Carly Anne West

Lock your doors! From the creators of the blockbuster horror video game Hello Neighbor comes the story that started it all. Unravel the mystery in this gripping prequel novel! Nicky Roth has always been a lonely kid. But that all changes when he and his family move to Raven Brooks and meet their eccentric neighbors, the Petersons. Nicky befriends the Petersons' son, Aaron, bonding over their talents for tinkering. Soon the boys are inseparable and using their skills to pull pranks on the townspeople. But something about Aaron bothers Nicky--people seem almost afraid of him and his family. Through snippets from Aaron and a lot of sleuthing in the town's archives, Nicky discovers a dark past haunting his neighbors, a streak of bad luck they can't seem to shake. Aaron thinks that's all behind them now, but Nicky has a feeling the Petersons are fated for another tragedy. . . . This pulse-pounding prequel novel to the hit video game Hello Neighbor includes two-color illustrations throughout, to help readers unwind the mystery at the heart of the game.

Missing Pieces

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this book for free from KidLitExchange and Scholastic! Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Rating: 5/5

Genre: MG Mystery… uhhhh…. Video Game Retelling???

Recommended Age: 10+ (some death and conspiracy and mild hints of domestic violence… also a bit about parents losing their jobs and that made me sad and I’m like 27 so it might slightly upset some kids)

Pages: 208

Author Website

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Synopsis: Nicky Roth has always been a lonely kid. But that all changes when he and his family move to Raven Brooks and meet their eccentric neighbors, the Petersons. Nicky befriends the Petersons' son, Aaron, bonding over their talents for tinkering. Soon the boys are inseparable and using their skills to pull pranks on the townspeople.But something about Aaron bothers Nicky--people seem almost afraid of him and his family. Through snippets from Aaron and a lot of sleuthing in the town's archives, Nicky discovers a dark past haunting his neighbors, a streak of bad luck they can't seem to shake. Aaron thinks that's all behind them now, but Nicky has a feeling the Petersons are fated for another tragedy. . . .This pulse-pounding prequel novel to the hit video game Hello Neighbor includes two-color illustrations throughout, to help readers unwind the mystery at the heart of the game.

So a lot of people wouldn’t think that I’m a gamer but oh baby I’m an avid gamer. I love any video games and I really like ones that leave room for conspiracy theories. One of the hottest games that does that for me at the moment is Hello Neighbor. It’s a first person POV game in which you live across the street from this creepy dude (see front cover) who has some strange habits. You sneak over and try to solve the mystery to the weird rooms he has and the noises from the basement. I will say that this is one of the creepiest and scariest games in the more recent couple of years for video games and I’d put this video game up there with Five Nights At Freddy’s. So the reason why I was attracted to this book was that I was curious to see if this book connected to the video game at all and surprisingly it did! I felt that the book did well to mesh itself with the video game and that the character development was amazing. The plot was intriguing and interesting. And the writing was engaging and it drew me into the story immediately.

My only con about this was that the book tended to jump around a bit randomly and without notice. IT was kinda jarring. Also the ending was ambiguous but since we have the video game we kinda know what eventually happens, but the ending left it vague as to the bridge between it and the video game. Maybe it left it open so another book could come out, but it’s a tad annoying none the less.

Verdict: If you’re a fan of video games, you’ll love this book.

Nicky Roth has always been a lonely kid. But that all changes when he and his family move to Raven Brooks and meet their eccentric neighbours, the Petersons. Nicky befriends the Petersons' son, Aaron, bonding over their talents for tinkering. Soon the boys are inseparable and using their skills to pull pranks on the townspeople. But something about Aaron bothers Nicky-people seem almost afraid of him and his family. Through snippets from Aaron and a lot of sleuthing in the town's archives, Nicky discovers a dark past haunting his neighbours, a streak of bad luck they can't seem to shake. Aaron thinks that's all behind them now, but Nicky has a feeling the Petersons are fated for another tragedy. This pulse-pounding prequel novel to the hit video game Hello Neighbor includes two-colour illustrations throughout, to help readers unwind the mystery at the heart of the game.

Joana

When Hello Neighbor was in development there was a lot of theorizing about the story of the game. In each version, the developers released more confusing and exciting the story was becoming. I got disappointed when they released the final version and there wasn't exactly a big story to tell. All that excitement and theories were over and I was kind of sad. Discovering this book was to bring back all those Youtube videos I've watched but this time there was a full story, some sort of explanation to all that crazy story the game have throughout the different stages of development.

The only thing I was concerned about was how much it would diverge from the actual game but since this is a prequel there isn't much that can be "wrong". And for me, this book got everything right.

The atmosphere was as creepy as the game, Nicky's dreams were like in the game, and the locks, the basement door, the labyrinth house, the golden apple... IT. WAS. AMAZING! I loved this experience! I was reading about two characters I already knew about how everything started. How they got to know each other and most importantly, what secrets Mr Peterson hides? I just want to get to the answers!!

This is only the first book in a series that I'll be continuing for sure. My brain decided to give up right now, and I don't know what to make of anything I read. I don't know how dark the story might get (since it's a middle-grade book), how serious it's going to get or if the Neighbor will turn out to be "good" after all. I'm confusion!

If you also are a fellow gamer and loved all the theories about Hello Neighbor give this book a try because the story is just getting juicier by the minute. I know it's a MG book but the story is so awesome.

I really need to buy the next one.

Missing Pieces

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