Something for fans of crime novels – review of the book “Stranger Things: Darkness over the city”

piotr markiewiczFrom Hawkins to New York

The action of Stranger Things: Darkness Over the City takes place in July 1977, in New York. It is here, in the police, that the well-known Jim Hopper works. He is a detective in the Homicide Division. His new partner was just Rosario Delgado. Together, they begin to solve the case of the “card killer”. However, it is quickly taken from them by the federals. Then our duo, regardless of the consequences, decide to act on their own. They do not know yet that an occult sect is involved in the killings, and that their lives and their loved ones are at risk.

With the history of the USA in the background

Darkness Over the City is a really great detective story. The author is skilfully leading the plot all the time, and the investigation conducted by Hopper and Delgado does not slow down even for a moment. The dark atmosphere is perfectly intertwined with funny threads. Most of the time we are dealing with an occult sect that makes ritualistic human sacrifice. Our police duo is close to death every now and then, and the lives of their relatives are often at risk. But from time to time we get a goofy building manager or Jim’s fights with the feds. Their dialogues break the dense atmosphere, allow the reader to smile, and in a moment he will tremble again for the fate of the heroes.

Christopher not only leads the main plot very well, but also skillfully weaves into it the real events that took place in the United States in 1977. First of all, it all the time mentions the heat, which reaches even 40 degrees. At times, even the reader can get hot. In addition, the story of the Son of Sam, David Berkovitz, who killed six people in New York at that time and injured several others, appears in the background. We are also dealing with one of the largest power failures in history, which left the city without electricity for 25 hours. By the way, all these threads are connected with the story told by the author. Especially the latter has a significant impact on the events and actions of the murderers.

Eleven and the rest

Darkness over the city is a perfect novel for all fans of crime fiction. What about the fans of the series? In fact, the book hardly connects to Netflix production. Its main character is Jim Hopper. The events are happening at a time when he has just returned from Vietnam, moved to New York and is trying to live normally with his family there. So we can learn more about his wife and daughter. Besides this exception, Eleven also appears several times. Her role, however, comes down to the fact that at first she finds her guardian’s old files and asks him to tell her more about his past. Though reluctant, Hopper succumbs to persuasion and begins to tell his story. And that’s it for the heroine. The other characters known from the screen are mentioned and that’s it. So if someone doesn’t really care about the Hawkins Sheriff, which were not mentioned in the series, he will be rather disappointed. The book could as well be about any other detective.

Temptation of the title

If you fancy an interesting detective story, I can honestly recommend Stranger Things: Darkness over the City . The reader becomes attached to the heroes very quickly and willingly participates in their investigation, cheering for them. The author skilfully guides us through successive places and events. There are, however, moments of scary, surprising twists, but there is also a pinch of humor. Until the very end, we are curious who is behind the murders. It is a novel that is hard to break away from. At the same time, it’s a shame that the book has so little to do with Stranger Things itself . Apart from the title, the main role of Jim Hopper and the guest appearance of Eleven, we don’t have too many references to the series and its fans may feel disappointed. On the other hand, Darkness over the city tells such an engaging story that we will quickly forget about Hawkins and go to New York to solve the case of the “card killer” and a certain sect.