Book Review of DARK MATTER by Blake Crouch

DARK MATTER by Blake Crouch (Ballantine Books, July 2016) Hardcover, 352 pages. ISBN #1101904224

Synopsis on the Goodreads website . . . . .

A mindbending, relentlessly surprising thriller from the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy. 

Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.

"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.

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 Five-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     In DARK MATTER, Blake Crouch takes an absolute gem of an idea and applies it in such a unique and novel way in the opening chapters that it immediately engaged my attention. He drives that narrative further with surprise after surprise before settling into a fantastic exploratory mode in the middle section of the book. When Chapter Thirteen, at 50 pages the longest chapter in the novel, arrives with it's game-changing twist things get incredibly intense and stay that way until the end, which was incredibly satisfying (for a change). 

     This is just the second Crouch novel that I've read. I was impressed enough by the first one that I jumped on the opportunity to participate in a March group read on this one. I received my copy in late February, decided just to check out the first chapter, and fell into it so much that I finished in several days - - even before the start of the March group read. That in itself is a strong testimonial to the power of this novel. 

     DARK MATTER is a brilliant exploration of an idea stemming from quantum physics, but applying it to a blend of romance novel and thriller - - which makes for compulsive reading. Anyone who has ever had to make hard decisions between family relationships and career choices will appreciate the spin provided here. What if you could catch a glimpse of the might-have-been? What is your priority? 

     Most thriller I read don't leave me with warm and fuzzy feelings. The characterization here changed that for me.