Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds: The first official Stranger Things novel

1969, Hawkins, Indiana: Dr. Martin Brenner has arrived at the Hawkins National Laboratory with a five-year-old girl under his care. She is referred to as #8. Brenner is in a transitional phase with his covert experiments–he has the need for his subjects to be older and more refined. The project is classified but is under MK-ULTRA. Terry Ives is a young college student looking to make some extra cash and jumps at an opportunity to serve as a research subject. She joins an eclectic group at the laboratory, where Terry discovers that they are being given LSD and having their dreams dissected and movements guided by Brenner and his associates. On one surreptitious foray through the lab, she discovers Kali, a quiet young girl who desires a friend. Kali is being tested on and is fearful of the man she calls “Papa.” Terry and her new group of friends soon find themselves at loggerheads with Brenner’s agenda and want to quit. But getting out may be hard, if not impossible.

Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds is an excellent prequel to the Netflix series. Gwenda Bond has done an admirable job of capturing the grotesque science and paranoia that lay at the heart of the show. She fleshes out the characters, particularly Brenner, and makes them each her own. A highly enjoyable book, even if you are new to the show.