You know you’re a true Stranger Things fan when the two-hour season four finale wasn’t enough to keep you satisfied. As we’re all eagerly waiting for the last installments, you’re going to need a new form of entertainment. Or, at least, something to keep you occupied in between re-watches.
If you loved Stranger Things for its thrills, chills, and band of amateur sleuths, there’s sure to be something here for you. We’ve put together our top 10 book recommendations for those of you eagerly anticipating Stranger Things season 5.
It’s important to note that we haven’t included any of the actual Stranger Things books — but you can check those out too!
Books for Stranger Things Fans
If you can’t stop referencing the iconic “Chrissy wake up” scene, My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix is for you. This tale is set in the 1980s and follows a high school girl who becomes convinced her best friend is possessed. There’s never been a better time to check out this book. It’s set to be adapted
into a movie, and the Kindle edition includes fascinating bonus material like playlists, Satanic Panic educational pamphlets, and a DIY exorcism guide! Read here.
We’re leaving Hawkins, Indiana, for the Canadian wilderness in this terrifying take on a Stranger Things book. Every year, a troop of young boys takes a wilderness camping trip. This year, however, an unexpected guest arrives… someone who appears to be carrying a bioengineered disease. We all saw the
havoc Eleven caused after being experimented on, so you can only imagine the dramatic turn this camping trip takes. Read here.
If you love the visual aspect of a show like Stranger Things, why give it up? Something is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV tells a terrifying story through comics, following a small town in which young kids continue to go missing. The ones who return are traumatized…and not trusted. The only one
who can save them is Erica Slaughter (the Hopper of this story), who believes in their experiences and is dead set on revenge. Read here.
Did you fall in love with the tight-knit group of outcasts who served as our protagonists in the Stranger Things books and show? Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs follows an orphanage that houses children with special abilities and dangerous powers.
Haunting pictures are incorporated throughout the novel. Best of all, this is a six-book series! It’s an easy way to fill up the endless wait for Stranger Things season 5. Read here.
Maddie and Nathan both grew up with traumatic childhoods. Now, they’re married and moving back to their small town. While Hawkins has government labs and endless monsters, their Pennsylvania roots intertwine with secret tunnels and abandoned coal mines.
Raising their son Oliver in this environment proves to be a challenge as he befriends a mysterious and magical young boy. Now, they’re at risk of losing their family…and their minds. Read here.
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Stephen King’s iconic horror novel Carrie is set on the cusp of the 1980s, following a high school outcast. Tiffany D. Jackson’s modern reimagining of the story keeps all of our favorite paranormal elements of the original…and adds even more horror.
The Weight of Blood follows Madison Washington, a ruthlessly bullied student hiding a big secret from her racist classmates: she’s biracial. When the secret is revealed just ahead of prom night, Maddy discovers just how horrifying hatred can be. Read here.
Lena Johnson is forced to drop out of college after her grandmother dies, and the true extent of her family’s financial woes is revealed. In order to gain income and support them, she enlists as a research subject in a remote Michigan town.
The tests performed on her are high-paying and entitle her to free housing. But
— as we learned from the Stranger Things books and show — there always seems to be a catch when it comes to lab experimentation… Read here.
Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad books were recently adapted into a Starz series. After reading this first book, you’ll understand why. The story follows Rob Ryan, a detective in a small Irish town. His passion for mystery-solving is rooted in his own past. In the 1980s, he was among a group of three boys that went
missing, and he was the only one who returned.
Past and present intertwine as a new missing person case emerges that seems strikingly similar to Rob’s own experiences. If he can crack the case, there’s a chance he’ll finally heal from his past.
Read here
You can’t get more authentically '80s than Carrion Comfort — a horror staple that debuted decades ago. Stephen King called this “one of the three greatest horror novels of the 20th century.” This massive and terrifying adventure spans the past and present, exploring themes of psychic ability and control. Picture
Eleven…but indisputably evil. Read here.
Read that title and tell us that you don’t immediately think of a certain Eggo-loving Stranger Things star. This is the first book in M.R. Carey's series that could easily be classified as Stranger Things books. The similarities between these two worlds only grow more obvious as you learn the synopsis of M.R.
Carey’s The Girl With All the Gifts. The story follows Melanie, who is kept in her cell all day until she is led to her classes at gunpoint. Her only friends are Dr. Caldwell and “Sergeant” — but she’s starting to think they may not be so friendly after all. Read here.
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Bonus Picks! Audio Media Similar to Stranger Things
The first book in Holly Jackson’s thrilling series can certainly be enjoyed as a novel, but we recommend the audiobook for the optimal experience. The story follows Pip, a high school amateur detective convinced that the wrong man went down for a legendary murder in her town.
As her investigation progresses, she begins making a podcast to document her discoveries. The full-cast audiobook brings these elements to life. It feels straight out of Hawkins AV Club! Listen here.
If you wish your commute were a little creepier, tune into the award-winning podcast “The Black Tapes.” This fictional story is told as if it’s a nonfiction account, following an evangelical investigator who is determined to debunk his town’s most paranormal legends. Doing so, however, proves to be harder than
he’d ever anticipated. This serialized podcast has endless episodes to keep you thoroughly occupied — and terrified — until Stranger Things season 5. Listen here.
There you have it! If you loved Stranger Things for its thrills, chills, and band of amateur sleuths, there’s sure to be something here for you. We’ve put together our top 10 book recommendations for those of you eagerly anticipating Stranger Things season 5.
