Ghost Writer

Creepers

by Edgar J. Hyde

Charlie is a schoolboy with a talent for writing but even he cannot remember writing all the words that appear in his notebook! There seems to be a story being told on the pages of his notebook but who is doing the telling? Charlie’s headmaster is showing just a little too much interest in the notebook and does not seem very happy with Charlie. Ever been scared of your headmaster?
I mean REALLY scared!

Genres: Horror, Middle Grade, Paranormal, Halloween, Young Adult, Time Travel, Supernatural

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2010

Reviews

[Horror Sickness · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one did not quite hook me as much as other similar middle grade stories, unfortunately.

We follow three siblings: Charlie, Kate and Neil. Their family moves into a much larger house in a different part of town. Charlie is writing a story and one day realises that someone has written newlines in his notebook. But it wasn’t him.

This is the mystery to solve and the siblings will help Charlie to find out who the culprit is and why this ghost is communicating with them.

I think my biggest issue is that the book, despite being short, felt repetitive and it was lacking any real flavor. It was mostly just bland and this story could have used a little bit more of a kick.

Probably a nice quick read for kids but definitely not one of the best Goosebumps knockoffs I have read so far.

[Jason Harlow · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was decent in the very beginning and wasn't terrible towards the end, but overall was never that great. The story follows teen sibling trio Charlie, Kate and Neil who move into a much larger house in a different part of town. Charlie writes a story and words that he didn't come up with end up inside the story. (hence the title) The characters in this aren't terrible and it wasn't the worst read for a Goosebumps knockoff, but unfortunately this suffers from being just a little too boring throughout, and offers no actual suspense or danger toward the characters. I wanted to give this a lower rating but I did have fun with it at times, so 2/5 seems fair.

[Tor Domay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy entertainment. The plot was engaging enough, and compared to titles such as Goosebumps I'm impressed by some of the imagery and subject matter. Though the writing is at times bland even by young fiction standards, I give this one bonus points for surprising me not just with the occasional picture sprinkled throughout, but the first one genuinely nearly made me **** myself.

[E. Mercy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very repetitive at times, with obvious copy-and-paste paragraphs used multiple times, verbatim!
Excessive dialogue credits.
Characters spoke like they were a few generations back. Their actions reflected this.
Was difficult to determine the time it was set in.

Quite generic in the descriptions and details of events throughout the book, which I actually appreciated.

Overall, it seemed like a suitable homage to the controversial after-school satan clubs taking place in the modern-day "education" system.

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very bland writing. Repetitive, events spelt out almost like a lazy dot point style plot. Characters have no depth and way too much time is spent on boring, mundane events, like eating dinner/breakfast, walking between rooms, waking up and getting dressed. The actual story could have been edited down to a 500 word short story. Editing definitely would have been handy, as this manuscript is still in need of a LOT of work. And for Dickens sake, give the characters a skull! How the heck does the same character ‘knock himself out’ four times in less than a single paragraph? Then again at least once in every chapter! The poor kid should have worn a safety helmet!!!

[Louise · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'd be surprised if this book was edited at all. It reads like a first draft with run on sentences, typos, missing words, missing or incorrect formatting. There's a lot of filler with the characters having inane conversations about what they're eating.

The plot itself has potential but I found reading this to be incredibly tedious.

[Ana Ibarra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is better, it provides a bit of realism to the story and the characters. But the end, was quick, although it provides enough data to make a bit of sense of it.
The story has enough "items/things" that make it really interesting, thou for adults, quite predictable.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up a set of 8 os these "Creeper" books at the Dollar Tree for my son who loves horror stories. They're a bit cheesy, but fun. This one is about the family who moves into a new house that appears to be haunted. A child who is writing horror stories keeps having strange dreams, and wakes up to find that writing continued where he left off in his notebook. The kids discover the haunting seems linked to a Satanic cult that seems to have some connection to the administration of their high school.

[Emily C · Rating 3 out of 5]

My husband and I read this book with our 7 year old who is interested in ghosts, and he really liked the story. It’s easy enough for a kid to follow, and not bad for the parents either. I found myself wondering what was going to happen in the next chapter, and the illustrations were intriguing yet creepy.

[April Grob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this one. I do recommend but tread lightly for kids who are sensitive to having bad dreams. There are also trigger warning for witchcraft and talking with ghost, so much like my review for Pen Pals, know the maturity of your child and what they can handle.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

okay this is book 4 and was an interesting tale about a family that moves to a new house and soon discover it's haunted by a mysterious man and along the way discover a principal that is evil to the core..read it if you want to find out what happens.

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

I saw the reviews weren't great but for Old School April I figured I'd give it a try. Unfortunately the reviews are right. This was a rough one to get through. I just never wanted to pick it up. I didn't care about the characters or the plot. And the writing wasn't for me to say the least.

[Sara Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another one that started out good but got progressively annoying.
I really wanted to like it. It had a good concept but the writing was pretty... weird?
The reactions to the things happening just seem very unrealistic and cheesy.

[Melanie Millard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good read

Loved reading every minute of the ghost writer can't wait to read the other books by edgar J Hyde really good author

[Suh-shine · Rating 4 out of 5]

o melhor da série até agora

[Nora · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read aloud to Felix. Forgot the date read.

[Corporate Clone · Rating 3 out of 5]

I too had an evil principal

[Lizzie the Book Hoarder · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Ryan Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Creepers. It was still pretty enjoyable and goofy but didn't have that same feel as the others I have read

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

my god

[Vic · Rating 2 out of 5]

These books aren’t very good. The dialog is particularly unrealistic. This book, however, is much better than Pen Pals.

[Alison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this one at all. The writing itself was awful and redundant.

If you are reading the series, skip this one.

[O'Reilly ☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️ **Rotating the five “Creepers” books with Grandma, Aunt Marty, Mom, and Lexi - gifted for Christmas 2023 (Rated with the type of book in consideration)** I like the depth of this story more than “The Piano.” Also, “you dirty piece of slime” is my new favorite insult.

[Kaycee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book at dollar tree and it intrigued me as something similar to goosebumps. I love short stories and spooky stories but this one fell short. The ending felt super rushed and abrupt but it had potential.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is a great ghost story, maybe because it has a "happy" ending. (Er, spoilers?) All of the Creepers books do, I think, which may be why I like them more than others do, apparently. The problem is horror stories usually have the same non-ending, that the IMMEDIATE threat is removed, but there's still some lingering danger.

I like when problems are resolved, I guess. I also don't get creeped out so much from book form horror (novels, comics, illustrations) as from animated horror (movies, games, physical effects). I mean, the face in the brick wall—that image is still creepy, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it like when my friends subjected me to The Ring without even telling me what it was beforehand.

The neat thing is how there's (light spoiler in the tags) to see the "bonus" happy ending, but also how the clues slowly fall into place and finally resolve with the kids figuring out how to exorcise the villain. Okay, maybe the resolution is a little contrived, but I think it's pretty okay, considering it's paranormal stuff ANYWAY.

Recommended for not-really-fans of horror who want to see the stories end WELL.

[Alejandro Joseph · Rating 2 out of 5]

This’ll (likely) be my last creepers review, as I have no more interest in this series after this pile of… something. There’s some cool ideas behind the book and the concept of getting a story in reverse order via dreaming is really good. The characters were fine and the ending was decent, and uh… yeah, that’s is. The writing is bland and the execution of the idea for the book was extremely by-the-numbers and lacked anything to keep it afloat. The climax tries at too much and whilst it’s a cool idea, this whole story in itself would’ve been better if written by someone else. It’s mid and boring; noth’ said. Overall, 3.5/10. Creepers can screw off; there’s far more fun books to read lol.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

B+

When Charlie, Kate, and Neil move into a new home, Charlie begins to dream he's being bricked into a room while he's still alive. When he awakes from these dreams, he finds new passages written in his notebook, passages in his handwriting he didn't write. As time passes, it becomes clear these passages are predicting the future. Charlie and his siblings find themselves at the center of a mystery that involves their school's staff and an ancient Satanic cult.

I found the Creepers series at Dollar Tree and read them with my son since he enjoys Goosebumps. Creepers is more mature than Goosebumps. They're more gory, and the themes are slightly more mature. Edgar J. Hyde forms the plot around a mystery instead of building to a twist ending, as R.L. Stine does in Goosebumps.

[Kylie Abecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very bland writing. Repetitive, events spelt out almost like a lazy dot point style plot. Characters have no depth and way too much time is spent on boring, mundane events, like eating dinner/breakfast, walking between rooms, waking up and getting dressed. The actual story could have been edited down to a 500 word short story. Editing definitely would have been handy, as this manuscript is still in need of a LOT of work. And for Dickens sake, give the characters a skull! How the heck does the same character ‘knock himself out’ four times in less than a single paragraph? Then again at least once in every chapter! The poor kid should have worn a safety helmet!!!

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Charlie and his family have just moved to a new home, one that starts to cause Charlie to have strange dreams. He wakes up exhausted, and not only that, the story that he's writing seems to have extra parts that he knows he didn't write.
Soon he realises the house is haunted, by someone that needs Charlie's help.

It's a good idea, but definitely more of a mystery than a creepy story. Charlie and his brother and sister research to find out who the ghost is, and we get lots of sleuthing, so if you enjoy that then this is a good one for you.

It's a quick and easy read, but not a favourite for me. I liked elements of it though and the ending was resolved nicely.