On the 19th of August J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot tweeted a link to a mysterious YouTube clip titled “Stranger.” The beautifully scored video narrated by an older gentleman told a brief story about a man emerging from the sea under a blanket of stars. At the very end the words “Soon he will know” appeared and then quickly vanished. Now, we know.

Bad Robot’s Twitter account spilled the beans with part 2 of the “Stranger” video titled “S. (From J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst – Bad Robot Productions).” This clip (embedded after the break) resumes where the last left off (narrator and all) and introduces a typewriter and a murder mystery. So no, this is not a teaser for the next Star Wars movie or Abrams’ upcoming NBC drama Believe or his adaptation of Rod Serling’s The Stop Along the Way. These videos are promoting a new novel conceived and developed by Abrams and written by Doug Dorst.

“S. is the chronicle of two readers finding each other in the margins of a book and enmeshing themselves in a deadly struggle between forces they don’t understand, and it is also Abrams and Dorst’s love letter to the written word.”

Abrams told EW: “I could not be more excited for people to get their hands on this book. It is difficult to describe because while it is a compelling mystery and love story, it is also much more than that. The work that everyone has done on S. is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Frankly, I’m amazed it was even possible to do this project at all.”

The book–which comes complete with newspaper clippings, a napkin with a hand-drawn map, and other special material to enhance the reading experience–hits store shelves October 29; preorder yours SoonYouWillKnow.com. For a peek at the layered synopsis, skip after the break. Continue reading Mystery, solved: J.J. Abrams’ “Stranger” teaser revealed to be a novel →