Stranger Things tie-in book takes Hopper on a ‘bizarre 1977 adventure’

The Stranger Things universe continues to expand. After a comic series explored what happened to Will Byers on his trip to the Upside-Down, the Netflix show steeped both in nostalgia and sci-fi weirdness is going back to basics for one of its breakout characters.

Announced in a tweet by Netflix, the show’s own gruff dancing dad, Hawkins police chief Jim Hopper, is getting an origin novel. Or, at least what passes for an origin story when your later-in-life adventure has so much more otherworldliness than before. Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town is coming this summer to get fans amped about their favorite character.

Check out the cover art below:

“The REAL (official, canonical!) story of Jim Hopper is coming to a bookstore near you,” the tweet says. “When Eleven gets curious about unanswered questions, Hopper is forced to reckon with some long-buried secrets. And, you know me. I love secrets.”

As his surrogate daughter starts digging into his past, Hopper’s taken back to his time as a cop in New York City back in 1977.

According to author Adam Christopher, Hopper’s days as a homicide detective took him on a “bizarre 1977 adventure” before he moved to Hawkins for a decidedly quieter life, the author wrote on his website. And look at how well that worked out for him.

This isn’t the first book to tie into the hit Netflix universe, with the Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down companion book and the comics fleshing out the story and providing plenty of codes and hints for enterprising fans. However, Darkness on the Edge of Town is coming right before Stranger Things 3, teeing up some Hopper-centric goodness that fans should go crazy for.

Stranger Things’ third season comes out on July 4, while Darkness on the Edge of Town hits bookstores a month before, on June 4.