When Jason Dessen leave his house one evening for a short drink with an old pal that celebrates winning a prestigious award, he never expects that this short trip to the bar would change his life from one end to the other. But on his way home from his regular pub, Dessen, a well-respected physician that left the demanding research lab for teaching physics in college and for a comfortable family life, is kidnapped by a masked man that takes him to a deserted factory, where he blacks out.
When he wakes up, he finds himself in an unfamiliar world. A world where he never left his important research work, never married his wife, and his son was never born. Were the last ten years of his life a delusion, a figment of his imagination, or is the terrible truth much more horrifying?
As someone that follow many literary magazines and blogs, this book popped in my eye in every opportunity in the past year, and if you will scroll down you will see that it is really hard to ignore it with its red cover and the text that is designed to confuse the eye. It seems that Dark Matter managed to get into any best seller’s list and catch the eye of literature editors, along with a long list of bloggers that are known for their affection to photographs of books next to autumn leaves and socks or whatever it is that today’s youth is finding nostalgic in a way.
Eventually, I could no longer ignore this book and decided it is about time that I will see what all the hustle is about. I’ve opened the book without even reading the excerpt, and dived into the Blake Crouch’s dark world without no delay or unnecessary preparations.
I don’t know what was the reading experience of all those critics that praised this book in every possible place, but the feeling that followed me from the first page was a disappointment. I understood where the story is going to take me straight from page one. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the path it took me in, but I would be happier to be surprised that to smell the author’s intentions miles ahead. So, with the exception of a surprise or two, the first parts of the book continued with a more or less predictable plot, though enjoyable to read and well written, so I did not have too many complaints.
Then came the last part of the book and changed everything. If until that moment I had some idea of what was going to happen, suddenly came a twist that turned this book into something completely different, unexpected and exciting. Yes, you read correct – exciting. Because there’s nothing more exciting than a suspense plot that keeps you on the edge of the chair with your eyes covered while you have no idea where the road will take you.
And one more word about Blake Crouch. Note that although I wrote repeatedly that the first parts of the book were (relatively) predictable, the thought of leaving it never crossed my mind. Crouch’s writing succeeded in capturing me in the first sentences and did not release me until the last breath of the book when the promise in the first sentences fulfilled itself and completely erased the initial disappointing impression that was revealed at the beginning.
In other words, despite the somewhat predictable beginning, Dark Matter Certainly justifies the hype.
Four dark doors and a very long way home.
Dark Matter / Blake Crouch / Crown Publishing Group
