Jason Stoves doesn't like his old, outdated bedroom furniture. Unfortunately, his parents can't afford any better, until they bring home an antique dresser and mirror. Soon after, Jason discovers there's something strange about the mirror when he sees and hears ghostly images in it, and finds a note warning him that to bring the mirror into his home is to bring in death...
Due to legal issues between Stine and Scholastic, this was the last book of Series 2000 to be published.
This book provides examples of:
- Big Brother Bully: Claudia to Jason, making her a rare sister example for the series.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover has a hand coming out of a mirror. The monsters in the book are actually crab monsters, thus no hands.
- Darker and Edgier: There's a few standout moments such as Fred beating Jason to a bloody pulp and Jason stabbing the crab monster with its claw.
- Eye Scream: During his fight with the mirror monster that's trying to replace him, Jason rips out its eyes.
- Giant Enemy Crab: The creature in the mirror is a big crab monster.
- Here We Go Again!: The mirror is destroyed, but it turns out the dresser contains a hairy snake-like creature, who asks if Jason got his note about the mirror.
- Kill and Replace: Or at least kidnap and replace. It's what the monsters in the mirror try to do to their victims, pulling them into the mirror dimension and taking their place in the real world.
- Magic Mirror: The mirror in this book acts as a portal to another dimension.
- Mirror Monster: The mirror is revealed to lead to a dimension where crab-like people exist, who seek to trap normal people in their world and, after changing into duplicates of the trapped people, take their place outside.
- Never Trust a Title: There is no ghost in the mirror, just a crab monster.
- Spoiler Cover: The french cover gives away that the monsters in the mirror are crab people.
