Chief Jim Hopper reveals long-awaited secrets to Eleven about his old life as a police detective in New York City, confronting his past before the events of the hit show Stranger Things.
Christmas, Hawkins, 1984. All Chief Jim Hopper wants is to enjoy a quiet first Christmas with Eleven, but his adopted daughter has other plans. Over Hopper’s protests, she pulls a cardboard box marked “New York” out of the basement—and the tough questions begin. Why did Hopper leave Hawkins all those years ago? What does “Vietnam” mean? And why has he never talked about New York?
Although he’d rather face a horde of demogorgons than talk about his own past, Hopper knows that he can’t deny the truth any longer. And so begins the story of the incident in New York—the last big case before everything changed. . . .
Summer, New York City, 1977. Hopper is starting over after returning home from Vietnam. A young daughter, a caring wife, and a new beat as an NYPD detective make it easy to slip back into life as a civilian. But after shadowy federal agents suddenly show up and seize the files about a series of brutal, unsolved murders, Hopper takes matters into his own hands, risking everything to discover the truth.
Soon Hopper is undercover among New York’s notorious street gangs. But just as he’s about to crack the case, a blackout rolls across the boroughs, plunging Hopper into a darkness deeper than any he’s faced before.
The story opens in Hawkins, 1984 and Hopper and Eleven first Christmas together. Let there be Eggos™! She wants a story, one about his past life and she pulls out a box marked New York. Hopper reluctantly shares his last case there. One that took place in the summer of 1977, one that forever changed him….
And I was hooked! Narrated by David Pittu I was quickly pulled into the boys’ club at the NYPD as Hopper and his new “female” partner are working a weird case of homicides only to have federal agents come in and pull their files. Hooper can’t let it go and once you open pandora’s box there is no going back. Street gangs, ties to the past, and strange happenings had me hooked.
Car chases, power outages, creepy vibes and sinister plots made for an entertaining mystery. The author brought the late 70s to life with pop cultural references and even successfully wove in the 1977 New York Blackout into the tale giving it a vibe of plausibility.
David Pittu narrates and does a good job with the characters, atmosphere and enhances the overall tale. This was a fun listen.
While it isn’t necessary to have watched Stranger Things to enjoy this story, I think fans will appreciate this and other stories between seasons when they are in need of a fix. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer
Reading updates
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Started reading
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30 June, 2019:
Finished reading
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30 June, 2019:
Reviewed
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Started reading
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30 June, 2019:
Finished reading
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30 June, 2019:
Reviewed