Dark Matter – Blake Crouch

READ FOR BOOKCLUB
Chosen by Bridget

Physics professor Jason Dessen is abducted into an alternate version of his own life and must find his way back to his own reality. Sci-fi thriller that explores choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

We all live day to day completely oblivious to the fact that we’re a part of a much larger and stranger reality than we can possibly imagine.

BRIDGET:
● Dark Matter is a fast-paced sci-fi thriller and love story that pulled me in from the first page. Crouch explores themes of love, trust, and bravery, illustrating how simple everyday choices can radically alter our life paths. I was thoroughly entertained throughout. While the technical nuances of the multiverse occasionally felt a bit dense, and the sheer number of “Jasons” was overwhelming at times, I recognise how vital those elements were to the narrative. The characters are exceptionally well-developed, even the alternate versions of Jason, whose darker experiences made them more ruthlessly determined. This novel made me reflect on my own “what ifs.” Overall, I loved it and highly recommend it to anyone seeking an action-packed read with some mind-bending twists. The ending was spot on.

TESSA:
● I had mixed feelings about Dark Matter. Because I do not usually read much of this genre, I sometimes found it difficult to fully connect with the story. However, I appreciated the way the novel explores ideas such as parallel universes, identity, and the consequences of the choices we make in life. One of the most interesting parts of the book is the idea of “what if?”— what if a single decision had led your life in a completely different direction? This concept made the story thought-provoking and gave it emotional depth.

However, some parts of the book were a bit confusing, especially when the story began dealing with multiple versions of the same character. At times, it became difficult to keep track of what was happening. Toward the end, the story also felt a little too far-fetched for my liking, which caused me to lose some interest in it. Overall, Dark Matter is an imaginative and engaging novel that explores big ideas about identity, choices, and the many possibilities our lives could take. While I did not enjoy every part of it, I still found it an interesting and fast-moving story that fans of science fiction would likely enjoy.

RACHEL:
● Dark Matter is an action-packed sci-fi novel with thought provoking ideas about existence, humanity and consequences. It shows, via a whirlwind trip around the multiverse, how every decision we makes impacts not only our own lives but those of everyone around us. While these philosophical ideas are compelling and even addictive, I found that character development came secondary. The cast functions more as vessels for ideas and transport for plot rather than fully developed characters whom I could care for. This focus on plot created a sense of overt sentimentality in the characters’ interactions, and this was particularly evident in the ending. But the vivid, cinematic scene setting and the relentless twists and turns were enough to keep me gripped and I enjoyed the fast, immersive experience of the book.

SALLY
● I loved this book. Straight out the gate I loved the pace of the writing and the concept of the plot. The prose is snappy and conversational. More than that though, I loved the questions the book raised about the choices we make in our lives, the reasons we make them and then the consequences of those choices. I am usually averse to sci-fi novels, but I think this book appealed because it is mostly set in our world but with visitations from and into a proposed “multiverse”. It took me a double read just before the halfway mark to get my head around the quantum physics which explains the potential for a multiverse but having grasped the general premise, it was back on board for the white-knuckle ride through the second half of the book. I can totally see why they have dramatised it for TV.

Ultimately, I felt this book was about love and ambition. It was about the character Jason Dessen’s journey to regain his wife and child and the realisation that home can be anywhere your loved ones are. I loved that Jason and Danielle, regardless of which version of the universe they were in, recognised that they were soulmates and that Danielle was prepared to take risks on the back of that gut feeling, even if she did not fully understand the world around her. It is also about ambition and how you define success. There were times I was genuinely chilled at the descriptions of the infinite worlds which could exist and the folly of trying to find the perfect one. It made me think of Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken. I will definitely be reading more of Blake Crouch.

Published 2016
Ballantine Books
342 pages