Title: Dark Matter
Author: Blake Crouch
Type: Fiction
Page Count/Review Word Count: 406
Rating: 4/5
This is one of those books where I’ve heard loads of good things about it and so where I therefore worried that it might not live up to the hype. There was no need to be scared with this one though, because Crouch is a more than competent writer and the story line and the concept is great here, too.
The problem is that I don’t really want to go too much into that because I don’t want to share any spoilers. Suffice to say that you’re in for a fun little science fiction thriller novel that covers parallel universes and the butterfly effect, the idea that a seemingly insignificant event can have profound repercussions. It’s a concept that’s been done before and I wasn’t sure how well Crouch was going to handle it, but he left me pretty satisfied and so I can’t complain too much.
I was particularly impressed with the way in which it managed to handle being both science fiction and a thriller, because I can see how it would appeal to readers of both genres. I wouldn’t say that I’m a particularly big fan of either genre, and in fact I’m generally disappointed by thrillers, but this one kept me reading and also had an open ending, which is usually an easy way to get me to like something. I just like that feeling of being able to decide what happened for myself, although I appreciate that not everyone is the same.
All in all, I thought this was well-written and well-executed with a great concept that allowed for plenty of surprises along the way. It’s one of those rare books where it feels as though there’s not much point trying to guess what’s going to happen because literally anything could happen. When you find a story like that, you don’t really have any choice – you just have to keep on reading because you want to find out what’s going to happen.
So if you’ve heard about Dark Matter and have thought about it but haven’t been ready to jump on in, I’m here to tell you that it’s all good stuff and you’ll probably enjoy it. Better still, it only took me a couple of days to read it, which meant that it didn’t drag. Go and read it.
