Say My Name! Say My Name! is the fourth book in the Goosebumps House of Shivers book series. It was released in 2025.[1]
The cover illustration depicts a strange purple and blue fish with sharp teeth (somewhat resembling a seahorse), blowing bubbles in a creek within a strange looking forest with bright green skies. Two kids can be seen in the background, one holding a fishing pole.
Blurb[]
SOMETHING FISHY IS GOING ON!
What happens when a talking fish, a runaway dog, and a herd of hoglike creatures descend on the woods behind Cody Brachman’s house? An absolute nightmare! His friend Sam wanted to stay inside and play video games all day, but Cody insisted they go wading in the creek. What starts as a fun morning in the water quickly turns into the scariest day the two friends have ever experienced. If Cody can’t figure out why everything is going wrong, he’s worried he won’t live to swim another day!
Plot[]
Part One[]
Cody Brachman is bored and he just wants to go out to the creek out back and go swimming. . But his friend Sam Marcum wants to show him his new video game, as he has gotten into video game design. He's developed a video game that features both himself and Cody, using AI. He starts the game as the two head out. Cody's father warns the kids about going since the recent rainfall has made it deeper than usual. The kids insist however and when they get to the river, they go in. Suddenly, something wraps around Cody's ankle and he finds himself being pulled down into the water. Sam saves him in time, noting that 's some sort of snake, which is odd because Cody doesn't quite remember many snakes in the creek. Cody's dog Ollie falls in and the the follow him. Cody then notices a strange looking trout on the ground. He picks it up and is about to chuck it back into the creek, when it suddenly whispers "Say my name, say my name!".
Part Two[]
One week earlier, Cody and Sam are attending a school assembly as a ventriloquist named Buddy Harwood is there to perform. Harwood asks for a volunteer to teach how to throw their voice. Cody ends up being picked but he ends up burping.
Part Three[]
Back in the present, Cody thinks the talking fish is just Sam throwing his voice. They argue before deciding to go back to following Ollie. They find the dog, as he is fighting a hog-like creature. The kids fight it off and run away. They find Sam's sailboat and notice that not matter how they keep swimming to it, the distance remains the same. They seem be in the same place no matter what they do. However, soon they are able to move on, as they see a buzzard. They bump into two kids they know from school, Darby Duncan and Marissa Zaks. Cody asks for directions but gets mocked so instead he checks Google Maps. But all he gets is a voice saying "Say my name" again. Ollie runs away again and goes inside a cabin. They check and the dog is nowhere to be found. Darby and Marissa promise to find Ollie as Cody and Sam head home. They find their way back, where Cody's parents seem to be gone. Instead, there's an old lady inside who says that this is her house and that she doesn't like pranksters. She warns them of her son, who lives nearby and is a cage fighter. Cody tries to prove this is his house but all of his stuff is gone. The lady's son Carl arrives to threaten the kids but he lets them go as they promise it was a misunderstanding. They leave but Carl catches up to them and whispers "Say my name, say my name".
Part Four[]
Darby and Marissa are looking for Ollie when they bump into the hog creature. They try to fight it off and just as it seems bleak, they notice a baby hog creature that makes all the others back off. They leave and things are calm again. However, the girls notice that their hands have been replaced with hooves.
Part Five[]
Cody and Sam head to Sam's house, where there is no one to be found except for Sam's cat Sparky. While they're here, Sam shows off the game he's making as well as sketches he made for it. Cody notices some of the sketches are of the hog creatures they were fighting, and there is also one of Carl. They realize that the game is somehow coming to life. Sam thinks he may be right and reveals the game is called "Say My Name! Say My Name!". They play the game to see if they can find any answers. However, Sparky jumps on Sam's laptop and ends up deleting the game. They hope this means things are back to normal but when they call Cody's house, they just get Carl. Thankfully, Sam kept a backup but before anything else can happen, Spark says "Say my name! Say my name!". Cody suggests deleting the backup but Sam gets defensive, as he worked so hard on it. Sam's older brother Dougie comes in and reveals he made some changes to the game. He found it boring and added a few scary things, but before he can say more Darby and Marissa arrive to show off their hoof hands. This is one of the changes Dougie made. He is forced to fix it in the game but nothing happens in real life. Sam's parents arrive and Dougie reveals he put them in the game and made them monsters. Sure enough, they start to transform into monsters. Sam's Mom picks up Cody and starts to eat him.
Part Six[]
Suddenly, Cody wakes up in his room, with Ollie licking his face. He thinks it was all just a dream. But when he leaves the room, he sees words that say Level Two. Then Ollie says "Say My Name! Say My Name!". Darby shows, up no longer having hooves. It's her birthday and he's expected to show up for her party. Cody brings up everything that happened to them but she doesn't recall any of it. He visits Sam, who thankfully remembers everything and doesn't know how to fix it. Cody brings up Dougie and Sam says he doesn't have a brother. He suggests deleting the game but Sam is still unsure about deleting all his hard work. In frustration, Cody picks up a hammer Sam and had been using and smashes the laptop, hoping that will fix things. They move on to Darby's birthday, which is being held at a stable. The kids get on horses and Cody's horse says "Say My Name! Say My Name!". The boys begin to ride their horses when the horses suddenly run backwards. After they get knocked off, they wonder what's going on. The game is still coming despite both copies being destroyed. Before they can question things before, they are attacked by a swarm of killer flies which Sam mentioned programing earlier. Sam says he made it to so that the only way to stop them is to eat one. Cody does so but nothing happens. They run and come upon the cabin again, hiding in the basement of it. They notice the rope that lead down there vanishes once they get to the bottom. Then they hear a strange voice, which says "Say My Name! Say My Name!".
Suddenly, there's a bright light and then only the words "ERRROR 404". They are in a white void with only those words. Then they find are suddenly back in the woods, where Sam realizes what is going on. The reason why is happening is because they aren't real. He thinks they just avatars in the game based on a real world Sam and Cody. All of the perils were pre-programmed, and these two were always meant to encounter them because they're characters. They think they may be trapped in here forever but Sam has idea. Since they keep here the title phrase so much, they can just say their names and it'll fix things. However, they forget their names. They think they are programmed to forget their names. Sam looks to the sky and shouts "reboot!".
Cody and Sam are back in the woods, repeating everything they did at the start of the book. They decide to go swimming against their dad's wishes.
Audiobook[]
| Audiobook | Release date | Length | Narrated by | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
March 2025 | 2 hours, 35 minutes | Joey Nasser & Annalee Scott | Scholastic Inc. |
Trivia[]
- This book contains the most separated parts to a story with six.
- The structure of the title is similar to that of the title of the Goosebumps SlappyWorld book ''It's Alive! It's Alive!"
- The title is also similar to the title of a song by Destiny's Child.
- Cody Brachman shares the same surname as Liam Brachman, protagonist of the standalone R.L. Stine book Shark Night.
- Copies of this book feature a preview for the first book in the House of Shivers series, Scariest. Book. Ever., instead of the next book in the series, The Last Sleepover. This is also a case for the advertisement on the back of the book.
- This is one of very few Goosebumps books where both the main and secondary protagonist are the same gender.
- This is one of few Goosebumps books to shift POV to another character.
- This book features two chapters that contain the least amount of words in any Goosebumps book chapter, as both Chapters 41 and 42 are single pages with the only the chapter numbers and the titles "ERROR 404" on them and no actual story text.
- When adding in the blank pages for five of the six parts to the story, as well as the pages for the parts themselves, this is also the Goosebumps book with the most blank and filler pages that count for overall page count.
- This book references Google Maps, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Chicago Cubs, Minecraft and Barnaby Jones.