Dark Matter

A Novel

De: Blake Crouch

Narrado por: Jon Lindstrom

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD! • NOW STREAMING ON APPLE TV+

A “mind-blowing” (Entertainment Weekly) speculative thriller about an ordinary man who awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew—from the author of Upgrade, Recursion, and the Wayward Pines trilogy

“Are you happy with your life?”

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the kidnapper knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man he’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 professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible.

Is it this life or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how will Jason make it back to the family he loves?

From the bestselling author Blake Crouch, Dark Matter is a mind-bending thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.

Schrödinger's box gets opened. Meh steps out.

"I suppose we're both just trying to come to terms with how horrifying infinity really is."
-- Blake Crouch, Dark Matter

On the back of this book is a blurb by Lee Child where he says: "Brilliant. A book to remember. I think Blake Crouch just invented something new."

Then problem here is this book isn't new. I'm not saying it isn't good. It is a fine book. It is a screenwriter writing a book about science. We get line or two about the multiverse, some thoughts about game theory. The narrator talks with vague, and broad-strokes about Schrödinger's cat, the Copenhagen interpretation, the multiverse, and even a bit of quantum entanglement. But beyond the superficial use of quantum mechanics this novel seems all slickness with no soul.

Too me it is a degraded copy of a better book. The better, more literary version of this book was written by Stephen Peck and is called A Short Stay in Hell. Steven Peck is a scientist (Professor of biomathematics and entomology. Peck's novel is more literally, scary, and came out about four years. I should be clear here. I'm not saying Crouch ripped Peck off. There are many ways to use infinity and the desire to return home in a SF novel. I'm just saying that Dark Matter, for me, was the dead cat of the two in the box.

It seemed too Hollywood. Too made to be optioned. I am sure (as sure as Crouch's film and TV manager and entertainment attorney) that it will be made into a movie. Perhaps, Tom Hanks will star in it. It just isn't a great book. When it gets made into a movie, I'll shell out the $12 to see it, I just think Peck's novel was better, more philosophical, had a better grasp of the fundamental science of large numbers, and didn't sell out the end to a pitch-packaged, happy ending.

I'd love someone else to read both and tell me I was wrong, but I don't think so. I've opened both doors, experienced both worlds. The differences are as glaring as the difference between a house and a home. One was SF beauty, this was just a cold, slick, uncanny valley. I know I'm in the minority here. Most of my friends who have read this loved it. I don't know. It just seemed too predictable, too soft, too secure in its protagonist. History, and I guess in multiverse fiction too, gets written by the winner. I guess what I'm saying is I'd rather have read a book written by Jason2, 3, 4 or 70.

Believable Multiverse

Where does Dark Matter rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I write reviews on maybe one in ten books I read or listen to. This one is exceptionally well researched and perhaps to all but a quantum physicist, quite frighteningly believable.Dark Matter goes beyond the physics and opens an exploration of what we are to each other, given the many times humans make small decisions that have large impacts. I count this among the top few dozens of all hard science fiction stories I have enjoyed, mainly because the story is memorable and the problems that it poses are considered long after the last great scene.

What other book might you compare Dark Matter to and why?

Well it's certainly not time travel, that much is made clear. And yet, many of the problems encountered are the same as in time travel books. So I'll go with Frittz Lieber's The Big Time, even though that classic was intended to be a comedy.

Have you listened to any of Jon Lindstrom’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I'm not aware I have. The delivery, timbre and cadence was just right.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were parts that were very sad. I need to read it again. The special love that the protagonist couple shares is very sweet, and not often portrayed so poignantly in science fiction. This was unexpected and quite lovely.

Any additional comments?

Buy it!

Not a bad listen but .... meh

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Less wordy

Would you recommend Dark Matter to your friends? Why or why not?

No - decent story that could have been half as long.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Jon Lindstrom?

I won't seek him out.

Did Dark Matter inspire you to do anything?

No

Any additional comments?

I liked the story but many times it felt too wordy, like the story was written too short and the author was forced to double the word count. I literally yelled "we get it!" during the chat room conversations.

Moving

Somehow this book seemed shorter than it was. I enjoyed the concept, but it was more of a story of dedication and love than anything else. Don't believe for a minute that this made it sappy. In fact, it was so engaging that I finished it in 3 days, listening every spare minute and staying up until 3 to finish. Now that I have finished my review, I am going to start it all over again and see what I missed the first time! If you are looking for a similar book that is equally engaging, but with an entirely different motivation, try The Fold by Peter Clines. I have listened to that one at least 4 times!

Quantum Leap...

Quantum Leap on steroids, awesome story, well read highly recommend. you won't be disappointed at all