A mindbending, relentlessly surprising thriller from the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy.“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, … Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”
In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.
Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.
Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.
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One of the best books I’ve read this year, Dark Matter made me glad I watched all those Stephen Hawking videos explaining quantum physics in layman’s terms. The original premise and breakneck plotting make this a captivating read, while emphasizing that love and family transcend all universes.
This book was a gift to me and I have never read anything by this author. I was pleasantly surprised. The book focuses on the story of Jason Dessen, his wife Daniela and their son Charlie. Jason is a professor at a college in Chicago and Daniela is a stay-at-home mom. When they met, Daniela was on the verge of a career as an artist and Jason was a physicist. Then they find out Daniela is pregnant. They both give up their careers for their child. The story begins with the 3 of them at home. Jason goes out to have drinks at a local bar with a friend and then gets some ice cream and is walking back home. On his way, he is abducted and brought to a “hangar” with a bunch of generators in it. His abductor injects Jason with something and then injects himself. Jason comes to and turns out he’s an executive at a laboratory who created a “cube” with doors that lead someone to an alternate reality. Makes you think about the choices you make and what would have happened had you not made that choice.
I have no idea how I missed Blake Crouch as an author for so long but that has now been remedied. He’s been added to my tiny list of authors whose work I auto-buy without even reading the blurb. He’s that good, and this book is a prime example. He comes up with such fresh premises. Delightful.
A dimension-hopping sci-fi thriller with a third act I truly didn’t see coming, this is airport fiction at its very best.
I loved this book – I still think about it sometimes since this idea of existing in different realms of time intrigued me!
A fast-paced sci-fi book combined with the ultimate love story.
This is a curious & interesting adventure into the infinite. While some people have regrets and/or wonder about the decisions they’ve made in life, Jason is given the opportunity to explore those life decisions and their outcomes. This is as much of a love story as it is a science fiction story. Jason travels to get back to his family, but can he keep them?
I started reading this book because I thought I was getting into a good Sci-Fi Book, but it turned out to be more of romantic novel. For me, would have like to have seen more of the Sci-Fi behind the story. With that said, I enjoyed the book! The main character was drive by his love for his wife and son. There is enough action and Sci-Fi to keep you reading. But not over the top on the science part. The wittiness of Jason Version 1.0 is also intriguing. A most definitely read if for both the Sci-Fi and Romance types. 4 stars because I would have like to have seen more about dark matter.
This psychological thriller is one of my all-time favorite reads. I really enjoyed Crouch’s different style of writing.
Crouch does a terrific job of exploring Schrodinger’s cat thought experiment within a multiverse plot while interweaving the human experience of regret and what-ifs. This book is thought-provoking not only regarding science and science fiction but about life and the choices we make. Truly a work of art, I highly recommend Dark Matter.
It’s been three days since I finished reading this book, and yet the thrills I got from reading it are vividly reflecting in front of my eyes (I say eyes because the book, I found it so well written as if it was visualizing in front of my eyes, like most well written story plots do). I finished it in a comparatively short while than that taken to finish other fictitious books.
I’m not really into sci-fi stuff, but the title was one that was demanding a read. Initially I thought it was a nonfiction book that was about dark matter, as the title suggests. I was recommended this book on goodreads. And it was only when I was reading an article about new popular sci-fi books that I found out that it’s a fictitious one, not the sort that I initially pictured it to be. It didn’t disappoint, however.
So there’s this guy, who invents a box (which was initially a cube) that he can use to travel to alternate realities. The reader, toward the beginning of the actual fun stuff in the story, might mistake the traveling between alternate realities as time travel, which the leading character occasionally reminds his companion while they flee from a people who want to kill them because one, the main character is not who they thought he was, and two, one of their own was helping him escape his tragic fate.
So this guy, Jason Dessen, is kidnapped by himself from an alternate reality and is taken to that world without his will, taking away his nearly perfect life with a caring lover and a teenage son. He then ventures into the box that the other version of him created as he escapes from the “Velocity Laboratories” and roams various realities which include, as I found, mostly sad worlds.
Eventually he gets back to his own world and gets back together with his wife and son via very unintuitive means. He then faces a whole army of himself from slightly different pasts, all trying to kill each other and get to Daniela and Charlie (Jason’s wife and son). The real Jason then takes his wife and son to _the box_ and ventures into another reality which he lets his son choose (I’ll leave you to read the book to find out why), and alas, they are finally back together and can live in peace.
I found the story very touching, especially the part of “the path not taken” . Made me think a bunch of philosophical stuff. But after having finished it, I was happy to have read it for it was such a well written book!. Would really really recommend it to everyone who wants to give a bit of thought into life while enjoying a bit of sci-fi drama.
Really enjoyed the fast paced story in this book. Interesting idea and I was sorry it ended.
Ever wonder about the “road not travelled” the “path not chosen”? This story takes the main character down the many many paths and turns to show his “what if’s”. We all wonder about our decisions after making major life altering choices. Let’s hope what happens to Jason never happens to us.
I am not big on science fiction books so it was out of character for me to buy this book. I was NOT disappointed!! I LOVED this book. It was interesting and intense in places, I loved the different versions of the world. Everyone who I have shared this book with has also loved it. Very much recommend!
Fascinating delve into quantum physics. What happens if the multiverse becomes manifest and multiple versions of your self interact?
The story is incredible, and once you get about halfway it’s impossible to put down.
OMG! Read it in 2 days. I couldn’t put it down. I was sorry the book came to an end. I would have liked to see where the characters ended up. Maybe a sequel?
Good for a sci-fi read.
First time I see this scientific subject turned into a science fiction book, and turned very nicely. While reading, I was really forgetting that this was science fiction. And as the main character of the book, I was re-evaluating my attitude to my own life. Started to read Blake Crouch’s Recursion which is as good as the Dark Matter.
A page turning, action packed romp thru multi-universes.