Review: "Dark Matter" by Blake Crouch

He says, "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 built something that could actually eradicate regret. Let you find worlds where you made the right choice."
Daniela says, "Life doesn't work that way. You live with your choices and learn. You don't cheat the system."

I seldom give 5 stars, but this one's mindf-ingly good. The basic premise is something I think anyone can relate: "Are you happy with your life?" What if … ? What if you did the things you've always wanted to do? What if you haven't made that big decision? What if you chose the path not taken instead?

For the author himself, "Dark Matter" was his most ambitious novel yet. Best known for his Wayward Pines trilogy, Blake Crouch dove into quantum mechanics and came up with three potentially separate novels in the initial stages of this book. During a round of brainstorming sesh with fellow novelist Marcus Sakey, the separate drafts unfolded into three different aspects of one story that he went on developing into the brilliant New York Times Bestseller it is today. There have been talks over the years about a movie adaptation, a similar path to his previous works on the small screen with Wayward Pines and Good Behavior, so we'll just have to wait and see.

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

I want to be careful not to give too much away because if I say something I shouldn't say I'll be revealing everything there is to know in this book. It literally works like a dark hole. If you think the first act is a strong propeller for you to keep the page turning, the plot twists toward the end could literally spiral you down into the end in no time.

Unlike plenty of thrillers in the mass market today, Crouch wasn't just here to impress you with a quick, swoon-worthy plot. Added to that, this is the simplest and clearest elucidation of quantum theory I've ever read. The basic ideas were seamlessly interwoven into the storyline and not just laid out in front of you like a textbook (speaking of learning, there are two intriguing phenomenons I learned from reading the book: the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment and the uncanny theory in aesthetics). Even more successful than these narrative factors was the message behind the book itself toward the end … because as infinite as the cosmic multiverse gets, "Dark Matter" is essentially a love story.

"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," explains our physicist protagonist Jason Dessen. Currently living in Chicago with his wife, Daniela, and his son, Charlie. Some would say the brilliant physicist killed his ambition in his late twenties to opt for a family-focused life, but on his way home on one fateful night, he came face-to-face with the big "What If?" question. What if he continued his research back then, never with a child, settling down, and getting married? He got his answer when he was abducted and drugged that night, and his world completely changed - that was the last he saw of his family.

If I am, if I spend my days under broken-down cars in a mechanic's shop or drilling cavities instead of teaching physics to college students, am I still the same man at the most fundamental level?
If you strip away all the trappings of personality and lifestyle, what are the core components that make me me?

If this book is really going to make it in motion picture, I'd imagine Cubistic CGI effects married with surrealistic colors and depth.

Deeply engrossing, constantly thought-provoking and utterly gut-wrenching, "Dark Matter" is a hodgepodge of genres that'll please inquisitive minds and sentimental hearts alike.



Love, Stace