By: Blake Crouch
ISBN: 9781101904220
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date: 7/26/2016
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars “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/
Review to follow!
Praise
"Brilliant. A book to remember. I think Blake Crouch just invented something new." —Lee Child, NYT bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series "Exceptional. An exciting, ingeniously plotted adventure about love, regret, and quantum superposition." —Andy Weir, NYT bestselling author of The Martian "Wow. I gulped down Dark Matter in one sitting and put it down awed and amazed by the ride. It's fast, smart, addictive—and the most creative, head-spinning novel I've read in ages." —Tess Gerritsen, NYT bestselling author of the Rizzoli & Isles series
"A mind-bending thriller of the first order, not merely a rollicking entertainment but a provocative investigation into the nature of second chances, all of it wrapped in a genius sci-fi package. I dare you to put it down, because I sure couldn't." —Justin Cronin, New York Times bestselling author of the Passage Trilogy
"The kind of book the word "thriller" was coined for—a shooting star through multiple genres, posing fundamental questions about identity and reality before revealing itself as, at its core, a love story. Smart, fast, powerful, and ultimately touching." —Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of Guilty Minds and Suspicion
"An addictive read! When the quantum mechanics kick in (no kidding!), hold onto your horses—you're in for an intelligent, breath-taking ride." —John Lescroart, New York Times bestselling author of The Fall and The Oath
"Blake Crouch yet again proves himself to be a master. Nonstop pacing, fascinating characters and an ingenious concept all come together flawlessly in a crescendo of pursuit, danger, and romance all the way to a surprising and satisfying slam-bang conclusion." —Barry Eisler, New York Times bestselling author of the John Rain series
“You’ll gulp Dark Matter down in one afternoon, or more likely one night… Alternate-universe science fiction [and] a countdown thriller in which the hero must accomplish an impossible task to save his family. There’s always another door to open, and another page to turn.”
--New York Times Book Review "A mind-blowing sci-fi/suspense/love-story mash-up." --Entertainment Weekly
“A fast, tasty read with a killer twist. It’s a whole bag of barbecue chips…just sitting there waiting for you to devour in one long rush.” —NPR.org “A hard tale to shake…makes its characters — and readers — wonder what life would have been like had they made different decisions. Relatable and unnerving.” —USA Today
"Propulsive...Dark Matter has plenty of heady concepts and phantasmagorical plotting. But it is also beguilingly rooted in [its hero's] desperate travails, elevating this page-turning adventure into an entirely different dimension." --Entertainment Weekly
“A blockbuster read that channels Michael Crichton… I can’t remember when I last sat down and blew through a book in literally a single sitting.” —The Verge
“A dazzling book for summer [with] a mind-bending premise, a head-spinning plot that’s dialogue-driven and adrenaline-fueled, and a gut-wrenching climax that gave me goose bumps.” --Minneapolis Star-Tribune
“Draws on questions and anxieties we all wrestle with in the dark hours...Crouch has invested [sci-fi motifs] with scientific plausibility, and more unusually, with emotional depth." --Wall Street Journal
“Crouch takes a sharp sci-fi premise and infuses it with love…A gripping page-turner [that is] concerned above all with the heart, and what we do to it—or let happen to it—over time. Dark Matter is It’s A Wonderful Life for the 21st century” —AVClub.com
“[A] mind-blowing speculative-science thriller that throws in an old-fashioned love story for good measure.” —Fort Worth Star-Telegram "Enormously compelling...the fastest, strangest thriller you'll read this year." --Mashable.com
"Might be the most helter-skelter, race-to-the-finish-line thriller you’ll read all year, with a clever, mind-boggling final twist." --The Guardian
"A high-tension thriller...always engaging and frequently moving. A strong piece of summertime get-away reading, perfect for those times when the mind wanders to contemplate an alternate reality of endless vacation." --San Francisco Chronicle
“Exciting, suspenseful and frightening, yet also poignant and heartwarming, DARK MATTER is one of the best books of any year…or any reality.” —Book Reporter “A mind-bending odyssey of parallel worlds and causality [that] unfolds with all the suspense and strength of a more straightforward thriller, building up to a deliciously surreal climax…memorable and well-rounded characters add a big, beating heart to the tale.” —New York Journal of Books
“Excellent characterization and well-crafted tension…the rousing and heartfelt ending will leave readers cheering.” —Publishers Weekly
“Suspenseful, frightening, and sometimes poignant.” —Kirkus
“Crouch keeps the pace swift and the twists exciting. Readers who liked his Wayward Pines trilogy will probably devour this speculative thriller in one sitting [as will] those who enjoy roller-coaster reads in the vein of Harlan Coben.” —Booklist
News
NPR (July 24, 2016): What If You Hadn't Gotten Married? 'Dark Matter' Imagines An Alternate Life
The Wall Street Journal (July 21, 2016): How to Write a Thriller
The Wall Street Journal (February 16, 2016): The Next ‘Gone Girl’? 5 Killer Books for 2016
About the Author
Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the novel, Dark Matter, for which he is writing the screenplay for Sony Pictures. His international-bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX, executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, that was Summer 2015's #1 show. With Chad Hodge, Crouch also created Good Behavior, the TNT television show starring Michelle Dockery based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. He has written more than a dozen novels that have been translated into over thirty languages and his short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Crouch lives in Colorado.
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