Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds

When I heard that the book Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds would be released, I knew that it was a book that I HAD to read. Usually when there is a brand new book that I am driven to read as soon as possible it is because I already love an author or I’ve read reviews by people who got advanced reader copies that indicate that a book is up my alley. However Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds had a completely different selling point for me than usual: I am a HUGE fan of the Netflix show.  I’ll need to have a whole weekend set aside just for Stranger Things to binge watch the show when the next season comes out. 

To fill my heart that is yearning for the next season of Stranger Things I needed to read the book as soon as I could. However, knowing that it was linked to a Netflix show that has become a cultural sensation also made me nervous. Due to the love that the series has, throwing the Stranger Things brand on a story would make a book sell quite easily. I knew I wanted to read the book, but my dilemma was to buy or not to buy the book. I do like reading the latest fiction, but due to a really tight budget and a small apartment I frequently get newer books from my public library. (I am lucky that I have a library system that is excellent at obtaining newer titles) But I also have a fun collection of horror themed items on top of my bookshelf and a few Stranger Things items are on top of my bookshelf.  So I found a fun happy medium: I got a copy of the book from the library, took a picture of the book with my Stranger Things items and shared the picture on Twitter.

The question burning in my mind was if this would be just as good as the show that I am addicted to. Of course since it was a prequel it does not have any of the characters that I have come to love on the TV show but it shares the story of Terry Ives, who is Eleven’s mother.  Her character has a yearning to be a part of something big and important. She gets involved with a study at the Hawkins National Laboratory where her body is observed by Dr. Martin Brenner. When she discovers that he is misusing his power she is determined to get away….on behalf of her unborn child.

Of course, being a fan of the TV show I was not at all surprised by the ending. However I did find myself emotionally hooked in the story enough to be sobbing at the outcome at the end.  Knowing that Eleven is born in a lab setting and the Dr. Brenner is who she calls Papa I knew that it would not end well. However I got emotionally invested enough in the life of the character to be sobbing at the end of the story when she was told her baby was dead. The element of surprise at an ending is taken away when a book is a prequel to a story that is already known.  Its easy to ask myself why I would pick up a book if that is the case, especially when I have a very active imagination and like making up my own stories. I could have just relied on my own imagined back story—but this is a world that I love and I had to see what the official back story would be…and if its any good or not.

Even though the selling point of this book was that it is the prequel for Stranger Things I felt the story stood well on its own. It is the type of science fiction story I would have enjoyed without the link to the Stranger Things world because I have always been fascinated by stories about human paranormal activity. However one of the big distinctions that this book has that the TV series does not is that the villain is Dr. Brenner—not a creature from another world.  An antagonist that is a human being is always MORE scary because I can’t tell myself that this comes from a world of imagination. What human beings can be capable of are scary.  But they can be awesome and good too—which is why I can’t wait to watch the continuation of Eleven’s story on the next season of the Netflix show!