Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

The second novel tie-in to the Netflix series is stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town. That being said, this novel is very different from the Netflix series. Darkness on the Edge of Town follows a story as told by Jim Hopper.

This is the tale of Jim Hopper before he got involved with the events of season one of Stranger Things. This is the story of Jim Hopper’s time as a homicide detective in New York City. Yes, you read that one right.

This novel is set after Hopper’s time in Vietnam but before Sara became sick. And obviously, well before the events of the Netflix series.

So don’t go into this novel expecting something just like Stranger Things. While you will see cameos from Eleven, this story revolves around Hopper and his significantly less supernatural past. This novel as a procedural crime book with some minor supernatural elements.

Writing

Adam Christopher did a brilliant job making Jim Hopper’s past come to life. It’s so easy to forget that his character had seen and done many things before the series we love so much even began. But the truth is that his character has already gone through hell, several different versions.

Thankfully, Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town doesn’t follow some more traumatic parts of Hopper’s past. Instead, it focuses on one investigation he was involved in during his time in NY. The way they tied his past and his present was pretty clever. The story is being told as if it was a story. This whole book is about Hopper talking to El about his past. Cute, right?

While it was a clever way to do things, I’ll confess that the occasional jumps back to the present did impact the immersion of the storytelling. There may have been ways around this, but doing any of that might have diminished the effects of having this novel be a tie-in.

Development

The main plot of Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town was pretty interesting, especially if you look at it as a procedural crime novel. It’s just one that also includes characters we know and love. It was great seeing Hopper work, as well as the dynamics of the city at that time.

The pacing was well done, except for the occasional jumps in time that I mentioned earlier. As the plot became more intense, more perspectives were added to the novel. Suddenly, we weren’t just hearing the story from Hopper’s side. It was an interesting choice, but it did help with the pacing. And it lets us see more of the whole picture.

My biggest complaint about this novel would have to be that it got a little bit meta. This novel pulled in real-life events and tried to explain them (by being the cause of those events, that is). I may be in the minority here, but I don’t like those twists.

Conclusion

Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town was brilliant in that it made Hopper’s character feel more real than ever before. It was a fun read, one that was relatively fast-paced. As far as procedural crime novels go, this wasn’t bad. It was undoubtedly enhanced by having a character we’re already fond of.

I’d say that this novel could be enjoyed, as long as you don’t go into it expecting it to be anything like Stranger Things. About all it has in common are the characters. And a minor tie-in with some things that could be considered borderline supernatural.

This review was originally written for Word of the Nerd, but has been ported over to Quirky Cat’s Fat Stacks now that the site has shut down.

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