Dark Matter: A Novel

Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter is a masterfully written, mind-bending journey that blurs the line between science fiction and philosophical reflection. At its heart, the novel explores the immense power of choice with how every decision we make, no matter how small, shapes not just our future but potentially countless versions of reality. It’s a story that’s as tragic as it is amazing, a suspenseful rollercoaster wrapped in existential thought.The concept of multiple dimensions, with new worlds splintering off from each decision, is executed brilliantly. Crouch doesn’t just use this as a sci-fi gimmick. It’s a haunting reflection on identity, love, and regret. As I read, I couldn’t help but wonder: am I Jason, actively shaping my world through choice? Or am I Daniella, living in a version of reality I never consciously chose, unaware of its origin until a moment forces me to question everything?This novel is more than entertainment; it’s a mirror. It pushes you to reflect on your life, your path, and what really matters. Dark Matter is a rare kind of masterpiece, one that keeps you turning pages while quietly challenging your understanding of self and reality. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it to anyone ready to question the world they live in.

if you like weird sci-fi and talking about himself.

I can’t say how much I needed to read this book. At a time in my life, when everything seems to have fallen apart but this somehow makes me understand how to pick up the pieces and want to do the much needed work.

I bought this book, after reading a very positive review in a magazine, on the mistaken assumption that it would be a William Gibson novel--that is, a book that used an intense exploration of scientific facts to create a haunting reality that gets deep into your head and leaves you not quite sure just what you've encountered. Instead, I felt as though I were reading a rehash of a great many other things, books and film, that I've read or seen, including Sheldon J. Pacotti's novel "The Demiurge," Sam Shepherd's play "True West," the TV series "Awake," with Jason Isaacs, and the movies "Julia and Julia," "Total Recall," "Regarding Henry," "Somewhere in Time," "The Thirteenth Floor," "Primer," and "The Age of Adaline," as well as other TV programs and movies whose titles I have simply forgotten.The book is, to be sure, a page-turner, and I read it through in a single afternoon, all 300+ pages, while stranded at an airport waiting for my canceled flight to finally be scheduled for takeoff. It kept me fully absorbed, and the last few chapters were quite suspenseful. But in the end, it was the intellectual equivalent of a meal at MacDonald's.The premise of the book is that the "multiverse" theory of some physicists is actually true, and that someone might find a path from one such universe to another and possibly wreak havoc.The "multiverse" is an idea based on quantum physics. According to this theory, whenever we make a choice, an entire different universe "splits off" from the one we know, and in that universe, we made the other choice. Thus, according to this theory, there is a universe in which Hitler was admitted to art school and never sought political power, so the Third Reich never happened.Now imagine that a physicist had invented an advanced machine, and the Hitler we know of began to wonder what his life might have been like as an illustrator of popular magazines, and he found a way into that alternate universe. Meanwhile, the obscure artist version of Hitler found himself yanked into the universe we know, with the Nazi hierarchy addressing him as Fuhrer and asking to know what his plans were for world conquest.I cite the above only as an illustration. The book has nothing to do with Hitler. It concerns an obscure American physics professor teaching at a local college near Chicago, married to a woman with artistic talent, and with a teenage son. Fifteen years earlier, the professor was on his way to making path-breaking discoveries in science and being in the running for international prizes, and his wife might have been a very famous artist. Instead, she became pregnant, they decided to keep the baby and stay together, and now, they live lives of near-contentment, loving each other and their son, to be sure, but occasionally still wondering what might have been.One night, after leaving a celebration at a bar for a pal who actually did win international prizes and renown, the humble professor finds himself kidnapped at gunpoint by a man in a mask, who takes him to an abandoned industrial plant, forces him to strip, and injects him with a drug. When the professor awakes, he finds himself in a parallel world where serious and ruthless men treat him as a celebrity and are waiting to know what he will do next in the service of the large and powerful organization that in this world, he helped found.In this world, he even meets his parallel wife, now a famous artist, though she remembers him only as a boyfriend who broke up with her 15 years before. Determined to get back to the world he knows, he sets out into nightmarish adventures via a trans-dimensional machine that he invented as his "successful" self, emerging into various alternate Chicagos, some of them horrifying, while others are passable but never quite right.Will he ever make it back?And if, as the theory holds, our choices bring other universes into existence, could he also have birthed alternate selves, even in the course of his quest, all of whom have the same idea of reclaiming the life he once knew?As Arnold Schwarzenegger's character says in "Total Recall," "If I'm not me, den who da h___ am I?By the way, I could be wrong, but I believe the book is mistitled. Dark Matter is a known and demonstrable property of the universe that is the only way to account for the universe's weight and shape, as well as certain gravitational phenomena. It is no longer considered speculative and, as far, as I know, the "multiverse" theory is not based on it. The idea of a multiverse is, indeed, a logical extrapolation from certain demonstrated principles of quantum physics, and some scientists find it quite plausible, but it is not, as far as I know, based on dark matter, nor is it considered a settled question, as dark matter is. I could be wrong. In any case, "Dark Matter" is a more intriguing title than "The Multiverse."

This was a wild ride. First, the wrong thing is good. Not perfect, but I would put it above the typical Kindle Unlimited category which I consume voraciously.Now the ideas here are mind blowing. I won't spoil it, but imagine you spent an evening with some really smart quantum mechanics types, and smoked a shitload of really good weed. This is the story that might come out of that. Really clever, takes small ideas and really runs them down the "and then what would happen" chain to a twisted conclusion. If you ever saw the movie "Primer", this is in that category.It is also a story about love and meaning. The story probably hits different for wherever you are in the chain of life choices that define the arc of a human's existence.Strong recommend, but expect to feel moments of real dread and sadness. You may rethink your own happiness when you are done

I enjoyed this book. Could have used a few more chapters, but I assume commercially minded authors will release additional books in a series.

A book that , you literally, don’t want to put down.Leads you to really wonder what life’s ahead for your children and grandchildren. With A I sitting on our doorstep with no earthly control,the manifestation of quantum physics, quantum mechanics, parallel universes and then, global immersion in holographic imaging. Better have your head on a swivel. Truth will be an illusion.

So entertaining, but I was very stressed throughout! The thought of being separated from your family, of being so entirely alone, of no one believing you… these things stress me out. The only thing I wish was different was having Charlie be better developed. He’s such a central figure that essentially gets no page time. It would have been nice for him to have a bigger voice, like Daniela had.