Blake Crouch

A science-fiction thriller in which an ordinary man is kidnapped, knocked unconscious, and awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew.

A Novel

Dark Matter

As long as I'm with you, I know exactly who I am

Ashlyn Barrett

I am not just me. My understanding of identity has been shattered. I am one facet of an infinitely faceted being who has made every possible choice and lived every life imaginable. I can't help thinking that 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.

Every moment, every breath, contains a choice. But life is imperfect. We make the wrong choices. So we end up living in a state of perpetual regret, and is there anything worse?

I know part of our story is the electricity of our connection, but the other part is equally miraculous. It's the simple fact that you walked into my life at the exact moment you did. You instead of someone else. In some ways, isn't that even more in- credible than the connection itself? That we found each other at all?

What a miracle it is to have people to come home to every day. To be loved. To be expected.

There's something horribly lonely about a place that's almost home.

If he did this to you, he would have rationalized it somehow. That's how decent people justify bad behavior.

So if the world really splits whenever something is observed, that means there's an unimaginably massive, infinite number of universesa multiversewhere everything that can happen will happen.

even though it cannot be seen, we know dark matter exists bc of its’ effects on objects we CAN observe 

Most astrophysicists believe that the force holding stars and galaxies together - the thing that makes our whole universe work - comes from a theoretical substance we can't measure or observe directly. Something they call dark matter. And this dark matter makes up most of the known universe.

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

even when choices are changed, do the people affected by remain the same cognitively? 

Here and now, wherever this is, it's the same arrangement of matter. 

We all live day to day completely oblivious to the fact that were a part of a much larger and stranger reality than we can possibly imagine.

nothing exists. all is a dream. you are but a thought. (mark twain)

A realization and the terror that follows it - terror of the limitless indifference surrounding us. 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, fight for, kill for, and die for is meaningless. 

I am not allowed to think I'm crazy. I am only allowed to solve this problem.

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?

At this point, I'm not even sure what to be afraid of this reality that might actually be true, or the possibility that everything is going to pieces inside my head.

I touch the indentation, acknowledging both the horror and the comfort of what it represents - the last vestige of my reality.

It's the beautiful thing about youth. There's a weightlessness that permeates everything because no damning choices have been made, no paths committed to, and the road forking out ahead is pure, unlimited potential.

Now, if the people around me are sharp enough to absorb knowledge by sheer proximity to me... great. But the passing on of knowledge, as it were, doesn't interest me. All that matters is the science. The research. 

importance of always saying “i love you”

I don't look back. I don't say goodbye. And this moment slips past unnoticed. The end of everything I know, everything I love.

No one tells you it’s all about to change 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 it. No time to flinch or brace.

For anyone who has wondered what their life might look like at the end of the road not taken.

IM OBSESSED WITH THEIR RELATIONSHIP. im so used to literary works when if the characters had the chance to cheat, they would. but his words beforehand, >But it won't be me<, rings so clearly here. both of them have their principles, and it does waver - how can it not, when you're both the only person you know in this situation rn? - but they are principled enough to not do it. to let it go. you choose to act on it. but they didn't. & she did help him over that final hurdle, my god.

madina

Jason, I wish you nothing but happiness. Be safe. Amanda

Ankit Panchal

This is the kind of book that once you start reading you will not put it down until it ends. A real page turner.

Amna A.

Was so much fun to read. As someone who enjoys thrillers but finds them too intense to consume on screen, this book was perfect. Could not stop reading. There's a lot of science fiction, so if you enjoy Andy Weird or Michael Crichton, I would recommend this. The first half introduces a lot of quantum, philosophical, and psychological theories but is very good at explaining them. And all these big ideas are used to explore intricate feelings, questions of morality, and the underlying theme of career vs. family. The quote on the dedication page reads, "This book is for anyone who has wondered what their life might look like at the end of the road not taken." My only criticism of the book is that the main characters are kind of bland.

Michael Knepprath

One of those books where if I’d read it when it came out it would’ve blown my mind, but popular media has caught up with it so it doesn’t feel quite as groundbreaking anymore. Still a fun ride, though!

Mariana Lage

One of the best fricking books I've ever read, amazingly written.

Jason Lo

Sasha

Isabella 

This book is interesting, but I find the execution lacking. The characters are boring, and some of them weren't fully fleshed out; seems like they were only used for a plot device. I couldn't find anything to make me feel connected with the whole story. It was very underwhelming. It looks like a book made just so it could be a movie. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it somehow. It's philosophical; it made us think about the possibility of infinite realities. It's an average book for me.

Dani

The concept in itself had a lot of potential, but I found myself growing more and more frustrated with every chapter, discovering it was more of a love story than anything else. Maybe I went in with the wrong idea, and that’s on me. Nevertheless an entertaining read, albeit overtly (unnecessarily?) sexual at times.

I’ve read/watched quite a bit about unlocking the secrets to the multiverse but this one had its own spin on it. It’s not just some versions of you being similar and others wildly different. 

In Dark Matter hundreds of Jasons are trying to get home to their Daniela and Charlie. They all believe they are the original and some will do anything to stop the others from taking what they believe to be theirs. Of limitless doors to open (like finding a specific grain of sand in a desert) somehow hundreds of Jasons make it to this world. More still arriving. They all have the same style of thinking developing the same master plan. 

The ending wasn’t what I was expecting or hoping for given that Daniela and Charlie seem to recognize the small differences in Jasons claiming to be the original. Part of me wishes that they all would have agreed to meet up at the same location and Daniela and Charlie would ask them questions that only the original would know but this process of elimination would undoubtedly be exhausting and time consuming and in no way would break it down while more keep arriving. 

Christa Bell

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟 4.5/5

I’ve read/watched quite a bit about unlocking the secrets to the multiverse but this one had its own spin on it. It’s not just some versions of you being similar and others wildly different. 

In Dark Matter hundreds of Jasons are trying to get home to their Daniela and Charlie. They all believe they are the original and some will do anything to stop the others from taking what they believe to be theirs. Of limitless doors to open (like finding a specific grain of sand in a desert) somehow hundreds of Jasons make it to this world. More still arriving. They all have the same style of thinking developing the same master plan. 

The ending wasn’t what I was expecting or hoping for given that Daniela and Charlie seem to recognize the small differences in Jasons claiming to be the original. Part of me wishes that they all would have agreed to meet up at the same location and Daniela and Charlie would ask them questions that only the original would know but this process of elimination would undoubtedly be exhausting and time consuming and in no way would break it down while more keep arriving. 

it’s hard to take a book seriously when they use the word “fuckingly”

Grace M

azliana aziz

How many times in your life you stop for a while and stare into the distance and wondering of what ifs and what could have beens in your life and if given the chance would you change anything and pick the other road, not the one you're currently in. I know I did that at least once a month. 

Dark Matter is basically part love story and part philosophical discussion of the road not taken. 

At first, I feel like the prose is too plain for my liking but going on I get why he chose to keep it simple; to not fall into an info dump kind of book & to lever the intensity of going deep into the story. 
I feel like Blake Crouch maxed out everything in this book, crazy fun and all out there which is what every book in sci-fi / speculative fiction's genre should aim to do. I mean, you have all the chance in the world to write literally anything plausible without caring if it is possible/logical or not then why not take the chance and go off. Crouch did that as he wrote an achingly sweet love story while simultaneously giving us lessons in multiverse, quantum state etc without sacrificing his ongoing narrative which is quite a rare feat in this kind of genre. Also I was worrying for a lukewarm ending but hell no, he delivered in this too.

There's a couple of mind-blown, jaw- dropping moments that I could literally visualize and keep wondering 'woah this will look so amazing on screen'. This book is so filmable I completely understand why Sony bought the rights two years ago.
 
One important thing is please don't read reviews too much, just enough to get the little ideas of what it's all about and plunge into this wonderful world(s) that Blake Crouch has created. And please, if you don't have time at least 6-8 hours to give to this book then don't start it. 
 
++ I dearly wish Blake Crouch will have it in his mind to write a sequel for Amanda.

Cody Degen

4.5 stars, I liked it a fair bit more than recursion- felt like it was easier to follow the implications of the setting

** spoiler alert **
           The only thing that I did not like about this book is the fact that Jason was a genius yet the best solution he could come up with to solve his dilemma was to hold a lottery and the winner would have his family as a prize like girl ??!!?

Len Damico

This was one of those “take the long way home and make another lap around the block, just so you can keep listening in the car” kind of audiobooks.

So this was okay. The prose didn't lift me into heavenly ectasy, I wasn't weeping with the beauty of it all, it was just an all right story, an easy and quick read. That isn't a criticism - some people can't even manage that, and that's why my DNF pile is several feet high.

One thing I have to say though, can Mr Crouch please stop doing the weird short sentence, then line break thing?

"Gunshot.

My ears ringing."

"...My heart stops.

a lamp blinks on."

(I always imagine sentences like this said by the protagonist in a really hilarious badass voice, while he's squinting into the middle distance. Probably just me?)

I like the whole idea of the box, the different universes, and the different worlds contained within, I'm a real sucker for anything like that. (I really loved K Chess' Famous Men Who Never Lived. I very much recommend that, btw!)

Would have liked to know more about how Jason's poor wife felt being slavered over by twenty different versions of him, and accidentally sleeping with one without her knowledge. 

Feel like I would've have enjoyed this even more if I was a bloke? That's all right, not everything is aimed at me, or has to be - and I did enjoy it nonetheless.

Quinn Tenorio

I enjoy movies that play with the mind (see Christopher Nolan) and this was my first foray into books that do the same thing. While the mind bending-ness isn't as pronounced here as in movies, it was still fun to read and a nice book. I have Crouch's newest book Recursion on my list to read and look forward to it.

Lakshya Malik

4.5 Stars
 
Dark Matter is thrilling, exhilarating, mind-bending, and even inspiring. Crouch has really done a great job from start to finish. With an exciting plot, this sci-fi thriller takes its readers for a ride that is both scary and wonderful. 

The climax is just mind-boggling, and you probably won't see it coming.

There were moments when I looked up from the book to think about the science, and then there were moments where I was thinking about life. I love the way it ended. And I love Jason's journey to reach home to his wife and son.

This book instantly became one of my favorites and I'm totally recommending it to everyone.

Aamna

Like the premise but reallyyyyyy drags in places.

M. Marques

Ooof! That was intense. I was very curious about this book since the idea behind interests me deeply. While reading, I couldn’t help but wonder what I would do if I were the main character. But I was calm. Collected. Wondering what made people talk about this book so much. When will this mess with me? And then it did. I started having dreams and nightmares about it. And I can’t stop thinking about it!
It’s a really, really good book.

Maybe not the most original premise. But it's executed masterfully.

Frederik De Bosschere

Jaden Nelson

4.5? Holy crap, I need a minute to recover. To be honest, I don’t really have a lot to say about this book besides it was so trippy and thrilling while also incorporating a really interesting intellectual main idea. I really liked it actually. I would highly recommend for someone looking for a longer, but very good thriller novel.

Melissa Palmer

Book #19 Read in 2017
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

This was a good read. Jason is a physics professor at the college level. One night on his way home to his wife and teenage son, Jason is mugged and knocked out. He awakes in an alternate universe and thus begins his struggle to find his way back home...and to his life in the right time and place. This book was action packed and will keep readers engaged throughout the whole book. I recommend it! I borrowed this book from my town library.

Suggested by Monica, and DAMN this was a juicy book!!! So gripping!!! Never knew what was going to happen next!!! Loved the narration!! 

Kyra Cracchiola

'Brilliant. . . I think Blake Crouch just invented something new.' - Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher series. From Blake Crouch, the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human – a relentlessly surprising thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we'll go to claim the lives we dream of, perfect for fans of Stranger Things and Ready Player One. 'Are you happy in your life?' Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakes to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before the man he's never met smiles down at him and says, 'Welcome back.' 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 physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this world or the other that's the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could've imagined – one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

A Mind-Blowing Twisted Thriller

Tanner Christensen

I picked up this book after seeing it recommended by several people on Hacker News. Great in many parts, it’s unfortunate the book reads like a junior high school piece.

Perhaps it’s intended for an audience of the same variety.

The world the author has created for readers is certainly creative—and the book tries to redeem itself with a surprising and truly creative twist in the third act—I found the bulk of the book to be drawn out. Areas where the author incites middle school boy imagery of both love and life are distractions that I found myself skipping over, hoping for more of the creative story telling.

I really wish I could give this book a better rating, as the ideas explored around quantum universe theory is very fun to explore. But the book plays out in a lanky, awkward way too often between otherwise imagination-fueling moments of a captivating and novel story. Maybe in another universe the writing is a bit more mature, but it’s not this one.

Dark Matter A Novel

Reviews

Highlights