Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Dark Matter
By Blake Crouch
Published by Macmillan (11 August 2016)
ISBN: 978-1447297567

Publisher's description
Are you happy in your life?'

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

Before he wakes 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, 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 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.

My verdict
It wasn't wise to finish reading Dark Matter in the early hours of the morning. This book totally plays with your mind. I couldn't sleep afterwards, as I struggled to comprehend what I had just read - and what could possibly have happened after that final page.

I'm not going to give away any of the story (as you can read the blurb above) - but Dark Matter is compelling, thought provoking and sheer brilliance. For much of the book, I couldn't breathe, I was exhausted and in a daze. This is a true rollercoaster ride of a page turner. It's hard hitting with a constant flow of action, thoughts, ideas and theories. There's plenty of physics in there - it is a science fiction thriller, after all - but Blake Crouch explains everything carefully in simple terms so that the story continues to flow.

At the heart of Dark Matter is the sliding doors concept mixed with time travel. The 'what ifs' in life. And 'what would you sacrifice for love?' But with sinister, terrifying undertones and a fight for survival. There's a film in the making - and that doesn't surprise me at all.

I received an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.