Dark Matter

Publication Date: 26 July 2016

Goodreads Description

“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, “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. From the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, 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.

My Review

I wasn't too sure how I was going to feel about this book. It's no secret that I'm not a fan of Sci-Fi and I very rarely, if ever, read it. The good news is that this book doesn't fit squarely into that mold. This book is part Sci-Fi, part thriller and part romance novel all rolled into one very cleaver and totally gripping story.

At its heart, this book is about the different choices we make in life and the different paths that those choices take us on. We all wonder from time to time what our lives would have been like if we had made different choices at critical moments in the past. Something as simple as choosing which university to go to, or more complex decisions like which job to take or which city to live in, could and would have taken you on a completely different path. This has always been a concept that's intrigued me and if truth be told, it's also a pretty scary thought sometimes.

I don't wan't to create the impression that this book isn't a Sci-Fi novel because it is. It has elements of other genres but it is primarily a Sci-Fi novel, but my advice is not to let that put you off. It's not the type of Sci-Fi novel that involves other planets, extra-terrestrial beings or space ships, but it does involve elements that are not of this world. And more than that I don't want to say.

Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed this book and it did get me thinking about the possibility of the plot. Could something like what happens to Jason in the book ever happen in real life? Is it actually possible? Without me knowing anything at all about science and the complex nature of the "multiverse" this is a question that I cannot form a knowledgeable opinion about. But it did make for a great read. It's a book that's full of action and this is definitely a book that will appeal to male readers as much as female ones.

My rating: * * * *

Many thanks to author Blake Crouch and publishers Pan Macmillan for my copy.