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Ghosts of Fear Street #14
Body Switchers from Outer Space
Come back with my body! Will "the Spill" is a total klutz. He'd give anything to be Chad -- the most popular kid in school -- just for one day. Chad never trips, or falls, or drops anything.
Then Will gets his wish. Chad says he's got a body-switching machine. And he wants to switch bodies with Will!
Will decides to do it. And it works. He loves being Chad -- until he finds out Chad's horrible secret. And realizes he's trapped in Chad's body forever!
Then Will gets his wish. Chad says he's got a body-switching machine. And he wants to switch bodies with Will!
Will decides to do it. And it works. He loves being Chad -- until he finds out Chad's horrible secret. And realizes he's trapped in Chad's body forever!
144 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1996
5 people are currently reading
403 people want to read
About the author
Nina Kiriki Hoffman
303 books345 followersNina Kiriki Hoffman’s first solo novel, The Thread That Binds the Bones (1993), won the Bram Stoker Award for first novel; her second novel, The Silent Strength of Stones (1995) was a finalist for the Nebula and World Fantasy Awards. A Red Heart of Memories (1999, part of her “Matt Black” series), nominated for a World Fantasy Award, was followed by sequel Past the Size of Dreaming in 2001. Much of her work to date is short fiction, including “Matt Black” novella “Unmasking” (1992), nominated for a World Fantasy Award; and “Matt Black” novelette “Home for Christmas” (1995), nominated for the Nebula, World Fantasy, and Sturgeon awards. In addition to writing, Hoffman has taught, worked part-time at a B. Dalton bookstore, and done production work on The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. An accomplished fiddle player, she has played regularly at various granges near her home in Eugene, Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 11, 2024
This was hilarious. A kid gets tricked into switching bodies with an alien, and then he reacts to the crazy things that he sees in the aliens' house. His internal dialogue is always at maximum volume (there are a lot of exclamation points used). I couldn't help imagining that his eyes were almost popping out of his head while the aliens not involved in the switch are oblivious to it.
February 17, 2025
I think these Ghosts of Fear Street books could have been stronger had the ghost writers not been so restricted to their outlines and formulas. Page space is certainly a factor as well, with most of these clocking in at around 110 pages or less; shorter even than the already brisk and concise Goosebumps books.
This one certainly had some interesting ideas with a sci-fi/alien take on the body switching concept and some themes of wanting a better life / perceiving the grass to be greener on the other side - but it's all just surface level and further buried underneath the silliness of the alien characters and a lack of convincing conflict and sense of horror.
As tends to be the case with more fantastical/sci-fi concepts in this franchise, logic and reasoning are mostly absent and the reader won't benefit from asking too many questions about the plot points.
All in all this is a fine, average entry in the series. There's some mild fun to be had here, but like much of this series, just feels too constrained and by the numbers.
2.5⭐ rounded down.
This one certainly had some interesting ideas with a sci-fi/alien take on the body switching concept and some themes of wanting a better life / perceiving the grass to be greener on the other side - but it's all just surface level and further buried underneath the silliness of the alien characters and a lack of convincing conflict and sense of horror.
As tends to be the case with more fantastical/sci-fi concepts in this franchise, logic and reasoning are mostly absent and the reader won't benefit from asking too many questions about the plot points.
All in all this is a fine, average entry in the series. There's some mild fun to be had here, but like much of this series, just feels too constrained and by the numbers.
2.5⭐ rounded down.
October 16, 2014
This book was about a kid named Will. He is very clumsy. His feet do not get together with him and he trips all the time. Chad, the coolest kid in school, offers to switch bodies with Will. Will totally wants to do it but the problem is that Chad is an alien from outer space. So this is like one of their weapons or something. He did agree to switch but then Chad wouldn't let him switch back. Chad was leaving Earth forever so will had to stop him and force him to switch back. Will ended up having to shrink Chad and his whole family with a shrink ray. I liked this book.
May 29, 2019
I read this 15-20 years ago. I don't remember the ending, but I remember the middle-twist.
Clumsy Will is very envious of Chad who's physically perfect. Chad says his father has a body-switching machine and they swap bodies. At first Will (in chad's body) is thrilled. Chad warned him that his parents are weird and force him to eat gross food. When will tries eating normal food, he immediately gets sick. Chad heals him by giving him some kind of bug looking food.
Clumsy Will is very envious of Chad who's physically perfect. Chad says his father has a body-switching machine and they swap bodies. At first Will (in chad's body) is thrilled. Chad warned him that his parents are weird and force him to eat gross food. When will tries eating normal food, he immediately gets sick. Chad heals him by giving him some kind of bug looking food.
November 27, 2012
Even in the age of 36 years I felt entertained. Of course the fantastic elements may appear a bit abstruse in the eyes of someone who has left his or her childhood behind (or in my case, should have). But again, kool kids will like this.
May 22, 2015
One of my favorite books from childhood. Re-reading it again was like a trip down memory lane, haha!
March 23, 2013
Silly little book about aliens. Kids will probably like it.
August 4, 2017
The better a Stine book appears to be, the more likely it was a ghostwriter. This one does not break that tradition, with a fairly solid tweenage sci-fi adventure. There's not a lot of horror, or even lip-service to horror, in this one. It's an alien story, and one that is vaguely amusing today due to its use of "touch" technology as something otherworldly and futuristic. I remember reading this in elementary school and thinking, "man, that could never happen!" Today I re-read this book from twenty years ago on my iPhone 7 Plus. Time flies.
December 14, 2019
This was a typical 4 star goosebumps book for me !!!! It did not blow my mind but atleast it wasn't bad bad !! I liked it and it was ONE creepy hell of a book. The ending was happy finally !!!! After such a long time lmao. If u wanna read it then do coz right now there r only 10 reviews of this book so...... Anyways pick it up if u want u won't regret it 😘
January 1, 2015
He always hits the mark when it comes to scifi. Horror not so much.
July 17, 2023
Ghosts of Fear Street #14 From reading this one I assume they are independent, stand alone, stories.
Chad, the cool kid, calls Will over to his table and says his dad has a machine that will allow people to switch bodies. Will thinks it's a joke, but he meets Chad after school and they go back to his house where there is a cool laboratory shed in the back yard. Chad gets the equipment ready for the one hour switch and it works. Will is so thrilled to know what it's like to really be athletic. If only some of that coordination would have stuck with him after they switched back. He could stop being "Will the Spill." He begs Chad for one more chance to switch, after it is reluctantly granted, Will finds Chad's home life isn't normal.
The science and aliens are cartoon level, so when Will gets in a predicament he still has a fighting chance of saving himself. Super fast read, fun, I didn't cringe, 4.5 stars. The cover scene never appears in the book, the aliens were never depicted in anything other than human form.
Chad, the cool kid, calls Will over to his table and says his dad has a machine that will allow people to switch bodies. Will thinks it's a joke, but he meets Chad after school and they go back to his house where there is a cool laboratory shed in the back yard. Chad gets the equipment ready for the one hour switch and it works. Will is so thrilled to know what it's like to really be athletic. If only some of that coordination would have stuck with him after they switched back. He could stop being "Will the Spill." He begs Chad for one more chance to switch, after it is reluctantly granted, Will finds Chad's home life isn't normal.
The science and aliens are cartoon level, so when Will gets in a predicament he still has a fighting chance of saving himself. Super fast read, fun, I didn't cringe, 4.5 stars. The cover scene never appears in the book, the aliens were never depicted in anything other than human form.
July 11, 2023
It's pretty amazing how actually-immersive this is given how fun and goofy the premise is. I gobbled these books up as a kid and re-reading this one as an adult, I still found myself totally swept away in the chaos.
There are some legitimately excellent, well-described, spooky scenes that are respectful and challenging to young readers and takes them seriously.
Good stuff!!
There are some legitimately excellent, well-described, spooky scenes that are respectful and challenging to young readers and takes them seriously.
Good stuff!!
January 6, 2021
Mình khá là thích ý tưởng của tập này ấy, làm mình nhớ đến Vật chủ và tập phim "Bất khả tư nghị" trong một series kinh dị học đường của Thái Lan.
March 7, 2021
I surprisingly loved this book!
April 13, 2021
Forgot to log this lol
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2021...
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2021...
October 2, 2025
A great read with a fun plot, but suffers from the worst writing fuck ups I’ve ever read. The are words missing periodically and I noticed how weird some stuff it worded. It’s a little hard to read. The writing style is just so inconsistent. There is also issues with stuff addressed for no reason, like the crawling scene that sets in motion the climax. It drags on for a page with new rooms and environmental stuff, but goes fucking nowhere. And there’s other instances of just filler and stuff being put in for no reason. HOWEVER, the story is top notch alien shenanigans and I really liked Chad’s character. The ending is really darn good and the boo is generally really neat and fun. The plot is cool, the pacing is exceptional, and the weirdness of it all is rather nice. It suffers from some small issues that really bug me, but it’s still a great read. I’d give it a 9/10.
December 25, 2012
It was overall I will say it was another good book... I think one of the best parts of the book is when he starts figuring out who the person he switched bodies with really is. This was another ending I didn't really care for either. I taught it could have been different... Or stop the book with out that last part.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews