Blake Crouch is best known as the author of
the Wayward Pines Trilogy, the book series that launched the TV show of the
same name. Wayward Pines has been compared favourably to Twin Peaks, and as
such Crouch has a reputation for creating creepy and absorbing worlds that mix
our expectations of the everyday with the creepy and strange. Crouch’s new
novel, Dark Matter, is a departure from his previously established world whilst
cementing his reputation as a master of the strange.
Dark Matter opens with a day in the life of Jason Dessen. Just a normal chap
whose life is pretty unremarkable. Dessen has taken the well-trodden path
throughout most of his days. He has a remarkable mind and happens to be a
brilliant physicist, but his life choices have given him a loving wife, a
healthy son and a stable job as an ordinary college physics professor. Until, of course, he’s abducted, knock
unconscious, strapped to a gurney and then awoken to find himself in a life he
did not plan. One in which he has no family, but success as a scientist. He has
everything he thought he wanted; except the things he wants the most. His wife
and family, in this brave new world, have never happened.
As openings go, it’s a strong one and it sets the mood brilliantly. What we
have here is a science based thriller that deals with that most human of
concepts; regret. Everyone who has ever lived has wondered what their live
would be like if they had made different choices, and Dark Matter thrusts the
consequences of this front and centre. This is a journey into the self more than it
is anything else, but peppered with a tightly written and well-paced adventure
thriller. The core ideas aren’t anything new and the twists and turns may not
surprise those who read a lot of strange thrillers, but the journey is a lot of fun.
Crouch’s writing is tight and engaging; it’s his most accomplished work to date
and is a genuine page turner. The story format and the prose is both compelling
and engaging. It’s one of those books that you find yourself planning when
you’ll have the time to read it next and makes for near perfect holiday
reading; store this one away for a rainy day or a long journey. Recommended.
DARK MATTER / AUTHOR: BLAKE CROUCH / PUBLISHER:
CROWN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
