It’s the summer of 1969, and the shock of conflict reverberates through the youth of America. As a student at a quiet college campus in the heartland of Indiana, Terry Ives couldn’t be farther from the front lines of Vietnam or the protests in Washington.

 But the world is changing, and Terry isn’t content to watch. When word gets around about an important government experiment in the small town of Hawkins, she signs on as a test subject for the project, code-named MKULTRA. The remote lab, deep in the woods, contains a mystery Terry is determined to uncover.

 Behind the walls of Hawkins National Laboratory—and the piercing gaze of its director, Dr. Martin Brenner—lurks a conspiracy greater than Terry could have ever imagined. To face it, she’ll need the help of her fellow test subjects, including a young girl with unexplainable superhuman powers and a number instead of a name: 008.

 Amid the rising tensions of the new decade, Terry Ives and Martin Brenner have begun a different kind of war—one where the human mind is the battlefield.

You remember hearing about Stranger Things when it was first announced? I do. That first poster came out, and it was just atmospheric af. Will’s bike on the ground…Mike & Dustin & Lucas looking at it while the Hawkins National Laboratory looms in the background. The show was going to be steeped in 80’s nostalgia, a veritable love letter to Steven Spielberg & Stephen King….hell, they even used the “Stephen King font” for the logo! Everything about this show just felt deeply personal, and incredibly special, even before its release.

And goddamn, did it ever deliver on all those promises. I love everything about Stranger Things. It’s so well acted, it looks rad as hell, and it fucking murders my feelings, time & time again. And goddamn, that amazing theme song will be running through my head FOR THE REST OF TIME. It goes without saying that I was thrilled to hear they were going to be publishing Stranger Things novels, starting with Gwenda Bond’s Suspicious Minds. And this was a solid first entry…it didn’t blow me away, but it definitely felt very Stranger Things, and gave some key background information on a couple characters with pretty tragic story arcs.

OH, IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED STRANGER THINGS SEASON TWO, AND ARE PLANNING TO, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY LEAVE NOW.

DID YOU LEAVE?

ok…

So, when we meet Terry Ives on the show, she’s deeply unwell. We get bits & pieces of what happened to her, but Suspicious Minds is the story of how Terry got mixed up with Dr. Martin Brenner & the Hawkins Lab in the first place. The story takes place in the late 1960’s, and in keeping with the Stranger Things propensity for nostalgia, it’s full of references to things happening in the culture at the time: Woodstock, the Vietnam War, the moon landing.

Terry Ives is a college student, and in an attempt to make a little bit of extra money, she volunteers to take part in scientific experiments at the Hawkins Lab. And that’s how she meets Dr. Brenner, who will slowly & systematically destroy her mind & ruin her life. One thing Gwenda Bond does extremely well in this book is sell you on just how insidious & evil Brenner truly is.

Terry makes a few really good friends who are also volunteering at the lab, and they, along with Terry’s sister, roommate, and boyfriend form the group at the center of the story. Time stretches on, and Terry & her friends begin to realize just how nightmarish & fucked up things really are at the Hawkins Lab, so they decide to do something about it.

Prequel stories can be tricky, of course. I mean, you know how it shakes out for Terry in the end (again, assuming you’ve watched the show!), but her story is still pretty compelling. Terry’s time in the lab also helps the reader imagine what things might’ve been like for Eleven, beyond the flashbacks that we see in the show.

Gwenda Bond is also really good at characterizations, I’d say. The group of friends in this book is really unique & diverse & rather likable!

I love the idea of expanding this amazing world…I guess I’m at least a teensy bit skeptical about how many novels they’d be able to squeeze out of different characters’ backstories, but I’m along for the ride no matter what. Super curious to see what else comes our way! Even though there’s only been two seasons (which are endlessly rewatchable), Stranger Things has for sure become one of my favorite shows OF EVER, and I’m delighted to get to experience this world in formats beyond the show. Suspicious Minds is definitely worth a look if you are a fan of the show!

P.S. With Suspicious Minds & Adam Christoper’s Darkness on the Edge of Town, do you think all the Stranger Things novels will be named after songs?

P.P.S. Here is a picture I didn’t totally love but the blasted out tree reminded me of the Demogorgon