The novel presents the backstory of Eleven, Stranger Things’ many character, a teenager with telepathic and psychokinetic abilities which result from the experiments performed on her, as well as on her mother while pregnant with her (as the novel reveals), by Dr. Brenner. Set in America in the 1970s and 1980s, the novel relates Dr. Brenner’s dehumanizing scientific research to Cold War paranoia and conspiracy theories, while also connecting him to Project MKUltra, an illegal program developed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1953 to 1973.
