Dark Matter: book premise and plot explained
Blake Crouch
★★★★★ 4/5
Spoiler Warning: this post intended for those who've read the book Dark Matter and looking for a better understanding of the premise and plot
Dark Matter (book review here) is nowhere as convoluted or complicated as Blake Crouch’s more recent book, Recursion (See this post for an explanation of that book). But I see some interesting questions on Goodreads prompting this explainer. Also, my explainer for Recursion has proven to be quite popular 😀 and added motivation for this post.
This post covers:
First, the Science the book is based on
Quantum mechanics tells us that elementary particles exist in a superposition of states that can only be described probabilistically. However, interaction with the world through an act of observation reduces the particle to a single state. All of this is obviously very counterintuitive leading to several interpretations of what this means in the real world. Dark Matter is loosely based on one of the more speculative interpretations of quantum states: the many worlds hypothesis. Roughly this postulates that all possible outcomes of quantum measurements are realized in some universe. This then implies there is a near infinitude of universes with all the possible combinations of states of all particles!
If you’re familiar with Schrodinger’s cat, (a cat whose life/death is dependent on a quantum outcome such as radioactive decay) this interpretation says that there is a universe in which the cat is dead and one in which it is alive. However we only experience and perceive one universe with a single chain of outcomes depending on individual ‘observations’. So for us, the cat is either dead or alive. But there is a world with the cat in the opposite state, but inaccessible to us.
By extension, to the extent that human thought and decision making involve quantum event observation/measurement (The Von Neumann–Wigner interpretation), there are universes where every possible decision that could be made has been made. So if you picked the green sweater today instead of the leather jacket, there is a world where you are out and about in a leather jacket!
How is all this relevant to the book Dark Matter?
Enter The Box in Dark Matter, inject yourself with some special brain altering compound, and presto it is possible to travel across these different worlds and consciously exit to a particular type of world (the leather jacket world) based on the traveler’s (your) mental state.
But this travel is always in the present time and place i.e. you are NOT time or location traveling.
It is important to understand that according to the multiverse speculation, every possible quantum measurement results in a split. So different parallel universes are presumably being created every instant of time!
As a result of this inter-world travel—and this is the interesting bit that Mr. Crouch capitalizes on for his twist ending—it is possible for several versions of the same individual to meet in a single timeline. And that lets loose all sorts of crazy possibilities. So it’s probably a good thing that we’re not able to travel across the multiverse—if it even exists!
FAQ (click on Q for the answer):
For the FAQ below:
Jason-1 refers to the narrator of the story
Jason-11 refers to the many Jason-1s spawned in alternate timelines after the kidnapping
Jason-2 is the primary alternative timeline Jason: the one who ended up pursuing his research and inventing The Box, and later kidnapping Jason-1
A: Jason-2 actually travels with Jason-1 in the box to ‘drop him off’ in the right universe. There is clear mention of Jason-2 injecting himself with the magic compound at the time of the kidnapping.
A: It appears that the Box is not a time machine but something that travels with the person inside as they enter a new world/timeline at the same time and place. This is pretty contrived but something that Mr. Crouch needs for his story to work.
A: The splitting of worlds into different timelines is occurring all the time: even as Jason-1 and Amanda are plotting and executing their escape. In all these timelines there is now a Jason-11 just as eager to find a timeline in which he was kidnapped by Jason-2 and return to Daniela and Charlie. Some of these Jason-11s (not all) end up finding the same timeline using the same steps/reasoning as Jason-1, resulting in the many Jasons stand-off at the end.
A: Some of them never make it alive, either out of the lab or through the worlds they visit. Some of them never find the right timeline. Some presumably end up in one of the several timelines spawned in Daniela’s world since Jason-1’s kidnapping and have a standoff with others similar to the one in the story.
A: This is certainly one of the more interesting questions. There’s no reason to assume that all of the Jasons that succeed in finding ‘their’ world go back to the same post-kidnapping-Daniela-world. Given the infinities at play, the story still works if some small fraction of the Jasons end up in the same world. This of course then implies there are other universes where a bunch of Jasons are also fighting over Daniela. But we are only concerned with the story of this one ‘original’ narrator Jason-1.
A: Presumably yes. But given the splitting that is occurring all the time, all we know for sure is that Jason-1 finds a world where he has been kidnapped. And that is all he really wants.
A: Yes, this is a possibility per the premise of the book. One can only assume that given the splitting occurring nearly infinite times in both Jason-1’s and Jason-2’s worlds, there was no collision of Jason-2’s in our Jason-1’s world since Jason-2 wasn’t looking for a highly specific world. Unlike Jason-1 in the end, who passionately craved his very specific world, Jason-2 only wanted a world where he could experience the outcome of choosing love/family over career—one where he was hopefully happy. He could not possibly consciously desire having one son named Charlie (vs. many children) or other aspects of day to day life with that family. Jason-1 however, wanted to get back to his very specific world where he knew every detail of their lives. Clearly his specificity of that world is much greater that of Jason-2, implying there were many more matching worlds for Jason-2’s quest vs. Jason-1’s search for his life back.
A: They likely never figured out how to navigate the multiverse and so ended up dead or stuck in some universe. Or, if you like happier outcomes, they found the world/timeline of their dreams that they decided to stay in.
A: Narrator Jason-1 along with Daniela and Charlie need to find a new world/timeline and escape the hostile congregation of Jason-11s. They get into the box and allow Charlie to pick their destination so it would be near impossible for any of the other Jason-11s to follow them if they tried, since none of them would be able to mimic Charlie’s state of mind; and none of them have access to a Charlie. It is possible that the new world they enter already has a Jason-Daniela-Charlie trio, in which case they might just have to move within that world and assume new identities. But we are not expected to think that far out—just enjoy the happy ending!
A: Yes. Presumably. Mr. Crouch does not address this possibility. Author’s creative liberties, I guess. One way to look at this is that, even if other trios end up in the same world, they are likely to be benevolent towards each other and decide to lead non intersecting lives in different locations.
A: We’re only supposed to care about the narrator Jason-1! The rest of them are screwed! Ha ha. If they have any ampoules left, they will use it to find another timeline. If not, I guess they will have to assume new identities and likely move; or kill themselves; or cause inexplicable confusion on an unwitting population. Your guess is as good as mine.
A: Depends…on how deeply you want to scrutinize things. Once you accept the fairly fanciful premise of the multiverse and the way the Box works, most of the story holds together. But there are a few possible scenarios that are glossed over. See for example the question on why there aren’t multiple Jason-2s running around in Jason-1s world. Another more important one is: Once Jason-2 was in Jason-1’s world, splits continue to happen. So when Jason-2 kidnaps Jason-1 and dumps him in Jason-2’s world, how is it that other Jason-1s don’t show up in this Jason-2’s world? This should be just as likely an outcome as the end where all the different Jason-11s end up in our narrator Jason-1s timeline. But it’s best to enjoy the book as is and not worry too deeply about comprehensive consistency.
So overall not watertight, but well enough conceived and written to make for an enjoyable read.
15 thoughts on “Dark Matter: book premise and plot explained”
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Fair, honest write-up of the book’s plot and plot holes. God job! Btw: I’ve thought about more problems in the comments to my own review.
What did you like best? Recursion, or Dark Matter?
Thanks.
I read the comment on your site on the problem in dealing with infinitudes. I mention in my explainer that quantum collapse is occurring all the time and so we are dealing with near infinite worlds. But since this leads to infinities on both sides (e.g. Daniela’s post kidnapping world and Jason-1’s ‘I want my family back’ world) there’s a near one to one mapping of potential timeline matches. So I think it’s reasonable that only a few paths cross. One of my FAQ answers this as well.
Re: which is better. I give both books 4 out 5 stars. But I agree with you that Dark Matter holds up better together while Recursion makes more cognitive demands in keeping track of what’s going on with a reasonable pay off.
Hi, thanks for the write-up. Some things:
You write “Jason-2 wasn’t looking for a highly specific world”. But he was! He wanted to swap the scientifically most successful Jason (himself) with the family-wise most successful (protagonist). Of course this is among the warts that can be explained away by “Well, of all the universes, the story features the ones that just happened to be like they were because that made the best story.”
TBH my next point also falls in that category, but I still want to get it out: Why didn’t Jason2 simply go for a world where Jason1 just died in a disfiguring accident? Just take all identifying possessions, step into his life, end of story, no risk of being re-replaced.
Thanks for the comment, Jann.
Re. Jason-2’s search vs. Jason-1’s search: Jason-2 wanted to swap his professionally successful life with one where he has a happy family even if no success as a physicist. There was no way for him to imagine the particulars. Like having one son named Charlie (vs. many kids), having a Thursday night dinner routine etc. Jason-1 on the other hand, deeply craved going back to the exact life he left behind. Clearly his specificity of that world is much greater that of Jason-2 implying there were far fewer matching worlds for Jason-1’s quest vs. Jason-2’s quest. You’re right that my wording of ‘specific world’ might not have made this clear. I will edit my answer thanks to your comment.
Re. point 2. That is an interesting hypothetical and might have been the more practical course for Jason-2. My understanding is that Jason-2 wanted to give his counterpart (Jason-1) a chance to experience the other side of the choice the original Jason had made—family vs. career—assuming that the other was wondering just as much ‘what would have been’ had they chosen differently. That in some sense was a purpose of his invention. To experience the what-if branch of life.
Regarding the first questions, “How did Jason2 get Jason1 into his universe?”, they make it very clear that the box is constantly monitored – there’s no way Jason2 could have pushed Jason1 out the airlock without someone seeing him (Jason1 was unconscious), and even if he wasn’t, if Jason1 could have stumbled out under his own power, Jason2 would have had to reseal the door in order to travel back to Jason1’s universe. There’s no way someone wouldn’t have noticed that someone re-locked the door from the inside right after the reappearance.
That’s a major plot hole that’s still bugging me a few days after finishing the book.
Interesting point and catch Patrick! I take it that Jason-2 doesn’t have to open the door entirely—only to the extent needed to dump a conscious or passed out Jason-1 out of the Box and a) which action might have passed unnoticed given surveillance camera orientation and resolution OR b) the door shutting is noticed and part of the mystery for the folks in the lab they want Jason-1 to answer.
He wasn’t passed out. Page 126 of the hardcover says “I see myself stagger out of the box and crash to the floor, almost like I was pushed out. More time elapses, and then I watch the hazmat team appear and hoist me onto a gurney.” The fact that the door shut after might be suspicious, but remember that nobody ever came out of the box before, so they wouldn’t know what to expect. Kind of a weak excuse admittedly. Good writeup btw.
Thanks for the clarification.
Great write up! One typo – at one point you say “”Jason-Amanda-Charlie”, should be “Jason-Daniela-Charlie”
Thanks Josh—good catch. I have corrected it now.
Speaking of Amanda, what happened to her? Seems she’s sort of abandoned by Jason (even tho she
leaves voluntarily because he’ll never love her, yet he wouldn’t have made it without her).
Does the Box travel with the person? So when Jason 1 is dumped out and Jason 2 leaves shouldn’t the box leave with him?
Great question! It’s been quite a while since I read this book so I don’t remember all the details. I believe the box simultaneously exists in the original location and the new universe.