The Goosebumps book where a camp has ghosts and a really creepy lake.
Sarah Maas (no relation) really doesn't like swimming. Or going to camp. But her parents signed her up for Camp Cold Lake anyway, which is focused on water-based sports. Soon after arriving though, she learns the camp may be haunted... by the ghost of a girl who Sarah believes to have drowned in the lake.
It is one of the nineteen original series books that was not adapted into the TV series.
The book provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: It's confirmed that you can die at Camp Cold Lake, and the counselors will cover it up to ensure parents keep enrolling their kids. Sarah nearly becomes a casualty when she drowns in the lake. It's not that you'll drown most of the time; the woods are filled with poisonous snakes that you will trample on by accident. And of course, you'd only be in the woods if running away from camp, meaning no one knows where you are and you'll die alone succumbing to the poison. The worst part? At least two kids (and probably three by the end of the book) have died this way.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Sarah eventually gets fed up with Della stalking her and whispering at her that she suddenly shrieks, "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP - AND Leave Me Alone!" Unfortunately for her, Briana happened to show up and hear her outburst, and she thought that Sarah was screaming all of that towards her. This causes Sarah to awkwardly explain herself.
- Bowdlerise: The ebook removes a few unflattering statements about Meg's weight. It also tones down Liz's rather sexualized description.
- Butt-Monkey: Sarah, where nothing goes right for her. From getting rejected by her bunkmates, abandoned in the middle of the lake, nearly drowning, having her brother Aaron outshining her in practically every aspect...
- Covers Always Lie: The famous cover features a red-eyed skull with no nose rising out of the water. This creature never shows up in the book, and instead the antagonist is a ghost girl who, despite being partly transparent, is normal enough that Sarah doesn't immediately realize she's even a ghost.
- Didn't Think This Through: Sarah admits she can't swim but she can hold her breath, and due to a few days of bullying she convinces her counselor to let her swim alone. No one is wearing lifejackets, and the water isn't buoyant. Cue Sarah diving to the bottom of the lake, holding her breath... and she drowns for real because remember, she can't swim. The counselor was fortunately on the ball and pulled her out while administering CPR. This, plus Sarah forcibly running from an afterlife version of the camp, saved her, for the time being at least.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Sarah's bunkmates Briana, Meg and Jan all indulge in this. First, Sarah nearly has a panic attack at the thought of sleeping next to a screen-less window and bugs getting in, so she convinces a counselor to switch Briana to the empty bed so Sarah can have the bed Briana was occupying, infuriating Briana and Meg because they wanted to share bunk beds. Annoying? Yes, but the girls still share the same cabin and Briana and Meg are still sleeping within mere feet of each other. Then Sarah accidentally offends Meg about her height but doesn't really insult her, as Meg was the one who complained about her shortness in the first place and rudely snapped at Sarah when she tried to insert herself into the conversation, and then got mad when Sarah tried to agree with her. Sarah then reveals to everyone that Jan has asthma, and it was an honest accident as well, plus even if accidental, it was the right thing to do anyway, as Jan hiding her condition could've very easily put her health at risk. The three girls react to these rather annoying yet minor offenses that Sarah apologized for by shunning and bullying her, including pretending to be friendly so they can slip a snake down her back, and Jan even tips the canoe as revenge, knowing that Sarah's a bad swimmer, and then tells the counselor that Sarah did it. Fortunately, they realize they went too far after Sarah nearly drowns.
- Downer Ending: The story ends with Sarah's imminent death by snakebite at Briana's hands, so they can be ghost buddies forever. Considering how miserable her life was, she might not mind...
- Epileptic Flashing Lights: Sarah can feel them when staying under the water as she's drowning, and she notes that they are as bright as flashbulbs.
- Exact Words: The counselors tell Sarah that no camper has ever drowned while mentioning that Sarah was the exception, but are looking shifty. She's convinced they're lying. Della admits that the counselors were right; she didn't drown, a snake bit her when she tried to run away through the woods.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Sarah is the foolish to her brother Aaron's responsible.
- Foregone Conclusion: Subverted. You have to wonder how Sarah Maas is telling her story, or to who, given that her book ends with her about to be bitten by a venomous snake with no hope of rescue or help). Though since ghosts are the Monster of the Week for this book, this could simply mean that she's narrating the story as a ghost herself, or from the afterlife if she agreed to remain Brianna's friend and cross over with her.
- Foreshadowing:
- Early in the book, Sarah keeps emphasizing that she is a terrible swimmer. When she gets the idea to pretend to drown and scare her cabin mates, she ends up nearly drowning for real and attracts the attention of a ghost named Della. It's only because a counselor gives her CPR that she lives.
- At one point, Briana scares Sarah with a snake which hints at the twist that reveals she was killed via snake by Della the year prior, and she is prepared to have Sarah killed the same way.
- In her outburst, which Briana happened to overhear in the vicinity, Sarah tells her that she was talking to Della and pointed at her. Briana looks at where Sarah is pointing, and the strangest expression spread over her face. That's because she actually recognizes Della, who killed her last year because she wanted Briana to be her buddy.
- Gang of Bullies: Sarah's bunkmates Jan, Meg and Briana, who at least had an excuse, if a flimsy one, for disliking Sarah, but still bully, shun and play cruel pranks on her for very little reason, though they apologize and become friends with her later in the book.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: At the end of the book, Sarah vows to learn from Brianna's example that she will not be afraid of camp anymore and become a nicer person, so that no other camper will be murdered by Della. Brianna then reveals that Della did kill her, and picks up a poisonous snake to bite Sarah and have a "buddy" for life.
- I'm Cold... So Cold...: Sarah suddenly feels this way while she's drowning, which she realizes all of a sudden and makes her shudder.
- Kids Are Cruel: Sarah's cabinmates Briana, Jan and Meg. While there's no denying that Sarah's awkwardness and fears can be annoying, the three girls seriously overreact to Sarah's relatively minor and accidental transgressions and delight in bullying her without any signs of remorse or pity (though they feel guilty and apologize later in the book).
- Never Trust a Title: There is no real curse of camp cold lake. At one point Liz comments that people think their obsession with safety is a "curse", but that's about it.
- Nightmare Face: The skeletal girl on the cover. The all-the-way-open and unblinking eyes don't help.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished:
- Sarah goes to counsellor Richard for help after seeing Della stalking her around the camp, and he advises her to pick a sport to focus on such as water skiing, to which he explains that this would make her think so hard about her new skill that she wouldn't have time to worry about ghosts. Sarah eventually decides to take Richard's advice and take up said sport, and she nearly dies in her attempt at trying it, courtesy of Della. Furthermore, this incident is what finally causes Sarah to lose her sanity and head towards the nearby woods to escape from this camp, which is where she most likely winds up dead due to a snake bite.
- Also, she was so paranoid and scared by seeing Della all over the camp after nearly dying that she's prepared to call her parents and get out of this camp. But Aaron begged her not to do so, as he says that he is having the best summer of his life, and didn't want to go back home with her so early. She reluctantly decides to give up and stay. This turns out to be a big mistake, as she gets in even more turmoil the next day and there are heavy implications that she is about to be killed after all of her trouble.
- No Social Skills: Sarah Maas, the main character. She's quite awkward around people, letting her fears, panic, urges and moods take over and causing reactions that make people find her weird and/or off-putting, aided by Sarah's habit of speaking without thinking. To wit, in her first few minutes at camp, she nearly has a panic attack upon realizing that the only available bunk in her cabin is right by a window with no metal screen on it and she's scared to death of bugs coming in, basically begging a counselor to have a cabinmate switch her already taken bunk with Sarah's; she also insults another bunkmate's height without meaning to and accidentally reveals that her third cabinmate has asthma (she was hiding it because the counselors would limit her activities at camp if they knew). All of this is not helped at all by the fact that Sarah hates the outdoors and clearly does not want to be in a summer camp, especially one where the only activities are based on being in the water and she's a bad swimmer as it is.
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: The book ends with Sarah about to be killed by Brianna, but if she agrees to remain Brianna's "buddy", she and Brianna can at least pass on to the afterlife and rest in peace. They would still be dead, but they could rest in peace and wait for their families to eventually join them there.
- Rule of Pool: Or lake, if it fits... while arguing with her brother Aaron and trying to convince him she's serious about running away from camp, Sarah gave him a shove too hard and ends up pushing Aaron into the titular lake. She did quickly apologize afterwards as he got out, but that's among the very few instances in the story where the usually calm and level-headed Aaron loses his cool.
- Snow Means Death: The campgrounds that Sarah sees around her while she briefly drowns has snowflakes falling from the sky, in contrast to the summer air that she just observed, signifying that this is the afterlife.
- Summer Campy: Camp Cold Lake is a camp home to ghosts and venomous snakes.
- Too Dumb to Live: Sarah can't swim, but she can hold her breath and her bunkmates have been bullying her. So she convinces the counselor to let her swim in the lake alone during the activity and tries to pretend to drown. Only... she drowns for real. It's only her refusal to move onto the afterlife with Della and the counselor administering CPR that saves here.
- Turbine Blender: Narrowly averted. Della attempts to kill Sarah by running her over with a motorboat while she's in the water. She ducks down as the boat collided head-on with her. She is nearly decapitated by the boat's motor blades, but instead sliced her life vest in two.
- Trying Not to Cry: Sarah does this to herself when she is tricked by her bunkmates into thinking that someone threw firecrackers into the campfire, causing her to start running full speed and making a fool of herself, and she ordered herself to not cry in front of the whole camp.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Della is described as having "white-blond hair", and is the lead villain of the book.
- Wolf Whistle: Several boys at the campfire on the first night at camp do this trope when Liz is introduced as their counselor.
