, there wasn't any awkward dialogue or weird dated references. It was current and I didn't cringe.

Atmosphere
Rory has helped make the house a smart home with a device called Mastermind that has an AI named Alyssa inside. It was basic and the spooky parts with her were predictable, but they were still good.

Plot, Pacing, and Premise
Plot and pacing was good. The premise was that Lily and Rory live in a haunted house and the ghost wants revenge for them changing her house. However, the book felt like it focused more on Rory as he was the one leading the search and really trying to find Emma-Lee. It felt a little unbalanced in that regard but it worked out.

Tone
It's a Goosebumps book. It's spooky but not terrifying and might be a bit over the top. It wasn't bad though, it worked.

Intrigue
Again, it's a new RL Stine book, of course I'm intrigued. I didn't expect much but was happy to enjoy it.

Versus (Strengths & Weaknesses)
Some strengths were the tricks played on the kids and the spooky talk Emma-Lee had at night. I liked the house overall, and the school scenes. I think the ending was really strong and was happily surprised by it.

I think the closet was a weakness as it wasn't well developed. Strange's plot arc ended in a lame way but I guess it was for comedic effect? It just felt like a waste of time as nothing came from it, even afterwards.

Audience
It's a 4th grade reading level and is recommended for 4th-6th graders. It’s an easy read so it should appeal to plenty of people.

Theme
Being left out.

Ending
This was my favourite part of the book. It was surprising and not at all where I thought Stine was going to take it. Usually he has some common endings that he's always used, but this was so far from his normal that I ended up loving it. It was satisfying and still had a slight nod to his classic endings. One of the most satisfying endings to a Goosebumps book that I've read in a while.

[Tor Domay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a standout Goosebumps story up until the lacking final page. Though Stine subverted my expectations by not doing the obvious, it felt like maybe he should have.

[Pulp_Fiction_Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Last Sleepover' is another solid entry in the 'House Of Shivers' series and more importantly it was a return to horror for the series after what feels like a handful of more adventurous tales. This was a pretty straight forward enjoyable ghost story coupled with a satirical nod to AI. Unfortunately lost it's way a couple of times towards the end and just lacked any sort of big set piece or moment of grandeur.

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s definitely a lot of missed potential with this one and dare I say that everyone is living in some kind of crack den when they say this one is anything more than okay. We get some decent moments and scares sprinkled throughout the book, and there’s a solid concept behind the book. Morgan Strange was great for what we got of him and he brought some of the coolest elements with him (I wonder if he’s related to the Strange family in Return to HorrorLand?). Anne-Lee herself is a solid addition to the book serving as our threat, and we get some cool monologues and backstory for her that was served well. The pacing is consistent, the final third of the book is quite good, and the idea behind the defeat of the threat was both neat and sensible even if it could’ve been written FAR better. The book sadly has some glaring issues; the first two-thirds are a mild slog with a lot of exposition and bland scares, plus a good twenty or so pages of filler/fat that could’ve been cut. Morgan Strange is yeeted out of the story far too quickly and it leaves a monumental sting on the wasted potential behind his utterly useless inclusion and twenty-pages of space excluding a line of foreshadowing (that didn’t need to be foreshadowing). I like him, but COME. ON. There’s not a lot done as a whole with the idea behind the story, where a ghost uses technology to mess with the characters. It’s mostly saved for the end, which in itself was particularly uninspired when it came to what actually went down in reference to the basis of “ghost uses tech to fuck with new home-owners.” And, the ending is rather cheesy even if I liked it from a conceptual standpoint. Should’ve rewritten that, Bob. Overall, 7/10. I hate giving out this score since it feels like a bland score to slap on anything, but it’s just my take. Another damned mention of Fortnite. Ugh. Also, this book is (following the trend of HOS basing itself off past books) based off Escape from Horror House fo sho.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whew, took me awhile but I finally read the new Goosebumps book. This one had some hype so I wanted to read it sooner but even aside from getting caught up in stuff, it took a while to be available to me.

After the last one was mid at best, I was hoping for a win and I sort of got it. This one has a girl named Lilly moving into a new house which carries with it a story of a girl named Emma Lee who died. Also her brother installed a smart house (1999) into it, named Alexa, I mean Alyssa.

Turns out the house is haunted, of course. So a highlight for this book is the chemistry between the characters. They are basic like you’d expect and that’s a mild shame as they work well off each other. Even the parents, while a bit dumb, have funny bits in there. The humor is oddly good here too, a few weak bits aside. The tone is better balanced than usual.

The horror is nothing amazing but there are a few legit creepy moments, mostly in this one scene with a closet. Some solid tension and atmosphere there. Emma Lee is a sympathetic villain with a nice dark/tragic backstory and spoilers, her ending is satisfying. This ends up being another with some empathy going on, which is shocking. This and the mummy one doing that close together makes me think Stine is having a change of heart lol.

On the flip side, there are mild structure issues. While the pacing is mostly good, some parts feel too slow or fast. I appreciate that we know up front what is going on so we get a “you know where the bomb is” situation but Rory buying the ghost stuff does feel too quick. It can't always build up tension as well as it should.

This is a rare 3rd person book and it uses that to switch POV which is neat. The 3rd where we have some stumbling. They build up this one character only for him to not matter much, and another ghost they introduced just never shows up again. The Smart House element seemed cool but outside of a couple mild scares, not much is done with it.

It feels like forced in at the last minute rather than being thought of early on, it’s not on the cover and even the summary treats it like a footnote so my theory holds water. The resolution and ending are abrupt but satisfying. However, the climax before that is not much, especially since it teased smart house action.

How is it the DCOM had a more intense climax? Also, we get Emma Lee’s backstory and while we have a tragic death, it is not explained and it involves weird logic with ghost portals. We’ve seen Stine kill a kid just 2 books again in Night of the Living Mummy, why does this need a weird in-between? It’ll kill a kid but gets odd, when Mummy did not need to do that and it was more impactful as a result.

As it is, this book is a mild good. Like much of this series, it is a bit half baked but is a step in the right direction with a solid core to it that makes it an enjoyable spooky book. It just doesn’t reach the heights it should given the strong elements and ideas here. So far Night of the Living Mummy remains the best for this series, it’s flawed to be sure but felt more complete and was a bit more committed.

Still, they have been able to offer me some of what I want in Goosebumps so its not too bad. We are still doing 2 books a year so next year we will finally get a camp book…with bigfoot, cuz that’s never been done before.

My next reads should be the delayed ripoff round so see ya then.

[Doctorjoecool · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was REALLY good. Like, this felt like one you'd see in the original 62. The previous ones in the House of Shivers series had focused a lot on humor, to the detriment of the horror, but this one, while not without ANY humor points, keeps them AWAY from their main horror stuff, and so it works way better.
The 10 years ago backstory is fittingly tragic and haunting. Even if the fact that the "10 years ago" is around 2015 (no exact years are stated in this book) does make me feel kind of old...
Unusually for a Goosebumps book besides the earliest of the original and the Monster Blood sequels, this book is almost entirely in the third person, save for the Prologue, which is fittingly haunting. This does benefit the book, though, as this story works better that way. Not everything happens to one character, and it following more than one character helps keep it unpredictable.
While I say this feels like the original 62, it very much uses modern technology well for its story. It's never a detriment.
Also, the book prominently features a fictional equivalent of the Amazon Echo, which they call Mastermind and even clearly demonstrate what it does here. It helps that what it's used for (making a full-fledged smart house) is still somewhat impressive now, so there's justification for them showing it off in-story.
Also, calling it "Mastermind" rather than "Echo" or something closer to that will probably help future generations be able to understand the story more easily. "Mastermind" helps get across what it is a bit better than a normal brand name ever would. Also, I assume they didn't want to set off the real thing with the audiobook version they presumably also made, which is why they call it "Alyssa".
There ARE some minor oversights with days of the week being inconsistent, so it could have used a bit more editing to fix that, but oh well, I guess...
But yeah, overall, this was a really cool book. Easily the best of House of Shivers so far. I hope this level of quality keeps coming in later books in the series.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've already read several R.L. Stine books in 2025. One of them was the predecessor to this book. It was called Goosebumps: House of Shivers, Book 4: Say My Name! Say My Name! I got 2 books by R.L. Stine for my 35th birthday last month. Goosebumps: House of Shivers, Book 5: The Last Sleepover was the 1st. The 2nd was Stingtinglers 4, which will my next book to read. Now is a great time to reading these books, because it's so close to Halloween.

This whole series is called Goosebumps: House of Shivers. The Last Sleepover lives up to that. It's a classic haunted house story. A girl named Lilly and her older brother, Rory, move into a house with their parents what has been completely modernized and turned to into a Smart House. It even has an AI assistant called Alyssa, which is clearly a play on Amazon's Alexa.

Lilly and Rory soon learn that their new house was the place where a girl named Emma-Lee died at a sleepover a decade before. She became a ghost, and has been living alone in the house all that time. The plot of this book hit a bit close to home for me. (No pun intended.) I've frequently brought up that I'm in the middle of moving. I've lived in many temporary places during this process. So far, none of them have been haunted. Hopefully, I can keep up that streak, whether it's at more temporary houses, or when I finally move into my permanent residence. (Hopefully, that shouldn't be much longer now.)
This book was very good, and I really liked it.

[E.D. Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

R.L. Stine comes out swinging with The Last Sleepover, no slow burn, no buildup, just straight into the deep end with Emma-Lee dying in the prologue and immediately clocking in as the ghostly landlord. Forget Casper, she’s running a full-scale eviction campaign against the new tenants, Lily and here family.

Rory, Lily's older brother, gives the creepy old house a glow-up thanks to “Mastermind,” a smart device that can lock doors, open windows, and order you a Pizza Hut Big New Yorker if you asked nicely. Unfortunately, Emma-Lee hijacks the tech for her own paranormal trolling

This one has Stine reaching into his classic bag of tricks, yes, the iconic hand-on-the-shoulder-end-of-the-chapter is here, and yes, I still love it. There’s even a moment that plays like a grim reboot of Go Eat Worms, except the worms have been upgraded to a dead mouse. That’s either gross or extra protein, depending on where you fall on the Bear Grylls spectrum.

The whole thing plays like a darker Smart House (yes the Disney Channel Original movie), only the tech isn’t cleaning your floors, it’s trying to clear you out.First half is pure S-tier Goosebumps, second half loses a little steam, but it’s still a big bounce-back from Say My Name! Say My Name!

[Justin Tate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Smart home technology and real ghosts combine to make a genuinely unsettling Goosebumps book. There's a mysteriously cold closet in an otherwise hot attic and disembodied voices belonging to a dead child. There's even a few moments where it feels like The Conjuring for kids.

Sadly, just when the premise gets good something utterly stupid happens. A mouse???? A hug???? I know I'm not the target audience, but I would have been just as pissed as an eight-year-old. There's ways to lighten the mood without insulting your reader. Also, stick to the story. There's fifteen different storylines going off in various directions, and most of them prove irrelevant.

I'll still give it four stars for the fleeting moments of genuine chills and intriguing use of modern technology, but it's such a shame more effort wasn't put into this one. It could have been a masterpiece with just an ounce more conviction.

[Rambunctious Romulus · Rating 4 out of 5]

8 out of 10 - I think this book was a bit overhyped for me in terms of the scare factor. I didn’t find it to be any scarier than a moderately creepy Goosebumps book, which would have been fine if the person who recommended it to me hadn’t sold it as tale far scarier than other books in this franchise. It could have also been the fact that the audiobook, while narrated wonderfully, did take away a lot of the potential unease and creep factor that is garnered solely through reading. All that being said, this is definitely one of the most well thought out narratives in the Goosebumps series, and all the charm found in the best of the original books translates well to the modern setting of this story. The ending was satisfying, albeit nothing special, and the strongest aspect of the book was the well realized backstory of the ghost. The characters had great chemistry as well, and I actually cared what would happen to them.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 actually. Well we’ve gotten finally a book for the pantheon after 4 years of all over the place quality. Stine frankensteined 4 books together to make this, and for once I’m not too upset about it. Although I wanted a poltergeist possessing smart technology, getting a pseudo remake of the Haunter and Why I’m Afraid Of Ghosts wasn’t bad either.

PRETTY AWESOME

[House of Goosebumps · Rating 5 out of 5]

9/10

Definitely my favorite book out of house of shivers so far. This book reminded me a lot of the Carmen Winstead creepypasta, which I really enjoyed, and there were some scenes that unironically gave me goosebumps. This book would be perfect, however there was so much lost potential, especially with Mr. Strange. The ending was pretty wholesome but also kind of underwhelming.

[Kevin Sweeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 stars. This may be one of my favorite Goosebumps books. There are parts that are genuinely scary, my only gripe is that it ended so quickly, it could have benefited from an extra 20 or so pages. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes ghost stories!

[Sandra Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was 10 years ago when the story of the Last Sleepover trapped a girl in a closet and made her disappear forever. Now, the new kids of the house want to find the lost Emma-Lee. What the kids didn’t know was that the house was haunted by a ghost that didn’t want them there. A nice story!

[Whimsical Reads with Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a walk down memory lane! Can’t wait to meet R.L Stine at the National Book Festival!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

defeating ghosts with the power of friendship <3

[Erick Mertz · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun to read. My son, who loves horror/spooky things, enjoyed the bite sized, saccharine characters and story bits. Can't wait to read more Stine.

[Rachel Paterno · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt the ending was a bit rushed but man this brought me back to my childhood

[Irisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good but don't like how it ends

The reason why I give it four stars is that I don't like how they pretend or keeping secret from their siblings or later, their family.

[Bobby Stringini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one! Plenty of fun, creepy scenes that gave me the good ol' Goosebumps nostalgia.

[David Bennett Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

100% Goosebump vibes with a surprisingly wholesome ending.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun story to read. Not one of Stine’s best titles, but still worth the read. It’s a good ghost story. The ending seemed immediate and sort of cheap.

[Jennifer Huberdeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

The house had been abandoned, that's what attracted Lily and Rory's parents to it. It was the perfect home to renovate and change into a smart house. With the renovations over and the family moved in, Lily is hosting a sleepover. But not everyone's happy about the changes — the ghost of one of its prior residents, a girl who died at a sleepover. Will the ghost get revenge on those who are living in the house? Young horror lovers will have a great time reading "Goosebumps House of Shivers No. 5: The Last Sleepover" by R.L. Stine