Dark Matter
Blake Crouch
★★★★★ 4/5
Fiction: Thriller, Sci-Fi
This is my spoiler free review of the book Dark Matter. Please see this post (spoiler alert) for an explanation of the book’s science, premise and plot.
Well crafted thriller, but not really Sci-Fi
Having read Recursion earlier this year, and now, Dark Matter, I can say Blake Crouch is very good at his craft of writing captivating thrillers that draw you into the story and characters from the very first page. Dark Matter definitely does that. And just like Recursion, it makes you scrutinize the plot itself and ponder the philosophical questions it raises. But I find it hard to appreciate Dark Matter as pure science fiction—which it most certainly is not. More a science based fantasy. Mr. Crouch has a knack for taking the germ of a science themed idea and using it to spin a gripping and frantically paced story.
How would life have turned out had we made a different decision in the past?
The book’s primary construct is the somewhat well worn proposition of multiple realities. Specifically: the many worlds (multiverse) interpretation of quantum mechanics. While you may think of movies like Run Lola Run or Sliding Doors; it probably has more in common with the lesser known, but well made movie Coherence.
Both Recursion and Dark Matter seem to ask the what-if question on changing or undoing past actions. Recursion has a chair(review here, and explanation here). In Dark Matter it’s a box that allows access to other universes/timelines where life has unfolded from different forking points in the past.
It is an interesting mental exercise to look back at your life and wonder what some of the biggest decisions shaping the course of your life have been. What if anything would you change? And is this perspective just an instance of the grass being greener on the other side? Would a different decision and the subsequent cascade of changes triggered by it lead to a truly happier existence? I, being of the ‘happiness lies within’ school, strongly believe, NO!
Until everything topples we have no idea what we actually have, how precariously and perfectly it all hangs together.
Strong storytelling, weak on the science
Other than stating the invention of The Box along with some generic mention of electromagnetic fields and a perception altering drug, Mr. Crouch offers no real scientific explanation for his premise of multiverse travel. And there really isn’t much science in the book. Just as there wasn’t much in Recursion. And that’s fine with me, as long as it’s not referred to as Sci-Fi. There should perhaps be a separate genre for this: Black box sci-fi? Also, why this book has the title it does is a mystery to me since dark matter has nothing to do with the story, other than a brief and irrelevant mention of the fact that it accounts for 85% of the matter in the universe and this blanket statement:
Some theorists think that it might be a clue to the existence of the multiverse.
But overall the story is consistent with its premise even if a little hard to believe.
Enjoyable read with a clever twist ending
Several years ago, Jason Desson made a conscious choice to trade a promising physics research career for life as a teacher at a small college with a beautiful family. Unknown to him, his musings about what life would have been had he not made that fateful choice, are going to turn real, propelling him into a fight back for the family and life he worked so hard to make.
There’s a lot of multiverse travel using the aforementioned Box. But Mr.Crouch saves his best for the last: with a cleverly introduced twist. One that I did not anticipate but makes complete sense given the premise of the book. It’s hard to say more without introducing spoilers, and so I wont.
Overall, an enjoyable read if you’re willing to overlook a plot based on a lot of science hand-waving in return for a well written thriller. But I will say that I am likely just as happy in all those universes where I have not picked up this book. Or maybe in some of those, Mr. Crouch is a better science writer. 😉
5 thoughts on “Dark Matter”
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Lots and lots of sci fi doesn’t have anything to do with science.
Sad isn’t it that we still call them sci-fi?
I’m not really a purist on that front. I like the fact that it’s a house with many chambers. That keeps things open ended & creative.
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