By Guy Adams

Ebury Press, out now

The essential guide to the hit Netflix show.

It seems utterly appropriate given the nature of Stranger Things that Notes From The Upside Down should be concerned with two worlds. The first is that of the TV show; small town America, science gone feral, Eggos, cops with a past, little girls with amazing abilities, Dustin because he’s awesome.

The second is the wider context in which Stranger Things sits. The lazy way to write about the show, and this was done a lot, was as an extended Stephen King riff. That’s certainly true but it isn’t the only thing that’s true. Worlds within worlds. A story within a much wider context. Guy Adams shows us both.

The first comes in the form of detailed breakdowns of every episode of the show. And by detailed I mean detailed. Full breakdowns of events in the episodes, references, riffs, even the soundtrack come under Adams’ forensic gaze. My favourite section though must surely be Honourable Strangers. Adams gives us detailed breakdowns on every one of the minor roles we see from ‘Elevator Scientist’, the first victim of the Upside Down on in. I’m a firm believer in honouring the work of everyone involved in an effort like this and it’s great to see Adams do just that. And I agree, Benny really was lovely.

Better still, each entry is littered with footnotes. These do two things, once again, mirroring the series. The first is to provide extra context and depth to the already in depth information on each episode. The second is to provide what amounts to the textual equivalent of the voice of the Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. Adams has this wonderfully avuncular, charming tone that’s never overbearing and presents more as a friend walking you enthusiastically through something he loves. It’s very funny, very honest (Just ask Guy how many times he had to type ET-The Extra-Terrestrial. Actually don’t.) and makes the book feel immensely welcoming. It also makes the detail he goes into all the more impressive. You know the song Lonnie and Cynthia are listening to at one point? No. Guy does. He’s found the bandcamp page for them too.

The second comes as Adams pulls the focus back and shows us the series in context. This is done by a series of chapters scattered between the episode essays that take a look at one particular artist and how their work influenced the series. King, Cronenberg and Carpenter are all explored in detail but the chapters that really sung for me were the ones on the conspiracy roots of the show and the artistic influences. The conspiracy stuff is a breezy but informative run through some of the oddest and most pernicious myths of the information age (Philadelphia Experiment for the win!) and the artistic look, focusing on the credits is short but completely lovely. There’s information about the font, the glorious ’80s airport bookshop novel design, everything. Not an element of the production escapes Adams’ gaze and they’re all revealed to be expertly crafted, painstakingly designed elements of a vastly successful whole.

Rounded off with biographical details for the actors, lists of albums and movies to follow up Stranger Things with and the answers to Adams’ murderously hard quiz this is, one last time, two books at once. The first is a brilliantly researched, massively friendly and endlessly enthusiastic look at one of the best pieces of genre TV to be produced so far this century. The second is a textbook example of how to do books like this, on any subject, absolutely right.

Verdict: Joyous, funny, insightful and essential. 10/10

Alasdair Stuart