Before rereading this book, my memory of the plot was hazy, but the imagery was incredibly clear: the homemade Nile river that ran through Cleo’s home and the flowers and tealights that floated on the water, her sparkling jewelry and the Egyption-themed fashion photoshoot that the RAD girls modeled for on the backs of camels. Cleo de Nile takes up her own narrative in the second installment of the Monster High series, alongside returning POV characters Frankie Stein and Melody Carver. THE GHOUL NEXT DOOR sees the fallout from the Merston High prom, in which the RADs showed their true selves and sent the town into a panic, resulting in strict curfews and RADs going deeper undercover than ever before. 

Cleo struggles to retain her popularity with communication all but cut off, while Melody keeps the secrets of the RADs from threat of mean-girl Bekka, and Frankie takes the blame for losing her head (literally) and exposing the existence of RADs. Normie allies help the RADs brainstorm a documentary, sharing the title “The Ghoul Next Door”, which would allow the RADs to safely tell their stories to the normie community with their faces blurred to protect themselves. Much to Cleo’s dismay, the girls agree to do the documentary and turn down a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do a photoshoot with Teen Vogue.  I loved how this book tackled the social consequences of the RADs being known to the normies and the scramble for everyone to keep their identities on the down-low — even one particular RAD whose own identity is a secret to himself, DJ Hyde. DJ’s alternate personality, Jackson Jekyll, films himself answering questions about life as a RAD for the documentary and includes footage of his own transformation into DJ. DJ watches his back in horror during the first screening of the documentary, unknowing that there was a “nerd inside of [him]”.  

Trust is broken when Blue, Lala, and Clawdeen learn that Cleo conspired with Bekka to edit the documentary and expose the identities of the RADs, and the trio ditch the Teen Vogue shoot to support the filming team. With no one to photograph with, Cleo ropes in Melody and Candace, and Melody’s presence is nothing short of commanding as she uses only her voice to wrangle the frantic animals on set. Melody’s identity is even called into question when a friend of Cleo’s remarks that she shares a striking resemblance to a woman he once knew who had a unique nose, similar to Melody’s before her reconstructive surgery. 

I have to agree with other readers that Cleo’s life and ancestry is exoticized in this book, and it’s strange that Cleo is completely okay with her culture being exploited. Appropriation and exoticism/tokenism is a much larger issue in Book Four, all of which really hurt the message of the Monster High Franchise.

Unlike the other books I own in this series, NEXT DOOR is a paperback and therefore features the elusive thirteenth chapter that is skipped over (due to its unlucky nature) in the hardcover editions. This chapter, titles “Snatch Me if You Can”, takes on Ghoulia’s perspective. As a zombie, Ghoulia’s life seems slow and quiet, but readers learn that Ghoulia loves comic books and even rides an electric scooter she calls Dead Fast. In this secret thirteenth chapter, she has a crash-landing meet-cute with fellow zombie Sloman “Slo Mo” Mortavitch. I also grew so fond of Billy (InvisiBilly) through his own quick POV chapters, and the words that slowly fade from view as you read. Billy is genuinely funny and sweet, and I loved getting to know more of the side characters.