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Spinetinglers #12
Killer Computer
Jenny's young brother Brian conjures up Zippy on her computer. The problem is that Zippy appears to have a rather wicked mind of his own--he wants to come out of the computer and play. As Jenny soon discovers, Zippy's games prove deadly for all participants.
140 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
27 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 11, 2023
3.5 rounded up to 4⭐
This is one of the best GB knockoffs I've ever read. This was a very mature and well-written book while still staying safely (mostly) within the boundaries of children's literature.
The characters were well realized, the villain was cunning and menacing, and overall this was a great read. Highly recommended.
This is one of the best GB knockoffs I've ever read. This was a very mature and well-written book while still staying safely (mostly) within the boundaries of children's literature.
The characters were well realized, the villain was cunning and menacing, and overall this was a great read. Highly recommended.
March 12, 2022
Ahhh, Spinetinglers. The ghostwritten series by various authors under the great pen name M.T. Coffin (get it? Empty coffin? Gotta love it) has been a rollercoaster of highs, and real lows. But this book, might be the best in the series that I’ve read. When it comes to the writing ability of this specific author, Robert Hirschfeld, it’s clearly obvious he was in a league of his own with this ghostwriting team. Maybe Mike Ford from Frightville fame might be up there as well. For those that don’t know, Robert Hirschfeld didn’t have the grandest kids horror resume as in volume of stories made. BUT, he did make a magnificent Choose Your Own Nightmare book called Attack Of The Living Mask. And, THIS little gem of a book. Yes I gave it 5⭐️‘S, let’s get into some heavier detail like I try to do with 5⭐️ ratings.
A few things to go over first. This book is, by every sense of the expression, hit the ground running. It wastes absolutely no time introducing the main characters of Jenny and Brian. As well, the satanic electropath villain that is named Zippy. Throughout the read, the story stays pretty on course. Meaning, the entire story essentially circumvents around the computer in Jenny’s room (remember this is the 90’s, but it is ahead of its time with a few things, more on that in a bit) so the atmosphere stays in that intimate vibe throughout the entirety of the story. For those that like little setting changes here and there, there is some school bits thrown in. BUT, don’t let it detour you from trying this. Because this story is dark, tense, and in many ways, too scary for kids I feel.
So Jenny downloads this computer software that sounds common to what was available during the 90’s. Back when the internet was still in it’s pre-Y2K era state. The software contains many features that would’ve been very alluring back then like games, chat rooms, etc. Jenny, and her friends want to play around with the software to see what it can do, but they’re interrupted by Jenny’s brother Brian, who seems significantly younger than Jenny. Brian wants to play around with the computer, but Jenny rejects his wishes. Brian grows angry and Linda the keyboard, storming off. This, birthing by accident the creepiest computer virus thing ever, Zippy.
Zippy wants to play games with Jenny and she agrees to play a game she’s heard of before. But she realizes with her friends that Zippy cheats at games. So they grow tired of playing with Zippy and don’t want to play anymore. Zippy wants to keep playing but Jenny doesn’t pay him any attention.
Throughout the next portions, weird things start happening with Jenny’s computer. She’s plagued by voices, vivid nightmares, and Zippy likes to appear on her computer unannounced at inconvenient times. She grows worrisome considering Zippy is essentially harassing her to play games with him, which she consistently denies by making excuses everytime.
Jenny then decides to reconcile with Brian because she starts to realize that Brian just wants to play with her and be close with her. The sibling relationship angle the story takes gets very touching, as we see Jenny showing Brian how to play games on her computer and they have a blast. Jenny warns Brian though, that this Zippy thing shouldn’t be talked to or messed with. And Brian seems to agree, at first.
It’s later revealed that Brian secretly spent time with Zippy, and now Zippy wants to be Brian’s friend. At the same time though, vowing that Jenny and the kids parents aren’t really Zippy’s friends and now he wants to make their lives miserable and essentially wants to murder them.
I’ll take a moment here, so Zippy is like this deranged kids clown icon thing that randomly gets triggered from Brian’s rage early in the story. Zippy is freaking creepy alright, just know that before we go any further.
Zippy starts to display weird behavior, like manipulating kitchen gadgets, and the garbage disposal. Which now, those scenes will forever live rent free in my head because of how intense it felt reading it. Wow. Anyways, the stakes grow increasingly worrisome for Jenny. As no matter what her friends suggest to her, Brian still uses the computer to talk to Zippy which in turn, causes Zippy to do crazy things. Zippy is revealed to have some sort of hypnotizing abilities when Brian plays a weird game with him, and can use Brian’s physical body as a vessel if he hypnotizes him into Brian’s brain. That’s really the only wonky part of the book, how this works goes unexplained, but it’s implied that the hypnosis of Brian is a physical way for Zippy to “program” himself into human minds.
There’s a freaking intense scene with Brian trying to stab Jenny, yeah. That happens. Which Jenny then has to solve the issue and help Brian after he comes to that Zippy is behind this plot to hurt her and their parents. But of course, Brian doesn’t believe her.
Which then segways into the final act, where Zippy has transcended the confines of the computer and hypnotism and now can go through phone lines, explode lightbulbs, roar on all household appliances at once, and talk through big stereo speakers humming ominous threats at the family with disturbing music.
The parents get involved, and some of Jenny’s friends as well. We see a heartfelt realization from Brian when he realizes his sister was trying to look out for him and show that she is the one cares about him, not Zippy. And Zippy may or may not be taken out. As soon as the climax is over, the book ends on a high note.
Phew. A lot to share there. But I think it was worth it. This books is a mixture of various genres. Psychological/Thriller/Slasher/A.I. Fears. And it has a heartfelt tone about siblings growing closer, despite the overwhelming urge to try technology that probably felt so new to them during the time this book released. This book is ahead of its time, in that it comes to slyly talk about the unknowns of technology. And with the unknowns, may lie things like addicition or some set thereof. The technology (Zippy) is used as a wedge between the two main characters from being able to see what they learn through their experiences with it (Zippy). Very well utilized mechanic, impactful, emotional, and kind of deep.
Zippy was fantastic, I could drone on and on about this character. But wow. A+++++. He was creepy, indulgent, impulsive, and violent. With many abilities he gathered while learning the internet he was trapped inside (as the book eluded to).
Yeah, this book deserves a long and glowing review from me. 5⭐️ seems harder to hand out these days, but this book checked off every box I could want in a kids horror book. Good characters with development and evolving relationships, scary antagonist, creepy premise, intimate atmosphere, and off the rails/ahead of its time ideas. If you have never read a single Spinetinglers book, but are massive fans of series with dark edges like Goosebumps Series 2000 or The Nightmare Room, you’d probably enjoy this in some capacity. Maybe not as much as me, but I think you’ll get a kick. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. It’s amazing!
A few things to go over first. This book is, by every sense of the expression, hit the ground running. It wastes absolutely no time introducing the main characters of Jenny and Brian. As well, the satanic electropath villain that is named Zippy. Throughout the read, the story stays pretty on course. Meaning, the entire story essentially circumvents around the computer in Jenny’s room (remember this is the 90’s, but it is ahead of its time with a few things, more on that in a bit) so the atmosphere stays in that intimate vibe throughout the entirety of the story. For those that like little setting changes here and there, there is some school bits thrown in. BUT, don’t let it detour you from trying this. Because this story is dark, tense, and in many ways, too scary for kids I feel.
So Jenny downloads this computer software that sounds common to what was available during the 90’s. Back when the internet was still in it’s pre-Y2K era state. The software contains many features that would’ve been very alluring back then like games, chat rooms, etc. Jenny, and her friends want to play around with the software to see what it can do, but they’re interrupted by Jenny’s brother Brian, who seems significantly younger than Jenny. Brian wants to play around with the computer, but Jenny rejects his wishes. Brian grows angry and Linda the keyboard, storming off. This, birthing by accident the creepiest computer virus thing ever, Zippy.
Zippy wants to play games with Jenny and she agrees to play a game she’s heard of before. But she realizes with her friends that Zippy cheats at games. So they grow tired of playing with Zippy and don’t want to play anymore. Zippy wants to keep playing but Jenny doesn’t pay him any attention.
Throughout the next portions, weird things start happening with Jenny’s computer. She’s plagued by voices, vivid nightmares, and Zippy likes to appear on her computer unannounced at inconvenient times. She grows worrisome considering Zippy is essentially harassing her to play games with him, which she consistently denies by making excuses everytime.
Jenny then decides to reconcile with Brian because she starts to realize that Brian just wants to play with her and be close with her. The sibling relationship angle the story takes gets very touching, as we see Jenny showing Brian how to play games on her computer and they have a blast. Jenny warns Brian though, that this Zippy thing shouldn’t be talked to or messed with. And Brian seems to agree, at first.
It’s later revealed that Brian secretly spent time with Zippy, and now Zippy wants to be Brian’s friend. At the same time though, vowing that Jenny and the kids parents aren’t really Zippy’s friends and now he wants to make their lives miserable and essentially wants to murder them.
I’ll take a moment here, so Zippy is like this deranged kids clown icon thing that randomly gets triggered from Brian’s rage early in the story. Zippy is freaking creepy alright, just know that before we go any further.
Zippy starts to display weird behavior, like manipulating kitchen gadgets, and the garbage disposal. Which now, those scenes will forever live rent free in my head because of how intense it felt reading it. Wow. Anyways, the stakes grow increasingly worrisome for Jenny. As no matter what her friends suggest to her, Brian still uses the computer to talk to Zippy which in turn, causes Zippy to do crazy things. Zippy is revealed to have some sort of hypnotizing abilities when Brian plays a weird game with him, and can use Brian’s physical body as a vessel if he hypnotizes him into Brian’s brain. That’s really the only wonky part of the book, how this works goes unexplained, but it’s implied that the hypnosis of Brian is a physical way for Zippy to “program” himself into human minds.
There’s a freaking intense scene with Brian trying to stab Jenny, yeah. That happens. Which Jenny then has to solve the issue and help Brian after he comes to that Zippy is behind this plot to hurt her and their parents. But of course, Brian doesn’t believe her.
Which then segways into the final act, where Zippy has transcended the confines of the computer and hypnotism and now can go through phone lines, explode lightbulbs, roar on all household appliances at once, and talk through big stereo speakers humming ominous threats at the family with disturbing music.
The parents get involved, and some of Jenny’s friends as well. We see a heartfelt realization from Brian when he realizes his sister was trying to look out for him and show that she is the one cares about him, not Zippy. And Zippy may or may not be taken out. As soon as the climax is over, the book ends on a high note.
Phew. A lot to share there. But I think it was worth it. This books is a mixture of various genres. Psychological/Thriller/Slasher/A.I. Fears. And it has a heartfelt tone about siblings growing closer, despite the overwhelming urge to try technology that probably felt so new to them during the time this book released. This book is ahead of its time, in that it comes to slyly talk about the unknowns of technology. And with the unknowns, may lie things like addicition or some set thereof. The technology (Zippy) is used as a wedge between the two main characters from being able to see what they learn through their experiences with it (Zippy). Very well utilized mechanic, impactful, emotional, and kind of deep.
Zippy was fantastic, I could drone on and on about this character. But wow. A+++++. He was creepy, indulgent, impulsive, and violent. With many abilities he gathered while learning the internet he was trapped inside (as the book eluded to).
Yeah, this book deserves a long and glowing review from me. 5⭐️ seems harder to hand out these days, but this book checked off every box I could want in a kids horror book. Good characters with development and evolving relationships, scary antagonist, creepy premise, intimate atmosphere, and off the rails/ahead of its time ideas. If you have never read a single Spinetinglers book, but are massive fans of series with dark edges like Goosebumps Series 2000 or The Nightmare Room, you’d probably enjoy this in some capacity. Maybe not as much as me, but I think you’ll get a kick. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. It’s amazing!
June 1, 2024
Yeah this was a certified banger. Lemme just get my only negative out of the way—the writing can be a mouthful at times and left confused often in the final few chapters. Things were definitely not worded the best. Besides that, however, this is an amazing take on AI horror. The killer computer themself, Zippy, was a great villain and concept. He’s AI gone nuts in a charming yet disturbing fashion. The characters were good and the friends were very exceptional. Some of the dynamics, like the relationship between Zippy and Brian or Brian and Jenny, were handled really well. Pacing is solid. I also quite liked the resolution to Zippy and all of the things that went into his very slow… well defeat/success would be a spoiler, but it’s one of those!! And the best part of the story was how fucking disturbing it could get. The garbage disposal, the nightmares and that-one-scene-where-blank-gets-possessed-by-blank-and-attempts-blank all added up to make this one of the freakiest kids horror, or even straight up horror, books I’ve ever read. The writing is also mostly good besides that one issue I had. Overall, Yes/10, or a practically perfect score (rounded of course from like a 9.8). Definitely recommend this one and will look forward to more Spinetinglers.
January 15, 2026
9/10
Absolutely incredible read
Absolutely incredible read
August 3, 2024
Fantastic kids horror book with a lotta tension throughout, some dark stuff that happens to the MC and her family, as well as some gripping emotional moments towards the climax of the book. The main villain, Zippy the electropath, is very threatening and creepy throughout the entire book. This one is up there as the best Goosebumps knockoff novel, great stuff!
September 9, 2025
All said, Killer Computer is pretty awesome. It’s silly, yes, but there’s real danger, sharp suspense, and way more edgy than most middle-grade horror dared to throw at kids. Zippy’s not just an evil machine, he’s petty, insecure, and vengeful, which if you ask me, (no one did of course) is the perfect cocktail for a memorable villain. The only downside is that the ending takes too long to get there, but even then it’s still pretty fun.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews