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Shivers #15
Pool Ghoul
How long can you tread water?
Matt and Laura's parents build a new swimming pool in the backyard. It's supposed to be a summertime surprise, but as soon as the kids hit the water, a typhoon of terror erupts. Cute pool toys come alive and turn very ugly. Wicked wave after wave threatens to drown innocent swimmers. The calm blue water suddenly changes to a horrible shade of bloody red. Where's a life guard when you need one? Perhaps their strange neighbor, Miss Pincher, will come to the rescue. Or maybe, she's behind all the problems with the pool. Is everyone doomed to dog paddle to certain death? SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
Matt and Laura's parents build a new swimming pool in the backyard. It's supposed to be a summertime surprise, but as soon as the kids hit the water, a typhoon of terror erupts. Cute pool toys come alive and turn very ugly. Wicked wave after wave threatens to drown innocent swimmers. The calm blue water suddenly changes to a horrible shade of bloody red. Where's a life guard when you need one? Perhaps their strange neighbor, Miss Pincher, will come to the rescue. Or maybe, she's behind all the problems with the pool. Is everyone doomed to dog paddle to certain death? SWIM AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
122 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1996
1 person is currently reading
142 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 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 8, 2020
"Those people have a right to protest!"
It's time for my third helping of Shivers. If you recall, my first (Ghosts of Devil's Marsh) was really good, while my second (Ghosts of Camp Massacre) was bad. Both were willingly to go into some dark places but one was able to do tell a strong story with it while the other tried to do the same and was the saving grace of it but failed due to...everything else.
Now we have this one which is inbetween those extremes, as it's just...fine. The plot deals with protagonist Laura and her family getting a new pool but strange things start to happen around it. I wasn't expecting much with the premise of an evil pool but MD Spenser does do some decent stuff with it. There are a few creep-y ish things with it like a toy shark comes to life and causes a girl to faceplant on the nearby ground. Okay the first part is silly but the result was effective.
However, the pool is really not that big of a focus here. It's more of a thing that sometimes happens in the middle of the real plot which is...an environmental story. Oh yes, really. See, Laura's brother Matt has recently become a big environmentalist and he wants to start a recycling campaign since dad works with Chem Corp but the guy who put in the pool turns out to be evil and polluting all over the place.
Seriously, it becomes all about this. The pool is just a thing that happens and while at the end they do tie it into all this, it's in an odd way and spoilers, the evil guy who put it in is not why the pool did al this. We don't get much motivation from him which usually would be fine but it does feel missing at it is.
Honestly, it was a bit better handled than I expected. There is slight nuance as Dad works with the company and he is aware of the stories that are out there about what the company has done/is really doing and believes they are trying to improve and thinks the head guy is good since he is nice enough to him. Nothing too deep but a bit more than I figured...but the very end does undue some of this, sadly.
And ontop of that, some of Ghosts of Camp Massacre seeps in as we have a Native American character named Martin (who is referferd to as such and not Indian so now they have no excuse lol) who goes on about what his people have been through at the hands of the "White man" (their words) and Mr. Campbell has wronged him in the past. It's not as important for the overall story as it was in Camp Massacre but while some of his description is a bit iffy, at least he does something important in the end so that's something.
I feel like Spenser is passionate about this subject so I'll give him credit for that. And because this is Shivers, there's a random dark element as Martin mentions the white man killing their people, his father is implied to have been murdered by Campbell, and in the climax Campbell threatens the kids with guns. The gun even gets to shoot someone! It doesn't go as far as the others I've read but it's there.
Overall, this one is fine mostly for being better than I expected. Given that this has an evil pool and the pools plays 2nd fiddle to an environmental message, it could have been worse. It has some dumb fakeouts at the start but thankfully does pick up and mostly chugs along well enough and has a decent climax. The pool has some okay bits and the environmental stuff, while preachy, isn't super intrusive for the most part.
It doesn't do anything great but it was a perfectly fine read that I got through pretty quickly. And again, with everything working against it, that's not too bad.
(Also that cover has nothing to do with anything)
It's time for my third helping of Shivers. If you recall, my first (Ghosts of Devil's Marsh) was really good, while my second (Ghosts of Camp Massacre) was bad. Both were willingly to go into some dark places but one was able to do tell a strong story with it while the other tried to do the same and was the saving grace of it but failed due to...everything else.
Now we have this one which is inbetween those extremes, as it's just...fine. The plot deals with protagonist Laura and her family getting a new pool but strange things start to happen around it. I wasn't expecting much with the premise of an evil pool but MD Spenser does do some decent stuff with it. There are a few creep-y ish things with it like a toy shark comes to life and causes a girl to faceplant on the nearby ground. Okay the first part is silly but the result was effective.
However, the pool is really not that big of a focus here. It's more of a thing that sometimes happens in the middle of the real plot which is...an environmental story. Oh yes, really. See, Laura's brother Matt has recently become a big environmentalist and he wants to start a recycling campaign since dad works with Chem Corp but the guy who put in the pool turns out to be evil and polluting all over the place.
Seriously, it becomes all about this. The pool is just a thing that happens and while at the end they do tie it into all this, it's in an odd way and spoilers, the evil guy who put it in is not why the pool did al this. We don't get much motivation from him which usually would be fine but it does feel missing at it is.
Honestly, it was a bit better handled than I expected. There is slight nuance as Dad works with the company and he is aware of the stories that are out there about what the company has done/is really doing and believes they are trying to improve and thinks the head guy is good since he is nice enough to him. Nothing too deep but a bit more than I figured...but the very end does undue some of this, sadly.
And ontop of that, some of Ghosts of Camp Massacre seeps in as we have a Native American character named Martin (who is referferd to as such and not Indian so now they have no excuse lol) who goes on about what his people have been through at the hands of the "White man" (their words) and Mr. Campbell has wronged him in the past. It's not as important for the overall story as it was in Camp Massacre but while some of his description is a bit iffy, at least he does something important in the end so that's something.
I feel like Spenser is passionate about this subject so I'll give him credit for that. And because this is Shivers, there's a random dark element as Martin mentions the white man killing their people, his father is implied to have been murdered by Campbell, and in the climax Campbell threatens the kids with guns. The gun even gets to shoot someone! It doesn't go as far as the others I've read but it's there.
Overall, this one is fine mostly for being better than I expected. Given that this has an evil pool and the pools plays 2nd fiddle to an environmental message, it could have been worse. It has some dumb fakeouts at the start but thankfully does pick up and mostly chugs along well enough and has a decent climax. The pool has some okay bits and the environmental stuff, while preachy, isn't super intrusive for the most part.
It doesn't do anything great but it was a perfectly fine read that I got through pretty quickly. And again, with everything working against it, that's not too bad.
(Also that cover has nothing to do with anything)
September 1, 2020
I used to love all of the books in the 'Shivers' series when I was young. Writing in the vein of R.L. Stine's 'Goosebumps' series, M.D. Spenser does a good job of writing an enjoyable story with a good message, in this case an environmentally-conscious one.
Highly recommended for children. Not only does 'Pool Ghoul' have a very enjoyable story it also makes its readership aware of the many environmental issues, like recycling and waste, that we have today
Highly recommended for children. Not only does 'Pool Ghoul' have a very enjoyable story it also makes its readership aware of the many environmental issues, like recycling and waste, that we have today
June 27, 2025
Shivers Summer! Spoilers below
Kicking off the #shiverssummer with Book #15 Pool Ghoul. SPOILERS for a 29 year old book are below.
This book is absolutely nuts! Laura's family gets a pool, for some reason they wait until the end of summer, when the kids are back in school to do it? And with the name of the book being Pool Ghoul you would think the pool would be the main plot line. Boy would you be wrong. This is a story about a recycling scam, duh.
Anyway, Mr. Campbell is hired by Laura's dad to dig out the pool. But the family hates his guts because: "One night, after he had been working late, dad caught him (Mr. Campbell) looking in the window spying on mom." & "Dad caught him burying trash underneath the pool. and he kept throwing beer bottles down the hill into the woods." Foreshadowing. I picture this dude is exactly like Joe Exotic. If you swap tigers for trash piles and you’re there. Fully unhinged, deeply sunburnt, probably drinks Schlitz.
Laura's dad works for a clearly not evil company called Chem Corp. The company has been polluting the local river. To make a better name for themselves they start a recycling initiative, and enlist the help of kids, specifically, Laura and her brother Matt, to get the town folk to sign up. It’s basically Captain Planet if he worked for BP.
Randomly, Matt has to go on a scout hike, and is forced to take Laura with him, and boy does shit pop off. Matt's Native American (yes, that is an important part. The 90's were crazy.) friend, Martin shows them this cool under ground cave that his Native American ancestors used to "Trick the white people" by disappearing into holes that serve as entrances to the caves.
Lucky for Laura and Matt, Martin was tour guild of the caves and knows them like the back of his hand, because guess who Chem Corp hired to run their recycling program. You got it, that peeping tom MFer, Mr. Campbell. And now, he's got a gun.
Mr. Campbell was burying the recycling in the random cave holes, instead of just bring them to the recycling center? Any-who, he traps Laura and Matt and their elderly neighbor lady, in the cave under a pile of recycling. Oh there are bats in the cave that don't do anything.
Martin comes back and beats up Mr. Campbell, shoots him with his own gun, and saves the day. They all go swimming in the pool. And good new, Chem Corp is no longer an evil company, they didn't know Mr. Campbell was such a shit bag. AND, they promise to stop polluting the river. SCORE! The owner of the Chem Corp comes to Laura's house to tell her dad in person. So now it's cool that Laura's dad keeps working there.
Oh yeah, the pool.
It was built over the cave system. Martin's ancestors were trying to warn white-ass Laura that someone was defiling their secrete caves. The end. No ghoul. Just littering and groundwater contamination.
Overall, wild story. Enjoyed the read, but the cover and title were super misleading but in a fun way. 10/10 will read again in 29 years.
Kicking off the #shiverssummer with Book #15 Pool Ghoul. SPOILERS for a 29 year old book are below.
This book is absolutely nuts! Laura's family gets a pool, for some reason they wait until the end of summer, when the kids are back in school to do it? And with the name of the book being Pool Ghoul you would think the pool would be the main plot line. Boy would you be wrong. This is a story about a recycling scam, duh.
Anyway, Mr. Campbell is hired by Laura's dad to dig out the pool. But the family hates his guts because: "One night, after he had been working late, dad caught him (Mr. Campbell) looking in the window spying on mom." & "Dad caught him burying trash underneath the pool. and he kept throwing beer bottles down the hill into the woods." Foreshadowing. I picture this dude is exactly like Joe Exotic. If you swap tigers for trash piles and you’re there. Fully unhinged, deeply sunburnt, probably drinks Schlitz.
Laura's dad works for a clearly not evil company called Chem Corp. The company has been polluting the local river. To make a better name for themselves they start a recycling initiative, and enlist the help of kids, specifically, Laura and her brother Matt, to get the town folk to sign up. It’s basically Captain Planet if he worked for BP.
Randomly, Matt has to go on a scout hike, and is forced to take Laura with him, and boy does shit pop off. Matt's Native American (yes, that is an important part. The 90's were crazy.) friend, Martin shows them this cool under ground cave that his Native American ancestors used to "Trick the white people" by disappearing into holes that serve as entrances to the caves.
Lucky for Laura and Matt, Martin was tour guild of the caves and knows them like the back of his hand, because guess who Chem Corp hired to run their recycling program. You got it, that peeping tom MFer, Mr. Campbell. And now, he's got a gun.
Mr. Campbell was burying the recycling in the random cave holes, instead of just bring them to the recycling center? Any-who, he traps Laura and Matt and their elderly neighbor lady, in the cave under a pile of recycling. Oh there are bats in the cave that don't do anything.
Martin comes back and beats up Mr. Campbell, shoots him with his own gun, and saves the day. They all go swimming in the pool. And good new, Chem Corp is no longer an evil company, they didn't know Mr. Campbell was such a shit bag. AND, they promise to stop polluting the river. SCORE! The owner of the Chem Corp comes to Laura's house to tell her dad in person. So now it's cool that Laura's dad keeps working there.
Oh yeah, the pool.
It was built over the cave system. Martin's ancestors were trying to warn white-ass Laura that someone was defiling their secrete caves. The end. No ghoul. Just littering and groundwater contamination.
Overall, wild story. Enjoyed the read, but the cover and title were super misleading but in a fun way. 10/10 will read again in 29 years.
April 11, 2023
The cover art and title are a bit misleading. There's no alligator or croc in here and the "haunted" pool is only a small part of the story. This wasn't at all what I was expecting.
It instead focuses on a big corporation in a small town that is dumping chemicals and waste into public water and nature - and our main characters going up against the owner/CEO of the corporation in a rather violent climax; The antagonist attempts to murder our protagonist with a shotgun. Yikes. Not sure how age appropriate that is for these books, but from what I recall the author typically tries to be edgy. There are often mentions of things like beer, tobacco, murder, other subjects you don't normally see in a middle grade book.
In summary...
It was... kinda meh. Not the worst Shivers book that I've read but didn't much care for it either. I'm not a fan of Spenser's writing style and I can't see myself pursuing many more books from this series.
It instead focuses on a big corporation in a small town that is dumping chemicals and waste into public water and nature - and our main characters going up against the owner/CEO of the corporation in a rather violent climax; The antagonist attempts to murder our protagonist with a shotgun. Yikes. Not sure how age appropriate that is for these books, but from what I recall the author typically tries to be edgy. There are often mentions of things like beer, tobacco, murder, other subjects you don't normally see in a middle grade book.
In summary...
It was... kinda meh. Not the worst Shivers book that I've read but didn't much care for it either. I'm not a fan of Spenser's writing style and I can't see myself pursuing many more books from this series.
November 18, 2023
The pool element of this story could be thrown out completely. There's an environmental story at the heart of this book, which I quite liked. There's genuine peril and it goes to some darker places that you'd expect for the age range it's aimed at. There's a Native American subplot- no idea if this was handled sensitively or not.
Overall, an interesting addition to the series. Not as good as something like Beware the Bog Girl, but certainly not dull.
Overall, an interesting addition to the series. Not as good as something like Beware the Bog Girl, but certainly not dull.
September 27, 2023
I like the cover picture, but there's no alligator in this book, lol. It's a different story that transitions after some 5 minutes of pool ghoul accident with her friends. Then it's not even about the scary pool.
It's not worth reading just a dumb story. Trust me because I read all 36 books.
It's not worth reading just a dumb story. Trust me because I read all 36 books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 30, 2018
it a scray book from 5/10 it really good
March 27, 2011
i LOVE this book
December 9, 2011
Probably the best scary book I've read, great!
September 22, 2014
3.5 stars
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews