Dark Matter by Blake Crouch @blakecrouch1 @panmacmillan #DarkMatter #BlakeCrouch #BookReview

Book Description

ARE YOU HAPPY IN YOUR LIFE?

There 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 the man he’s never met smiles down at him and says, ‘Welcome back.’

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 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 remembered 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.

This was a Goldsboro Books, Book of the Month buy and not a book I would otherwise have picked up, hence it has sat on my bookshelf since August 2016.  Despite rave reviews it wasn’t until Janel @keeperofthepages wrote an awesome review, stating she, ‘couldn’t recommend it enough’ (read full review here), that I began to seriously think about picking this book up.

And am I glad I did!  What an amazing book!  I was put off because the book falls broadly under the category of Science Fiction, which isn’t a genre that holds much appeal to me, short sighted / narrow minded I know!  This book is the story of Jason who after being abducted finds himself in a parallel world.  What comes next is shocking, mind boggling and insightful.  Jason strives to get home, to his life, his wife as they were when he was taken.  A brilliant scientist, he learns that in another life he has discovered via Quantum Physics the means to access parallel worlds.

It’s safe to say that I loved this book and could not put it down.  The concept is amazing and has left me pondering the question of reality.  This is a Science Fiction book but please don’t be foolish like me and let this put you off.  The Science is accessible and while there were some concepts, especially towards the end that were mind blowing, they played out in the story, which was told in a way that was well articulated and easy to understand.

Very much a thriller, Jason strives to return home, while learning that for every choice he has every made, there is an alternate life playing out that choice.  I was rooting for Jason as his life is repeatedly threatened and he feels very lost in the universe.

An absolutely terrific work of fiction, very clever, fast paced and hard to put down.  Highly recommended!