Video game players of HELLO NEIGHBOR just might want to know the background story behind their video game.

Here goes. Nicky’s family moves around a lot because newspaper editors (Nick’s father) are going the way of the print newspaper copy. It is summer when they move to Raven Brooks. Nick meets Aaron, the boy living across the street by reading notes Aaron posts in his upstairs bedroom window. They soon meet and begin playing pranks on the town together.

Little by little, Nick learns about Raven Brooks’ closed amusement park and the tragic death of a little girl there. Aaron’s father, Mr. Peterson, was the engineer who designed the park. Mr. Peterson was famous for designing amusement parks from around the world. Strange accidents soon began happening in the parks Mr. Peterson designed.

As the clues fall into place Nick will realize , “Maybe two kids with a bunch of missing pieces don’t make each other whole–the perfect machine with all its parts in place. Maybe they just empty each other out more.” (196)

Aaron’s father will tell Nick not to come back to their house. Later, by way of notes, Nick tells Aaron, “IT’S OK IF YOU ‘RE NOT OK.” (202) and Aaron tells Nick, “I make bad things happen.” (206)

My third grade friend who has played HELLO NEIGHBOR stated, “If you like the game, you’ll like the book.”