{"product_id":"stranger-things-darkness-on-the-edge-of-town-isbn-9781984819086","title":"Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town","description":"\u003cb\u003eChief 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 \u003ci\u003eStranger Things\u003c\/i\u003e.  \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChristmas, Hawkins, 1984.\u003c\/b\u003e 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?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlthough 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. . . .\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSummer, New York City, 1977\u003c\/b\u003e. 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSoon 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.\u003cb\u003eAdam Christopher\u003c\/b\u003e’s debut novel, \u003ci\u003eEmpire State\u003c\/i\u003e, was \u003ci\u003eSciFiNow\u003c\/i\u003e’s Book of the Year and a \u003ci\u003eFinancial Times \u003c\/i\u003eBook of the Year. His other novels include \u003ci\u003eSeven Wonders, Hang Wire, The Burning Dark\u003c\/i\u003e, and the Ray Electromatic Mysteries series. A contributor to the internationally bestselling \u003ci\u003eStar Wars: From a Certain Point of View \u003c\/i\u003efortieth-anniversary anthology, Christopher has also written the official tie-in novels for the hit CBS television show \u003ci\u003eElementary \u003c\/i\u003eand the award-winning \u003ci\u003eDishonored\u003c\/i\u003e videogame franchise and, with Chuck Wendig, wrote \u003ci\u003eThe Shield \u003c\/i\u003efor Dark Circle\/Archie Comics. Born in New Zealand, Christopher has lived in Great Britain since 2006.CHAPTER ONE\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTHE BIRTHDAY PARTY\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJULY 4, 1977\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBROOKLYN, NEW YORK\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe hallway was white. Walls, floor, ceiling. The works. White on white on white and it did nothing for Hopper except make him feel slightly dizzy. Snow blindness in the inner city. Imagine that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA whole house that was white, top to bottom, every room, every level. Outside it was a Brooklyn brownstone. Inside it was an art installation. Clutching his glass of red wine by the bowl, Hopper was terrified of spilling even a drop.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOnly rich people could live in a house like this, he thought, because only rich people could afford the army of cleaners it must need to keep it just so. Rich people who thought they were Andy Warhol. Rich people who were friends with Andy Warhol, or at least knew his decorator.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd they had kids, too. Two of them—twins, who, even now, were celebrating with a joint birthday party in the vast kitchen at the rear of the house, a kitchen that opened onto a lush garden surrounded by high walls, an impossible oasis hidden in the spaces between row houses, the greenery somehow surviving the baking summer heat that was turning the rest of New York into a dust bowl. The noise of the party reverberated down the spartan hallway in which Hopper had sought solace, at least for a short while, with his ill-chosen drink.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe lifted the glass and peered at the contents. Red wine at a kid’s birthday party.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eYes, the Palmers were that kind of people.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHopper sighed and took a sip. This wasn’t how he had planned to spend the Fourth of July, but he knew he shouldn’t judge. The children—all thirty of them, nearly the whole of Sara’s elementary school class—were having a great time, being entertained by a team of professionals hired just for the occasion by the Palmers, and being fed and watered—and sugared—by a catering crew that were probably being paid more for this one gig than Hopper earned in a whole month.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt wasn’t just the children who were being entertained. The adults were too. Somewhere down the white hall, through one of the many white doors, the parents—minus Hopper—were all gathered around a show put on just for them. Some kind of magic act, someone had said. Diane had tried to persuade Hopper to come along—had even tried dragging him by one arm—but . . . a magic act?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo, he was fine right where he was. Alone. In the hallway of infinite white. With his wine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA roar of laughter came from the kitchen, matched by an almost simultaneous roar from the other end of the hallway. Hopper looked one way, then the other, wondering which act to catch. Then, with a shake of the head as he chided himself for being a party pooper, he headed for the parents. As he opened the door at the end of the hall, he half expected to find beyond a white room with a white grand piano in the center, John Lennon at the keys, Yoko Ono draped over the top.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat he found was another reception room, one of several within the brownstone, this one perhaps slightly less stark than the rest of the house, the white walls at least broken up by the warm brown of ornate, probably original, bookcases.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHopper clicked the door closed behind him and nodded in polite greeting to the other parents standing nearby. They were, Hopper noted, mostly the men, while around the large circular table that occupied most of the room sat the mothers and aunts, their attention fixed on the woman who sat at the “head” of the table, directly opposite the door. The woman was young and wore a red patterned scarf over her head, and sitting on the table in front of her was nothing but a goddamn crystal ball.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHopper’s jaw tightened, but he resisted the urge to check his watch. He felt uncomfortable and out of place, apparently the only man present who hadn’t taken an invitation to a child’s birthday party as an opportunity to dress up. The other fathers were clad mostly in wide-lapel sports jackets in varying earthen shades, with ties to match.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAh, yes, the Model T jacket and tie. Any color you like so long as it’s brown.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSuddenly Hopper didn’t feel quite so bad in his red plaid shirt and blue jeans. At least he was comfortable. Polyester in this heat was not a wise decision—as some of the men around him seemed to have discovered, given the red faces and sheen of sweat on several of them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHopper hid his grin in his wine glass as he drained it, and turned his attention to the scene unfolding in the middle of the room, where Diane sat with the other women—most clad in long, flowing cotton dresses that looked a lot more breathable than the men’s fashion choices—leaning in to listen as the fortune-teller stared into the crystal ball and pretended to read the future of . . . was it Cindy, Tom’s mother?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHopper had lost track. Suddenly he felt like another glass of wine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fortune-teller droned on. She was younger than Hopper would have expected, although he wasn’t really sure what age group fortune-tellers were supposed to be. Weren’t they meant to be old women? Not that it mattered—this was an act, nothing more.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHopper told himself to relax, enjoy the show, stop being such a jerk.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe round of applause that came next snapped Hopper out of his reverie. He looked around the room, and saw that the women at the table were shuffling themselves along, so the next subject was now sitting opposite the fortune-teller.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was Diane. She laughed at something her neighbor said, then glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes lit up when she saw Hopper, and she waved at him to come over.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith a sheepish look to his fellow fathers, Hopper moved forward to stand behind Diane’s chair. His wife held her hand out and he squeezed it, then she looked back up at him with a smile.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe grinned back. “Hey, what are you looking at me for? Madame Mystique here is going to see your future.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt that, the fortune-teller laughed. She pushed back her scarf a little and looked at Hopper. “The past, the present, the future—all ways, all paths are open to me!” She waved her hands over the crystal ball.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDiane grinned and, taking a deep breath, straightened in her chair and closed her eyes. She let her breath out slowly through her nose.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Okay,” she said. “Lay it on me.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe room cheered and the fortune-teller, fighting to hold back her own laughter, rolled her neck and stared intently into the crystal ball, her palms flat on the table either side of it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fortune-teller didn’t speak. Hopper watched as her gaze narrowed, her brows knitting together as she appeared to concentrate. There were some murmurs from the back of the room as some of the men lost interest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd then—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I . . . Oh!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fortune-teller jerked back from the crystal ball. Hopper laid his hand on his wife’s shoulder, and felt her hand rest on his.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fortune-teller closed her eyes, her features twisted as though she was in pain. Hopper felt Diane’s grip tighten around his hand. Hopper started to feel a little uneasy. This was an act, and none of it was real, but something in the room had changed, the lighthearted feeling of fun suddenly evaporating.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe cleared his throat.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fortune-teller opened her eyes and tilted her head as she looked into the crystal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I see . . . I see . . .” Then she shook her head and closed her eyes, screwing them shut tight. “There’s . . . darkness. A cloud . . . no, it’s like a wave, spreading out, sweeping over . . . sweeping over.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDiane shifted in her chair and looked up at Hopper.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Light . . . There’s . . .” The fortune-teller grimaced, like she’d just bitten into a lemon. “There’s . . . No, it’s not light, it’s an . . . absence. A void. Dark, a cloud, like a wave, coming in, sweeping over . . . over . . .”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fortune-teller gasped. Diane jumped in fright, along with half of the people in the room.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHopper shook his head. “Hey, if this is some kind of joke . . .”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe fortune-teller shook her head again, and again, and again. “A darkness. There is nothing but darkness, a great cloud, serpent black . . .”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I think that’s enough,” said Hopper.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The darkness is coming. A night with no end. A day with no dawn. The day of the—”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I said that’s enough!” Hopper thumped the table with his hand. The fortune-teller’s eyes snapped open and she gulped a lungful of air. She blinked several times as she looked around the faces in the room, her own expression one of surprise, like she had just woken from a deep sleep.Lights out in the city that never sleeps","brand":"Random House Worlds","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303742787813,"sku":"NP9781984819086","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781984819086.jpg?v=1767737404","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/stranger-things-darkness-on-the-edge-of-town-isbn-9781984819086","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}