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Dark Matter

by Blake Crouch (Goodreads Author)

4.12 · Rating Details · 39,764 Ratings · 7,038 Reviews

“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 k ...more

Hardcover, 342 pages

Published July 26th 2016 by Crown

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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30)

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Jul 28, 2016 Emily May rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, 2016, botm

I suppose we’re both just trying to come to terms with how horrifying infinity really is.

This book made me feel tiny. It was overwhelming and scary, but oh so very gripping too.

Dark Matter is the kind of compelling "I must know WTF is going on" book that makes you forget about everything else you had to do that day. You step into this world - this absolute mind fuck of a world that will tug at both your heart strings and your brain cells - and you don't want to come out until you know how it ...more

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Oct 10, 2016 Jennifer Masterson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, favorites-2016, mystery-thriller, sci-fi

LOVED IT!!! This book is insanity in a box! 5 stars! Believe the hype! Do not read many reviews! If you like sci fi or want something different and can suspend disbelief read or listen to this book!

This is the audio version review! The audio narrated by actor, Jon Lindstrom, is as good as it gets! He was the perfect narrator for "Dark Matter". This man was born to narrate books! He's that good!

"Dark Matter" starts out pretty simple and then very quickly it turns insane and just keeps getting cra ...more

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Aug 09, 2016 Lola Reviewer rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, action, family, adult, 1st-person-pov, thriller, 2016-publications, alternate-universes, love-story

It's terrifying when you consider that every thought we have, every choice we could possibly make, creates a new world.

Dark Matter, to be blunt, is miles and miles away from the line that marks my ‘‘comfort zone.’’ I never, or very, very seldom, read books such as this one.

But the truth is, I never read a book like Dark Matter before.

It’s a love story, it’s a thriller, it’s a science fiction book.

It’s thought-provoking, gripping, action-filled.

It makes you think about life and family and what ...more

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Nov 09, 2016 karen rated it really liked it

congratulations! semifinalist in goodreads' best science fiction category 2016!

what is this book….???

i suppose it's best described as a sci fi/speculative fiction love story with philosophy sauce all over it.

it's also another one of those reviewing-on-eggshells books, because of all the spoilers that could possibly be spoilt, where we're going to have to dance our way around a bunch of important nouns and verbs.

so, this little puzzle book of genre-blending mastery... i know i wrote "love story" ...more

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Dec 23, 2016 Melissa ♥ Dog Lover ♥ Martin rated it really liked it

Shelves: own, author-pub-giveaways

I just read the craziest book and it was so good. I was going along wanting to find out what in the world has happened to Jason! Why has he lost his identity. Who are these people after him! I mean one minute, you have a wife and kid and then you don't. Your in another world .. ish.

AND. THEN. IT. WAS. DOWN. THE. RABBIT. HOLE. Just trying to enjoy this book and they lured me right on down that hole!

So now. What am I going to say in this review that won't give anything away. I mean this is a boo ...more

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Dec 23, 2016 Chelsea Humphrey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley

Dr. Mr. Crouch,

I was first introduced to your work via my Aunt Janet “The Librarian” years ago; she started me off with your Andrew Z. Thomas/Luther Kite series and I knew I’d found a new favorite author. I branched out on my own and decided to try the Wayward Pines series; somehow I ended up liking that even more than the previous. I was on a roll! Months ago, when I first saw your new book listed on NetGalley, it was vague and sneaky, both things I like in a book, but I decided to wait on requ Dr. Mr. Crouch,

I was first introduced to your work via my Aunt Janet “The Librarian” years ago; she started me off with your Andrew Z. Thomas/Luther Kite series and I knew I’d found a new favorite author. I branched out on my own and decided to try the Wayward Pines series; somehow I ended up liking that even more than the previous. I was on a roll! Months ago, when I first saw your new book listed on NetGalley, it was vague and sneaky, both things I like in a book, but I decided to wait on requesting until I saw a couple of reviews. Then it hit me-everyone was describing this new book as a love story. A LOVE STORY?! No thanks; not for me. I don’t do that mushy-gushy nonsense. I was disappointed; I had really hoped for something exciting and fresh! As time went on, more of my Goodreads buds kept giving me grief to the point I agreed to read it, but I put it off as long as possible until finally I just needed to clear it off my shelf. I was still a little bitter and possibly throwing a tantrum, but I was going to read it despite your utter betrayal into the land of touchy feely.

Boy was I wrong. I know; I should have trusted you. And I finally get all those “this is truly a love story-blah blah blah” comments, because at heart, it is just that. You made sure to include all the intelligent, thrilling components of a Blake Crouch masterpiece that made me almost cancel my date night because I had to read “just one more chapter”. I’m not sure who’s bright idea it was to release your book during this Stranger Things phenomenon, but it was genius. My brain hasn’t had to process this much science since college, and it’s given me the illusion that I can moonlight as an intellectual again. Hehe. Anyway, no plot summary, giveaways, or spoilers here, but thank you good sir for putting in the time and effort to create an unforgettable journey that is sure to stay with all its readers for years to come. I appreciate you keeping it simple enough for my brain to keep up, and hopefully I’m not the only one who feels this way. I’ll be recommending this to everyone in the near future and am sure to include this in my Top Books of 2016 round up.

Thanks again, and looking forward to the next book. I promise to be more trusting the next go around.

All the best,

Chels

P.S. I received my digital copy via NetGalley from Crown Publishing in exchange for an honest and fair review. I ended up loving it so much that they sent a paper arc that was leftover and I am eagerly awaiting its arrival to add to my collection of awesome books that were keepers. ...more

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Aug 19, 2016 Justin rated it liked it

I loved the premise of this story.
Are we really happy? What if we made different decisions in life?
What if we could live out choices we never made but wished we did?
What if we went left instead of right?
Straight.
Backward.
Diagon Alley.
Harry Potter.
The premise was very interesting. The stuff about the box and the multiverse and even the science at times was interesting.
Why couldn't you pull that off, Andy Weir?
The plot is so fast-paced and relentless. Even if you aren't fully invested, you want t ...more

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Aug 10, 2016 Paromjit rated it it was amazing

Shelves: netgalley, thriller, science-fiction, mystery

Dark Matter is a book that thrills, horrifies and asks deep philosophical questions. It begins with Jason, a physics professor surrounded by his beloved wife, Daniela, and his teenage son, Charlie, cooking supper. He steps out to meet with a long time friend, Ryan, who has been awarded a prestigious prize. On his way home, Jason is abducted, after which life as he knew it shatters.

I found myself seeing the book through the lens of the band, The Talking Heads...their album titles, song titles and ...more

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May 17, 2016 Shelby *trains flying monkeys* rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science, from-publisher, netgalleyhatesme, read-2016

Blake Crouch is a very tricky guy. *Warning-this is a mostly gif review because I have no clue on how to review it without spoiling.*

You really can't review his books without giving them away. A buddy and I were talking about him last night, it feels like HE isn't even sure where the story is going. But you better hang on because it's always a bumpy ride.

This one starts out just like a normal book. (I'm not spoiling for this part) Jason Dessen is just an average guy. He is married to his long t ...more

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Dec 30, 2016 Petrik rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommended to Petrik by: Mary ~Ravager of Tomes~

4.5/5 Stars

(My last review of 2016 and I’m really glad it’s this book that I chose. Thank you very much to one of my GR best friend Mary for recommending this book to me.)

“Are you happy with your life?”

Single question that you’ve probably wondered or been asked several times throughout your life. How far will you go to save the one you love? Do you ever have any regrets in your life and wondered what would happen if you didn’t make that mistake?

Obviously we all have regrets, we lose someone, w ...more

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Aug 18, 2016 Elyse rated it it was amazing

I was hooked right away. Exciting -page turner- extremely fast pacing as rumors have spread.

The author has a unique style of writing- very short sentences. "SHOTS OF ADRENALINE"!!!
He also creates clear images from the start -- visuals of family life....[Thurs. night is family night with Jason, Daniela, and their son Charlie].
The dialogue is intimate - but at times the narration felt laborious - however the author draws us in anyway.

I liked this story... It's almost impossible to put it down - ...more

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Aug 15, 2016 Melissa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: netgalley, dark-and-twisted, mind-fuck, unputdownable, 2016, best-of-2016, sci-fi

Wow. Mind-blown. Amazed. Completely enamored.
This book shook me up, made me think and held my heart captive.

“description”/

I’m beyond impressed with Blake Crouch’s writing. The philosophical nature of this story and his ability to paint such a vivid world with his words really got to me. It shook me to my core.

“Are you happy in your life?”

I’m the first to admit, science-fiction isn’t my thing. Not my go-to genre or even one I read with any type of consistency. In fact, it was seeing sci-fi in the blurb tha ...more

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Sep 28, 2016 Kemper rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, blinded-me-with-science, thriller, we-are-family, 2016

I’m late to the party on this one, and judging by all the 4 and 5 star reviews I can only assume that the mob will be after me with pitchforks and torches for 3 starring it. Come at me, Goodreads!

Jason Dessen is just an average guy with a wife and son he loves, and a job teaching physics at a small college. One night he goes out to meet a friend for drinks, but he ends up being kidnapped by a mysterious man who somehow rips him out of his life and drops him in the middle of a nightmare.

This is o I’m late to the party on this one, and judging by all the 4 and 5 star reviews I can only assume that the mob will be after me with pitchforks and torches for 3 starring it. Come at me, Goodreads!

Jason Dessen is just an average guy with a wife and son he loves, and a job teaching physics at a small college. One night he goes out to meet a friend for drinks, but he ends up being kidnapped by a mysterious man who somehow rips him out of his life and drops him in the middle of a nightmare.

This is one of those books that’s nearly impossible to review without spoilers because so much of what happens comes after major revelations are made. Even if you see the first big twist coming then you’ll probably still be surprised by what comes next.

Here’s the 100% spoiler free review: This is an entertaining sci-fi thriller that reminds me of recent books like Influx (Slightly better than this.) and The Fold (Slightly worse.) It’s got a pretty good hook, and the story is begging to be turned into a movie although the trailer will probably give away the entire plot once they film it. It flirts with big crazy science ideas, but in the end is more interested in being a human drama about family and choices we make. It didn’t hit a mind blowing level for me on the science side, and it did a better than average job for this type of book of getting me invested in the character side. Overall, it still fell a little short of its ambitions.

In short, I liked it but didn’t love it. No regrets about reading it, and I’ll see the inevitable movie version if it’s got a decent score on Rotten Tomatoes.

To dig into this in more detail here’s some specifics. I’m not giving away the ending, but I do address the overall plot in general terms.

(view spoiler)[I guessed fairly early on that we were dealing with an alternative universe situation, and that it was another Jason who had kidnapped original Jason so those revelations weren’t shocking to me. However, I was pleasantly surprised when that scope expanded to include the whole multiverse exploration angle, and I thought those ideas were fun.

Yet, I was again a little let down that the focus so entirely remained on Jason’s desperate quest to get back to his family, and the guy started to irritate me a bit. He’s seen disastrous consequences as a result of trying to find his wife, and it irked me that as a scientist he never seemed all that interested in any of the amazing things he was right in the middle of. His obsession to get home was incorporated into the story and dealt with in ways I appreciated, but this whole book was constant underlining how the only thing that this character cared about was his family. Which is understandable but felt one-note in a story with the potential to have epic scope.

Yes, you could make the argument that was the whole point and that the sci-fi elements were just window dressing for a story about a man literally traveling multiple universes to get back to those he loves. But that runs squarely into a pet peeve of mine. A lot of mainstream fiction peddles the notion that we all have to make a choice between greatness/professional success versus having love/family. Since most of us are just average folks with average jobs but have people we care for in our lives it behooves the creators of these stories to reinforce the idea that we made the right choice, that we’re better off than those who may seem to have it all because we’re told they must surely be lonely and empty without the vital human connections that we have.

In short, it’s complete pandering nonsense that I have little patience for anymore. Sure, those who accomplish a lot make sacrifices, but all kinds of people who make their dreams a reality have family, friends, pets, etc. that they care for and spend time with. As an easy example: Follow Lin-Manuel Miranda on Twitter. Then try to tell me that someone can’t have a spouse and child and still write and star in a groundbreaking Broadway play, win a Pulitzer Prize, deal with an insane amount of public attention, get involved in political and social causes, generally make the rest of us look like lazy slack-asses, and apparently have the time of his life while doing all of it.

Ultimately I found this to be somewhat unsatisfying because its whole premise is built on that idea. It’s telling that Jason never found a world where his doppelganger had both a successful career and the family. That world would have undercut the central idea that the average Jason, who cares only about his wife and son, was the ‘best’ one. (hide spoiler)]

So its sci-fi elements aren’t as deep or well presented as other books I’ve read dealing with a similar concept, and its major theme rubbed the wrong way a bit. Still, it was an entertaining read with some big ideas that I enjoyed.

Note: I'm getting comments that are discussing things I spoiler tagged with no warnings. If you want to comment on some aspect that is under the spoilers section then please use that function. Any comments that don't will be deleted. ...more

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Jul 17, 2016 Dan Schwent rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Dan by: Shelby *trains flying monkeys*

Shelves: 2016, 2016-books, summer-of-love

On the way home from the local bar, Jason Dessen is ambushed by an unknown assailant in a geisha mask. After being injected with something, Jason wakes up and his world has been turned upside down...

As I mentioned in the past, I tend to resist books with any amount of hype attached. I even passed on this when it initially came up on Netgalley. However, the gang at Goodreads made me change my mind. So, yeah, the gang was right. Every once in a while, a book feels like it was written with my admit ...more

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Dec 28, 2016 Jeffrey Keeten rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, thriller

*****NO SPOILERS, I SWEAR.*****

”What if all the pieces of belief and memory that comprise who I am--my profession, Daniela, my son--are nothing but a tragic misfiring in that gray matter between my ears? Will I keep fighting to be the man I think I am? Or will I disown him and everything he loves, and step into the skin of the person this world would like for me to be?

And if I have lost my mind, what then?

What if everything I know is wrong?

No. Stop.

I am not losing my mind.”

There is nothing more ...more

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Sep 08, 2016 Raeleen Lemay rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, own

That was bananas.

*Full review to come*

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Jul 26, 2016 Kelly (and the Book Boar) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, arcs, like-this-or-we-cant-be-friends, read-in-2016, time-keeps-on-slippin

Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/

FLOAT FOR RELEASE DATE (7/26) AND BECAUSE MITCHELL SAID HE'D CUT THIS BITCH IF I DIDN'T. (But seriously, Crouch is good. I want him to have my babies.)

ACTUAL REVIEW:

Much like Wayward Pines, Crouch’s latest book is one where the less you know the better so now I don't know what the hell to say. On the surface, this is a sci-fi thriller which is generally not my bag. Buuuuuuuut since it was a Crouch story I rolled the dice. My reaction? ...more

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Dec 06, 2016 Matthew rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, library, 2016, suspense, gr_awards_2017

Best way to sum this up - one of the most unique and original stories I have read in a long time. 75% of this book I cannot give you a similar example of from another story.

I can see why others have said it is tough to review without spoiling. EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BEFORE IT GETS SPOILED FOR YOU!

It is the perfect balance of suspense, action, sci-fi, romance, and WHAT THE HECK!?!? I was enthralled the entire time and did not want to put it down (but we all have to sleep and work sometime, rig ...more

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Jul 29, 2016 Carol rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ebook, favorites, suspense, thriller, sci-fi, published-2016, read-2016

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious." (Einstein).

GEESH.....try to put this one down.....If you're a fan of sci-fi, you're going to love this, and if you're not, you just may become one. Enjoy a trip to Chicago, attend a Cub's game at Wrigley and ride the Ferris wheel, but be wary for life can change on a dime.

Jason Dessen is a genius, an Atomic Physicist and Professor at a small college. He has a loving wife, a bright teenage son, and everything is right as rain, but li

...more

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Aug 23, 2016 Aestas Book Blog rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

OMG. This book was brilliant!!!! It is nothing like what I usually review. I'm a romance reader and this is a sci-fi thriller so trust me, I'm shocked I loved it...

Imagine you had a life you loved: a husband/wife, a son, a lifetime of memories. Then imagine waking up one day and your family is GONE. Not dead, not taken, but gone — like they never existed. That's what happened to this hero. And this is his story of doing everything in his power to get back to the woman he LOVES more than anythin ...more

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Dec 03, 2016 Lyn rated it really liked it

A steaming hot cup of whatthef***???

Like Crouch’s 2012 mega hit Pines, it’s hard to say much without fatal spoilers, but trust me and 90% of the readers who’ve read and enjoyed this – it’s a wild ride.

Scientist and professor Jason Dessen is abducted in a back alley in Chicago and his life is changed irrevocably. Crouch explores the concepts of the multiverse and also about identity, relationships, and existentialism.

I read a Heinlein short story years ago (and have forgotten the title) where peo ...more

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Aug 08, 2016 Larry Hoffer rated it it was amazing

"If there are infinite worlds, how do I find the one that is uniquely, specifically mine?"

I needed to catch my breath before I wrote this review. Holy hell, what a ride this book took me on!

One night Jason Dessen is cooking dinner in Chicago home with his wife, Daniela, and their teenage son, Charlie. Jason and Daniela share news about old friends who have achieved noteworthy success recently, and think wistfully about how their lives might have been different if they had pursued their own caree "If there are infinite worlds, how do I find the one that is uniquely, specifically mine?"

I needed to catch my breath before I wrote this review. Holy hell, what a ride this book took me on!

One night Jason Dessen is cooking dinner in Chicago home with his wife, Daniela, and their teenage son, Charlie. Jason and Daniela share news about old friends who have achieved noteworthy success recently, and think wistfully about how their lives might have been different if they had pursued their own careers, in physics and art respectively, if they hadn't chosen to settle down and raise a child. But Jason knows he is happy with his life, and he's in love with his wife.

Before dinner is ready, Jason walks downtown to join his old college roommate for a celebratory drink. Walking back home later that night, Jason hears footsteps behind him, and the next thing he knows, he's been abducted by a masked, armed man, who forces him to drive to a deserted parking lot. But while he expects to be murdered, he is surprised when his abductor starts asking him questions about his life and his family, including, "Are you happy in your life?"

When Jason wakes up, he is strapped to a gurney, surrounded by people in hazmat suits. Apparently he's been gone for a while, although at first he doesn't know where he is or where he has been. But little by little he realizes that his life as he knew it doesn't exist—to paraphrase The Talking Heads, his wife is not his beautiful wife, his job is different—nothing is as he remembers. He is now a noted scientist who has accomplished something thought impossible. What happened? How did everything change?

Blake Crouch's Dark Matter is an absolutely fascinating story of a man who wakes up to find out that the life he knew didn't exist, no matter how vivid his memories were. But which life is the dream, the one he is in now, or the one he remembers? Can he ever make it back to what he remembered, and if not, what will happen to him?

For fear of giving anything away to those who've not read this yet, the above plot summary just scratches the surface. This book delves into the science of choice, the idea that for every path we take there are many we don't, yet are those threads of our life being lived simultaneously? While the science of this book was a little confusing for someone who took the easiest path to achieving my college science requirements, this is a sci-fi book of surprising emotional depth, crazy twists, and action worthy of a great thriller. So many people have raved about this book and I was worried I wouldn't feel the same way, but I absolutely do. This was surprising and just so excellent. I couldn't get enough.

Kudos to Blake Crouch for such a creative, well-written book. This will make a fantastic movie, but for now, it's one hell of a read, so if you've been wavering about reading it, give it a shot. Suspend your disbelief and get ready for your heart to start beating pretty fast.

See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo.... ...more

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Oct 20, 2016 Maria✦❋Steamy Reads Blog❋✦ rated it really liked it

Shelves: sci-fi, suspense

“If there are infinite worlds, how do I find the one that is uniquely, specifically mine?”

➦Okay, so I thought this book would be a good book to read while on a roadtrip with my hubby. Because, you know... It's not really romance. It's a pretty awesome sci-fi/mystery/thriller.

➦But once he heard that I wanted to listen to a book TOGETHER, he had a "better" idea. So I ended up listening to this for hours and hours:

➦But since I already had the book, I thought what the heck - I'll read it. And ...more

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Jan 05, 2017 Linda O'Donnell rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 5-star-winners, fiction, sci-fi

Imagine, if you will, a mirror crashing to the ground. The sharp, jagged shards reflect your image over and over again. But which reflection is reality? And which are mere replications of the truth?

Imagine, once again, a single decision that veers you off the beaten track into.......

Jason Dessen chops onions like a skillful Samurai warrior in a gruesome battle. A little beneath his calling as a college physics professor. But Jason is also husband to Daniela, an artist, and father to Charlie, his Imagine, if you will, a mirror crashing to the ground. The sharp, jagged shards reflect your image over and over again. But which reflection is reality? And which are mere replications of the truth?

Imagine, once again, a single decision that veers you off the beaten track into.......

Jason Dessen chops onions like a skillful Samurai warrior in a gruesome battle. A little beneath his calling as a college physics professor. But Jason is also husband to Daniela, an artist, and father to Charlie, his fifteen year old son. Jason is an absolute, die-hard family man. Providing for his family is what he does come hell or high water.

Daniela encourages Jason to stop by his local bar in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago to congratulate his buddy, Ryan, on winning the coveted Pavia Prize. His discussion with Ryan opens up old wounds of what might have been. Jason takes a different route home on the deserted streets of Chicago afterwards with the uncanny feeling of being followed. It is this decision that will turn the tide with forever reverberations.......

"It's terrifying when you consider that every thought we have, every choice we could possibly make, branches into a new world."

What transpires here out will make your head spin at break-neck speed in a completely different orbit than what you are accustomed to. Blake Crouch presents a storyline imbued with the bright colors of "what if?" Crouch takes you through the quirky, mind-blowing footsteps of Jason Dessen in which real becomes unreal.

"The thing that makes our whole universe work -- comes from a theorectical substance we can't measure or observe directly. Something they call dark matter."

But don't slide your feet towards the door marked "Exit", folks. Although this is in the genre of sci-fi, you are never weighed down by suffocating theorems and the like. This is a human story entrenched in the science that actually surrounds us in every second of life.

Intriguing, thought-provoking, break-neck speed in the delivery, Dark Matter is a book to grab. I only wish that I, myself, would have reached out to this one sooner in 2016. All I know is that I got here as fast as I could........much like Jason Dessen, dear readers. You'll see.....

...more

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Apr 25, 2016 Zoeytron rated it it was amazing

Shelves: new-fangled-e-reader, net-galley

Copy furnished by Net Galley in exchange for a review.

Boom! Mind-blowing tale about the ramifications of the choices we make versus the proverbial road not taken.

Dark matter. You can't see it. It cannot be weighed or measured, yet it makes up most of the known universe. Is every outcome inevitable? Is free will really just an illusion?

My stars. I tend to be very stingy with them, especially when doling them out five at a time. I freely shoot all the stars into the rating bar for this book with ...more

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Aug 12, 2016 Cheri rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction, arc, netgalley, thriller

"Dark Matter" begins with an ordinary, everyday domestic kitchen scene with a husband, wife and teenage son. Preparing dinner, the usual banter. They lead a relatively simple life, have a nice home, they live comfortably, but on his professor salary, they aren’t bringing in the big bucks. Jason Desson teaches at a university, a side step from his original career plans, but life has a way of changing things. It’s changed Daniela’s trajectory, as well, not the well-known artist she set out to be,
"Dark Matter" begins with an ordinary, everyday domestic kitchen scene with a husband, wife and teenage son. Preparing dinner, the usual banter. They lead a relatively simple life, have a nice home, they live comfortably, but on his professor salary, they aren’t bringing in the big bucks. Jason Desson teaches at a university, a side step from his original career plans, but life has a way of changing things. It’s changed Daniela’s trajectory, as well, not the well-known artist she set out to be, either. These days she teaches art to middle-grade students.

The day they learned their son Charlie was on his way, things changed. Focus changed. Nobody’s complaining, everyone’s content, but what if they’d chosen a different path? And all the what ifs… are more like so whats when he looks at Daniela and Charlie.

It’s Thursday night, their family time. Their sacred family tradition. Family night.

Daniela shares news of a fellow artist whose work is being lauded. Jason tells Daniela the news that his former roommate won the Pavia Prize, that he was invited to the celebration that night, but passed because it is Thursday night. Their night. She encourages him to go, and so he does.

“I’ve lived in Logan Square for twenty years, and it doesn’t get any better than the first week of October. It always puts me in mind of that F. Scott Fitzgerald line: Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.”

A Man Walks Into a Bar… and then life changes, everything changes…

“No one tells you it’s all about to change, to be taken away. There’s no proximity alert, no indication that you’re standing on the precipice. And maybe that’s what makes tragedy so tragic. Not just what happens, but how it happens: a sucker punch that comes at you out of nowhere, when you’re least expecting. No time to flinch or brace.”

This is classified as “General Fiction” but it has a bit of a sci-fi thriller aspect to it that is an intensely crazy, wonderful ride, and as a love story is equally intensely lovely. Difficult to classify, difficult to convey so I’ll just say:

Read this.

Many thanks to Crown Publishing, NetGalley and to author Blake Crouch for providing me with an advanced copy.
...more

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Nov 17, 2016 Jen rated it really liked it

**may contain a spoiler or a 'few'**
Dark matter twisted my gray matter. In a scary, thrilling kinda way but I gotta be honest, the multitude of Jasons by the end were giving me an eye roll.

Jason is abducted and injected then wakes up to find he's lost one month of his life - except he's been living it as himself in some experiment. Or was his previous life the experiment? Same person different universe - living in a semi conscious state - one that exists in the dark matter.
I'm no sci-fi fan but ...more

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Jul 26, 2016 Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science-fiction

4.5 stars, rounding up. Final review first posted at Fantasy Literature:

Dark Matter is a tense science fiction thriller that was nearly unputdownable. It sucked me in almost immediately and didn’t spit me out again until I was on the other side of about a four hour reading marathon.

Jason Dessen is a brilliant physicist who in some respects has “settled.” Fifteen years ago, on the cusp of a scientific breakthrough in quantum mechanics, his girlfriend Daniela, a gifted artist, unexpectedly told hi ...more

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Oct 05, 2016 Karen rated it it was amazing

Wow!!! I don't usually read these kinds of books, but this one had me from the start. I am not even going to get into what it is about because I don't want to give anything away!! I really wonder if a movie will be made of this one!! Great book!!!

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Jul 29, 2016 Frances rated it really liked it

4.5* A quantum physicist Jason Dessen is a happy, contented family man living for the past 20 years in Logan Square, Chicago in a brownstone home. It’s a Thursday night and he’s cooking up a storm for his wife Daniela and teenage son Curtis. Daniela knows there is a celebration party for an old college buddy just down the road at Jason’s favorite bar, the Village Tap. She encourages him to go and offer hearty congratulations.

How does anyone know that a happy, peaceful life changes when it’s lea ...more

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About Blake Crouch

Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the forthcoming 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 T ...more

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Quotes from Dark Matter

“We're more than the sum total of our choices, that all the paths we might have taken factor somehow into the math of our identity.” — 41 likes

“We're all just wandering through the tundra of our existence, assigning value to worthlessness, when all that we love and hate, all we believe in and fight for and kill for and die for is as meaningless as images projected onto Plexiglass.” — 29 likes

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