A reader looking for Stranger Things vibes will love these picks! Standouts include Stephen King's Firestarter and Brian K. Vaughan's Paper Girls, Vol. 1. See the full list for more 80s-era supernatural reads!
by Stephen King
This is the blueprint. A young girl with terrifying pyrokinetic powers is on the run from a shadowy government agency called 'The Shop' that created her and wants to use her as a weapon. If you love the Eleven and Hawkins Lab storyline, you're looking at one of its primary inspirations, published in 1980 and dripping with Cold War paranoia.
by Stephen King
This is the blueprint. A young girl with terrifying pyrokinetic powers is on the run from a shadowy government agency called 'The Shop' that created her and wants to use her as a weapon. If you love the Eleven and Hawkins Lab storyline, you're looking at one of its primary inspirations, published in 1980 and dripping with Cold War paranoia.
by Brian K. Vaughan
This comic book series nails the 'kids on bikes in the 80s' vibe better than almost anything besides Stranger Things itself. Set in 1988, it follows four paper delivery girls who stumble into a massive, time-spanning conspiracy. It swaps supernatural powers for high-concept sci-fi weirdness, but the feeling of ordinary kids confronting an incomprehensible, powerful, and secretive force is a perfect match.
by Brian K. Vaughan
This comic book series nails the 'kids on bikes in the 80s' vibe better than almost anything besides Stranger Things itself. Set in 1988, it follows four paper delivery girls who stumble into a massive, time-spanning conspiracy. It swaps supernatural powers for high-concept sci-fi weirdness, but the feeling of ordinary kids confronting an incomprehensible, powerful, and secretive force is a perfect match.
by Stephen King
While not set in the 80s, this book is thematically a dead ringer. It's about a whole facility full of kids with telekinesis and telepathy who have been kidnapped by a ruthless secret organization that wants to exploit their powers. It essentially takes the Hawkins Lab premise and expands it into a full, terrifying novel, focusing on the kids' struggle to fight back from the inside.
by Stephen King
While not set in the 80s, this book is thematically a dead ringer. It's about a whole facility full of kids with telekinesis and telepathy who have been kidnapped by a ruthless secret organization that wants to exploit their powers. It essentially takes the Hawkins Lab premise and expands it into a full, terrifying novel, focusing on the kids' struggle to fight back from the inside.
by Daniel O'Malley
You asked for a government conspiracy with supernatural powers—this book gives you an entire government *bureaucracy* for it. The story follows a high-ranking member of a secret British agency for people with powers who wakes up with amnesia. It trades the 80s horror for a modern, witty, and surprisingly funny spy thriller. It’s like seeing what happens when the kids with powers grow up and have to file expense reports.
by Daniel O'Malley
You asked for a government conspiracy with supernatural powers—this book gives you an entire government *bureaucracy* for it. The story follows a high-ranking member of a secret British agency for people with powers who wakes up with amnesia. It trades the 80s horror for a modern, witty, and surprisingly funny spy thriller. It’s like seeing what happens when the kids with powers grow up and have to file expense reports.
by Philip K. Dick
This classic novel dials the paranoia and government conspiracy themes up to eleven. Set in a near-future 70s California, it follows an undercover agent infiltrating a drug subculture who becomes a target of invasive surveillance, losing his grip on his own identity. It swaps overt supernatural powers for the mind-altering horror of psychedelics and technology, exploring the psychological toll of being watched.
by Philip K. Dick
This classic novel dials the paranoia and government conspiracy themes up to eleven. Set in a near-future 70s California, it follows an undercover agent infiltrating a drug subculture who becomes a target of invasive surveillance, losing his grip on his own identity. It swaps overt supernatural powers for the mind-altering horror of psychedelics and technology, exploring the psychological toll of being watched.
by Jon Ronson
Here's the biggest curveball: it's non-fiction. This book uncovers the very real, and very bizarre, history of a declassified U.S. Army program that tried to create 'psychic spies' with powers like remote viewing and, yes, stopping a goat's heart just by staring at it. If you love the government conspiracy and supernatural powers in Stranger Things, you'll be fascinated by the stranger-than-fiction true story that inspired the trope.
by Jon Ronson
Here's the biggest curveball: it's non-fiction. This book uncovers the very real, and very bizarre, history of a declassified U.S. Army program that tried to create 'psychic spies' with powers like remote viewing and, yes, stopping a goat's heart just by staring at it. If you love the government conspiracy and supernatural powers in Stranger Things, you'll be fascinated by the stranger-than-fiction true story that inspired the trope.
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