SUSPICIOUS MINDS will provide backstory for a mysterious STRANGER THINGS character!
Stranger Things has captivated television viewers with two intense seasons and now, it’s branching into the world of books.
Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds is the first book representing a new publishing deal between Netflix and Del Ray books. Written by author Gwenda Bond (Girl On A Wire, Lois Lane: Fallout), the novel will follow Eleven’s birth mother Terry Ives and her time as a test subject in the MKUltra program.
Terry’s involvement with the program was alluded to on the show but hasn’t been thoroughly explored yet.
EW has the first look at the book’s outrageously 80s-style cover along with an excerpt that doesn’t feature Terry but does include other familiar characters like Dr. Brenner and Kali Prasad aka “Eight”. Take a look!
July 1969
Hawkins National Laboratory
Hawkins, Indiana
The man drove an immaculate black car along a flat Indiana road, slowing when he came to a chain link gate with a Restricted Area sign. The guard stationed there peered in the window for the briefest moment, then checked his license plate and waved him through.
The lab clearly anticipated his arrival. Maybe they’d even followed the directions and specifications he sent ahead about preparing his new domain.
When he reached the next guard booth, he cranked down the window to present his identification to the soldier serving as security officer. The soldier studied his license and avoided looking him in the eye. People often did.
He had nothing but attention for new people, at least at first—an assessment quick as a thought, cataloguing them: sex, height, weight, ethnicity, and from there a guess at intelligence, and then, most important, a guess at potential. Almost everyone was less interesting after the last. But he never gave up. Looking, assessing, was second nature, a crucial element of his work. Most people had nothing to interest him, but those who did… They were why he was here.
“Welcome, Mr. Martin Brenner,” the soldier said finally, squinting between the man and the plastic card.
Funny that his ID contained some of the information Brenner would have wanted if he were looking at himself: male, 6’1”, 195 pounds, white. The rest: genius IQ, potential…limitless.
“We were told to expect you,” the soldier added.
“Dr. Brenner,” he corrected the man, but gently.
The narrowing of a gaze that still didn’t quite look at Brenner but darted into the backseat where five-year-old subject Eight slept curled against the door. Her hands were balled into fists under her small chin. He’d preferred to oversee her transport to the new facility himself.
The skepticism came through. Eight’s skin was a rich shade of brown in contrast to his own milky pale hue, which Brenner could have told the man meant nothing. But it was none of the man’s business, and besides he wasn’t wrong. Brenner was no one’s father. Father figure, yes.
That was as far as it went.
“I’m sure they’re waiting for me inside.” Brenner studied the man again. A soldier back home from a past war, a war they’d already won. Unlike Vietnam. Unlike the quiet escalation with the Soviets. They were already engaged in a war for the future, but this man didn’t know that. Brenner kept his tone friendly. “I wouldn’t ask questions when the other subjects arrive. Confidentiality.”
READ THE FULL EXCERPT HERE!
Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds is due out on February 5, 2019. Preorder it now via Amazon or support your local bookstore via Indiebound!
