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Shivers #3
Ghost Writer
Memories of Murder. . .
Amber and her family have just moved into a 100-year-old house. While she's exploring the house, she discovers a trunk containing some very old letters. . . She accidentally drops one of the letters in the mailbox. The very next day, she gets a reply. A ghostly reply all about the family that built the house; their murder; and clues that help Amber solve this horrible crime. But be warned: this is a frightening tale of FAN MAIL FROM THE DEAD. . .
Amber and her family have just moved into a 100-year-old house. While she's exploring the house, she discovers a trunk containing some very old letters. . . She accidentally drops one of the letters in the mailbox. The very next day, she gets a reply. A ghostly reply all about the family that built the house; their murder; and clues that help Amber solve this horrible crime. But be warned: this is a frightening tale of FAN MAIL FROM THE DEAD. . .
121 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
8 people are currently reading
283 people want to read
About the author
M.D. Spenser
58 books140 followersM.D. Spenser is a children's author, journalist and music critic. Born in the United States, he lives now in the UK.
"The Enchanted Attic," Book 1 of his popular SHIVERS series of novels for children, was republished as an e-book in August 2011. It is available at amazone.com, Barnes & Noble, Sony and iBookstory. Book 2, "A Ghastly Shade of Green," and Book 3, "Ghost Writer," followed shortly afterwards.
The rest of the 36-book series will be published as ebooks over time.
Also, an internet petition is circulating asking that the entire 36-book series be republished in paperback: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/md...
"The Enchanted Attic," Book 1 of his popular SHIVERS series of novels for children, was republished as an e-book in August 2011. It is available at amazone.com, Barnes & Noble, Sony and iBookstory. Book 2, "A Ghastly Shade of Green," and Book 3, "Ghost Writer," followed shortly afterwards.
The rest of the 36-book series will be published as ebooks over time.
Also, an internet petition is circulating asking that the entire 36-book series be republished in paperback: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/md...
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 26, 2025
Amber and her family move to a small town in Georgia from New York City and she isn't super thrilled about it. As the story progresses, we the reader and the main characters learn of a ghostly mystery involving two girls, one of which died on a boulder, and the other of which may be to blame. This started out super cozy and fun but got kinda boring as it progressed. That may be my fault for expecting too much, because the first book I ever read in the series was Curse of the New Kid which is pretty untouchable as far as spooky middle grade books go. I would recommend this to my niece who will start reading soon, but adult readers likely won't be too impressed. This gets a 3/5 from me.
November 1, 2024
Shivers is another Bumpoff series, and I picked Ghost Writer because I always fantasize about having a ghost writer. It’s kind of the best. It means you’re making a boatload of money, and also, if your books aren’t that good, everyone is like, “Well, it’s because he’s using a ghost writer,” so they’re calling you lazy, but talented. Which is probably a better life than being untalented but hard-working. At least, that’s how it seems to me as I would put myself in that category. Nobody can accuse someone who does 31 podcasts in October as being lazy, but 31 shitty podcasts can certainly come from someone without talent.
Ghost Writer was bad. Real bad.
It starts with a family moving to Florida from New York, a staple of these books always being a move to a new place. I guess that must suck for kids, I never had to experience moving to a new town as a kid, but I can imagine it’s not the most fun thing in the world. As an adult, it seems not so bad, probably because all of us adults have like 4 friends, max, and they all have their own lives, so it’s like, eh, whatever.
In Ghost Writer, the reason for their move is that the dad was mugged in New York, and the book goes so far as to describe the gun pressed to the dad’s back, which seems to be going a bit far, especially considering that the rest of the book is pretty tame, horror-wise, and has nothing whatsoever to do with street violence in NYC.
Just before the family arrives in Florida, the moving company calls the sherriff’s office looking for the homeowners, and the sherriff is like, “Well, we don’t have moving vans come into these parts much. I didn’t know what the guy was talking about.” Seriously? “Hi, I’m from a moving company, it’s the 90s so I don’t have GPS, and there’s someone moving into your very small town. I have an address, but I can’t seem to find it, and I was wondering if you could help me out.”
First of all, you don’t need to call the sherriff, this is not an emergency, and secondly, what about that is incomprehensible to the sherriff? Moving van? Wha!? “I’m just a simple, smalltown sherriff, I can’t be expected to comprehend a large, boxy vehicle full of someone’s possessions.”
Ghost Writer is one of those ghost stories where a ghost wants something vague, and for some reason can’t communicate what it wants until it can, which happens near the end of the story. I guess it takes a little bit of narrative tension to allow a ghost to release its info to the world. That’s the secret key.
Basically, the ghost is hanging around because there were these two women, one fell or was maybe pushed into a river, and she drowned. Everyone blames the ghost’s sister. But it turns out the sister didn’t push her in, nobody did, and the boy the two sisters were fighting over accidentally knocked her into the river while trying to calm her down or something. Point being: nobody is really to blame for a death that happened like 50 years ago, so it’s a bit unclear what the ghost is all about.
The problem with Ghost Writer is that there isn’t much spooky stuff going on throughout, it’s all kind of pushed to the book’s end where we finally have a confrontation with the ghost, and at that point, the ghost just sort of appears, clearly expresses itself, and the poofs away.
Also, the kids don’t even really need to be in the book. They’re just kind of witnesses to the ghostly events instead of being directly involved the way they are in Goosebumps.
Oh, and the whole Ghost Writer title? It’s because the ghost tries to communicate via super cryptic letters. Is that what it’s like to be a ghost? Should we examine this phenomenon?
When you’re a ghost, is it like being in a constant Nyquil hangover where you just feel slow and confused all the time? Is that why ghosts can’t communicate clearly? I could see it when ghosts don’t seem to have a good way to send their message, when they just have to sort of appear in a mirror or whatever. In that type of story, you can chalk it up to the ghost not being able to use human communication styles, and therefore there’s a miscommunication or challenge on the ghost’s end. Or, maybe there’s something where a ghost is speaking normally, from its point of view, but that gets translated into the world of the living in a way we can’t perceive.
That’s the most compelling argument for the existence of ghosts, in my opinion: If ghosts exist, perhaps they are existing in a way or on a plane we can’t perceive. I sometimes think this about animals that seem intelligent, like an octopus: maybe they’re super smart, and maybe they are communicating with us, but we can’t perceive what they’re doing as communication.
Anyway, maybe the issue is that the ghost is only somewhat existant, or maybe it’s confused, or maybe it’s a relatively new ghost. Maybe we only tend to hear about sightings of very old ghosts because it takes ghosts a very long time to figure out how to even make brief appearances. Like ghosts have to do a sort of supernatural Duolingo for decades before they can even begin to make appearances in our world. And we all know that’s impossible, nobody can keep a ten-year streak going on that shit.
Duolingo is so annoying. It’s proof that even with amazing teaching tools, available for free, carry-able in our pockets, we still won’t learn a language because learning sucks.
Or, maybe the problem is that ghosts don’t perceive the issue, and so they can’t solve it. Maybe Freddy Krueger is like, “I don’t understand. I’m trying to send a message of peace, and somehow that’s interpreted as me stabbing kids in the belly.”
Any way you slice it, or stab it with a knige glove, it’s an interesting thought experiment, but in Ghost Writer, the ghost seems to have trouble communicating, then doesn’t. For no reason. The ghost just sort of decides to speak clearly and illuminate everything all at once.
On the plus side, the sherriff, despite now knowing everything that happened, declines to prosecute the guy who accidentally killed some woman 50 years ago based on ghost testimony, or Ghostimony, as it’s known. The sherriff is kind of like, “Well, I suppose there’s not much the law can do in this situation,” which, no shit. You’re telling me that seeing a ghost explain a crime isn’t going to fly? I mean, come on, even if the ghost was pretty explicit and tried to tell everyone what was going on, even if the ghost APPEARED IN COURT, I have to question whether that could possibly do anything in a trial. Even if everyone in the room saw and heard the ghost say the exact same thing, wouldn’t it be like, “Your honor, this ghost was not listed as a witness, and the defense had no opportunity to cross-examine?”
Ghost Writer was bad. Real bad.
It starts with a family moving to Florida from New York, a staple of these books always being a move to a new place. I guess that must suck for kids, I never had to experience moving to a new town as a kid, but I can imagine it’s not the most fun thing in the world. As an adult, it seems not so bad, probably because all of us adults have like 4 friends, max, and they all have their own lives, so it’s like, eh, whatever.
In Ghost Writer, the reason for their move is that the dad was mugged in New York, and the book goes so far as to describe the gun pressed to the dad’s back, which seems to be going a bit far, especially considering that the rest of the book is pretty tame, horror-wise, and has nothing whatsoever to do with street violence in NYC.
Just before the family arrives in Florida, the moving company calls the sherriff’s office looking for the homeowners, and the sherriff is like, “Well, we don’t have moving vans come into these parts much. I didn’t know what the guy was talking about.” Seriously? “Hi, I’m from a moving company, it’s the 90s so I don’t have GPS, and there’s someone moving into your very small town. I have an address, but I can’t seem to find it, and I was wondering if you could help me out.”
First of all, you don’t need to call the sherriff, this is not an emergency, and secondly, what about that is incomprehensible to the sherriff? Moving van? Wha!? “I’m just a simple, smalltown sherriff, I can’t be expected to comprehend a large, boxy vehicle full of someone’s possessions.”
Ghost Writer is one of those ghost stories where a ghost wants something vague, and for some reason can’t communicate what it wants until it can, which happens near the end of the story. I guess it takes a little bit of narrative tension to allow a ghost to release its info to the world. That’s the secret key.
Basically, the ghost is hanging around because there were these two women, one fell or was maybe pushed into a river, and she drowned. Everyone blames the ghost’s sister. But it turns out the sister didn’t push her in, nobody did, and the boy the two sisters were fighting over accidentally knocked her into the river while trying to calm her down or something. Point being: nobody is really to blame for a death that happened like 50 years ago, so it’s a bit unclear what the ghost is all about.
The problem with Ghost Writer is that there isn’t much spooky stuff going on throughout, it’s all kind of pushed to the book’s end where we finally have a confrontation with the ghost, and at that point, the ghost just sort of appears, clearly expresses itself, and the poofs away.
Also, the kids don’t even really need to be in the book. They’re just kind of witnesses to the ghostly events instead of being directly involved the way they are in Goosebumps.
Oh, and the whole Ghost Writer title? It’s because the ghost tries to communicate via super cryptic letters. Is that what it’s like to be a ghost? Should we examine this phenomenon?
When you’re a ghost, is it like being in a constant Nyquil hangover where you just feel slow and confused all the time? Is that why ghosts can’t communicate clearly? I could see it when ghosts don’t seem to have a good way to send their message, when they just have to sort of appear in a mirror or whatever. In that type of story, you can chalk it up to the ghost not being able to use human communication styles, and therefore there’s a miscommunication or challenge on the ghost’s end. Or, maybe there’s something where a ghost is speaking normally, from its point of view, but that gets translated into the world of the living in a way we can’t perceive.
That’s the most compelling argument for the existence of ghosts, in my opinion: If ghosts exist, perhaps they are existing in a way or on a plane we can’t perceive. I sometimes think this about animals that seem intelligent, like an octopus: maybe they’re super smart, and maybe they are communicating with us, but we can’t perceive what they’re doing as communication.
Anyway, maybe the issue is that the ghost is only somewhat existant, or maybe it’s confused, or maybe it’s a relatively new ghost. Maybe we only tend to hear about sightings of very old ghosts because it takes ghosts a very long time to figure out how to even make brief appearances. Like ghosts have to do a sort of supernatural Duolingo for decades before they can even begin to make appearances in our world. And we all know that’s impossible, nobody can keep a ten-year streak going on that shit.
Duolingo is so annoying. It’s proof that even with amazing teaching tools, available for free, carry-able in our pockets, we still won’t learn a language because learning sucks.
Or, maybe the problem is that ghosts don’t perceive the issue, and so they can’t solve it. Maybe Freddy Krueger is like, “I don’t understand. I’m trying to send a message of peace, and somehow that’s interpreted as me stabbing kids in the belly.”
Any way you slice it, or stab it with a knige glove, it’s an interesting thought experiment, but in Ghost Writer, the ghost seems to have trouble communicating, then doesn’t. For no reason. The ghost just sort of decides to speak clearly and illuminate everything all at once.
On the plus side, the sherriff, despite now knowing everything that happened, declines to prosecute the guy who accidentally killed some woman 50 years ago based on ghost testimony, or Ghostimony, as it’s known. The sherriff is kind of like, “Well, I suppose there’s not much the law can do in this situation,” which, no shit. You’re telling me that seeing a ghost explain a crime isn’t going to fly? I mean, come on, even if the ghost was pretty explicit and tried to tell everyone what was going on, even if the ghost APPEARED IN COURT, I have to question whether that could possibly do anything in a trial. Even if everyone in the room saw and heard the ghost say the exact same thing, wouldn’t it be like, “Your honor, this ghost was not listed as a witness, and the defense had no opportunity to cross-examine?”
July 25, 2021
Amber is annoyed to be moving from New York to an old house in the middle of nowhere. Her parents think the big city is too dangerous and they will be safer in a more quiet environment.
On the way to the new place strange things have already started to happen to the family of four.
The house has been empty for 50 years and there is a lot of work to be done. On top of that the house seems to not welcome them and accidents will start to happen.
A ghost story with a nice mystery and friendships. However I felt like there was really little horror in this one.
On the way to the new place strange things have already started to happen to the family of four.
The house has been empty for 50 years and there is a lot of work to be done. On top of that the house seems to not welcome them and accidents will start to happen.
A ghost story with a nice mystery and friendships. However I felt like there was really little horror in this one.
March 14, 2011
i think this story is suspenful and scary because a girl goes on camp with her enemies (worst friends) but has only 1 friend she always used to hear a ghost whispering to her in the end the ghost disappears and was almst going to kill her but in the end her friend saves her.
June 14, 2011
Shivers, I loved those Shivers books!
Read
July 28, 2011sooooo coollllllll.......
Read
December 11, 2024Light fun pulp filler cranked out to cash in on the Goosebumps fad. I'm sure there are people who have very fond memories of this from their childhood, though viewed for the first time through adult eyes it's just a bit of campy fun. Scattered references to then-contemporary pop culture and technology should bring an amused smile to the face of anyone who grew up or has an interest in the 1990s.
On that note I must admit I laughed when I started this book, because in reading the Shivers series in order I was beginning to sense a definite theme. Namely, this is the third out of 3 books that deals with a kid being moved to a new place they don't want to move to by their parents.
Ok, to be fair the second book had kids being taken on a vacation to a place they don't want but the point stands. Enough to make me wonder if being moved was a traumatic childhood experience for Spenser himself. I suppose it is something that highlights the horror of being helpless and at the whims of other people as a kid. A nice real-life fear juxtaposed to the supernatural horrors featured in the books.
Overall, this is a stronger narrative than the second book, but a bit less unique than the first. If you find a copy somewhere cheap and think you might like it you probably will.
PS- Amusingly, the summary on the back of the book is very inaccurate/misleading, probably based on an initial pitch. They had to get them out fast while the fad was hot after all!
On that note I must admit I laughed when I started this book, because in reading the Shivers series in order I was beginning to sense a definite theme. Namely, this is the third out of 3 books that deals with a kid being moved to a new place they don't want to move to by their parents.
Ok, to be fair the second book had kids being taken on a vacation to a place they don't want but the point stands. Enough to make me wonder if being moved was a traumatic childhood experience for Spenser himself. I suppose it is something that highlights the horror of being helpless and at the whims of other people as a kid. A nice real-life fear juxtaposed to the supernatural horrors featured in the books.
Overall, this is a stronger narrative than the second book, but a bit less unique than the first. If you find a copy somewhere cheap and think you might like it you probably will.
PS- Amusingly, the summary on the back of the book is very inaccurate/misleading, probably based on an initial pitch. They had to get them out fast while the fad was hot after all!
September 5, 2024
I grew up reading and collecting the Shiver's series. They were sold for a dollar each at Big Lots or the Dollar Only, I can't remember which, and it was such a treat to be able to purchase them when my family could not afford Goosebumps prices. I'm sure my old collection (about half the series) is stashed away somewhere but this is the only one I could find online. I listened to it while eating my lunch today. It was short and gently spooky. The story seemed rather rushed to an adult reader, but I remember them being the perfect length when I was a kid. I'd love to revisit the rest of the series eventually they hold such a special place in my heart.
May 17, 2018
Another wonderful book from my childhood. I read a lot of books in the Shivers series, but this one I couldn't put down. I've always harbored a penchant for houses that held secrets (to this day I cling to the fantasy that my own 100+ year old house is holding on to a secret that it hasn't spilled yet).
Great for adolescents. Even as an adult, half of me wants to go back and re-read this book. It's a little simple now for my personal taste, but I'm hoping one day my son might enjoy it as much as I did.
Great for adolescents. Even as an adult, half of me wants to go back and re-read this book. It's a little simple now for my personal taste, but I'm hoping one day my son might enjoy it as much as I did.
February 20, 2025
The Book started off interesting with a good plot, characters and spooky atmosphere.
I liked the simple ghost story but the plot got Wrapped up very quickly and I was hoping there would be a strong plot twist and this was available to the author in the last chapters of the story without spoiling the events, but the book ended in a way that wasn't bad, but also average.
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#VERDICT
(6.9/10)
I liked the simple ghost story but the plot got Wrapped up very quickly and I was hoping there would be a strong plot twist and this was available to the author in the last chapters of the story without spoiling the events, but the book ended in a way that wasn't bad, but also average.
***********************************************
#VERDICT
(6.9/10)
December 11, 2016
This year my daughter has a reading log. In addition to her independent reading I have to read to her at least one chapter a week. She chose for me to read her this book (which she found in a geocache). It was suspenseful enough that I really got into story and enjoyed reading, yet safe enough for my 9 year old.
November 5, 2017
Started off interesting enough but the ghost writing is barely there and the mystery is paper thin and then it got wrapped up in a tidy bow very quickly. This was definitely better than the first two in the series but was pretty average as a whole.
April 24, 2023
Great fun, I liked the characters in this one. A lot of the events are very convenient for the plot, but I still enjoyed it.
August 2, 2023
I thought the ghost writing on the computer was cool, although the story wasn't the best, the ending bad it up for the whole book with the two sisters being twins. Nice plot twister/blockbuster.
June 18, 2024
This was just okay. Your standard vintage Goosebumps knock-off book! This was still a mostly fun, quick, and easy read though!
August 26, 2024
A good quick read
April 28, 2013
not to creepy.:)
April 8, 2014
I really liked this book. One of my favorites. M.D. Spenser is a great scary writer.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews