Dark Matter

By: Michelle Paver

Narrated by: Jeremy Northam

January 1937. Jack Miller has just about run out of options. His shoes have worn through, he can't afford to heat his rented room in Tooting, and he longs to use his training as a specialist wireless operator instead of working in his dead-end job. When he is given the chance to join an arctic expedition, as communications expert, by a group of elite Oxbridge graduates, he brushes off his apprehensions and convinces himself to join them.

As the young men set sail from a gloomy Britain on the verge of war, Jack feels the overwhelming excitement of not knowing what lies ahead. Little can he imagine the horrors that await him in their destination, Gruhuken, a place that cannot escape the savage echo of its past.

©2010 Michelle Paver (P)2010 Orion Publishing Group Limited

Critic reviews

Dark Matter is brilliant. Imagine Jack London meets Stephen King. The novel virtually defines a new genre: literary creepy. I loved it (Jeffrey Deaver)

It's an elegantly told tale with a vivid sense of place - and it's deeply scary (Lesley Glaister)

Ghost stories don't frighten me much but this one did. Quite a lot, actually ... Chilling in every respect (Richard Madeley)

'From the first page Dark Matter gripped me with a quiet relentless intensity - every word is perfectly placed, every silence heavy with dread... absolutely unmissable' (Simon Pegg)

Very Good Winter Book

Very nice book to relax with on a winter's evening. Very well written and keeps you going along with the story.

A True Creeping Horror Story

Jeremy Northam's measured pace is perfect for the unidentified, but slowly encompassing sense of terror. Sparse on gruesome description, but huge in atmosphere. Possibly the best horror story I've ever read.

Meh

Meh, it was ok I guess. Not my favorite book. The narrator was the best part about it. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Very well told story but graphic violence

This is a very well written story and effective. Performance is flawless. Dropped a star due to the graphic violence against humans and animals alike. Perhaps my own mistake-I took the “A Ghost Story” to imply more of a haunting and not so much violence. Outside of those moments this was very well done. Do not pursue if triggered by graphic descriptions of torture etc.

Moody, atmospheric ghost story

Dark Matter is a moody, atmospheric ghost story reminiscent of James or Poe. There is little obvious gore; the horror lies in the claustrophobic struggles of the protagonist who is tormented by his inability to decide whether he is hallucinating or really being haunted by a ghost. He is temporarily alone at a pre-World War I arctic research site. The cold and the dark close him in. He is constantly counting off the days until his companions return and that return repeatedly gets delayed. His only companion (apart from a brief visit from a trapper) is an Inuit husky. How he goes from being a dog hater to having his sanity saved by a dog is one of the more interesting subplots (if you like dogs, I do). The narrator is excellent and makes the most of a good story. Recommended if you like ghost stories without a dead body every ten steps...not for action junkies.