Reviewed by annieb123 on
Darkness on the Edge of Town is the second tie-in novel for the Stranger Things series. Released 28th May by Penguin Random House on their Del Rey imprint, it's 432 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, audio, and ebook formats.
I don't watch a lot of TV. I actually watch very very little TV (most people would say 'none', though that's not factually accurate, it's not far off). This is why, despite coming highly recommended from my friends, I've not yet actually seen Stranger Things. I am going to get around to binge watching it at some point, but in the meantime, I thought picking up the tie-in novel would be an interesting exercise and give me some background and introduction.
Author Adam Christopher is a prolific and capable author with several extant original series as well as tie-ins for a number of movie and comics franchises. He's quite a competent writer and his command of dialogue and character driven narrative is impressive. I had no problems following the story and in fact, feel a growing desire to turn on the TV and watch the series after having read the book.
This is a background novel giving some character back-story for Chief Hopper from 1977 as he's re-telling the stories to his adopted daughter, El. Not having actually seen the series, I am sure I missed out on a lot of nuanced content, but despite this, I felt that the story itself was easy to follow and well written. I remember the summer of 1977 (and I lived in the northeast Atlantic seaboard, not all that far from NYC), and the sense of time and place conveyed in the narrative is striking, especially considering the author himself was born in 1978.
Well written, readable, enjoyable even without being a (current) fan of the TV series.
Four stars.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes (less)
Reading updates
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- 5 August, 2019: Reviewed