Stranger Things: Suspicious Minds: The First Official Novel Suspicious Minds takes place in 1969, way before weird happening in Hawkins. The book is an official prequel of Stranger Things and tells the story of Doctor Brenner and the secrets behind the darker government. The books sheds light on unanswered questions: the origins of El, the other numbers, MK Ultra, The Hawkins Lab. The Story of Terry Ives and her baby Jane Ives (Eleven).