So I'm not one who tends to read a "buzz" book when the buzz is still humming. This isn't on purpose or because I have any issues with everyone's-talking-about-it books. Oftentimes, I'll actually *buy* the books everyone is talking about when they're hot and then the books just get put in my endless, teetering TBR pile, which means I'm reading them late.
BUT this time, I'm happy to say that I read the buzz book during the buzz. DARK MATTER by Blake Crouch seems to be everywhere, but it came to me through my Book of the Month Club membership. (For more info and a big discount on the Book of the Month Club, click here.) For the BOTM club, you get a choice of 5 curated books each month and usually something cute like this wine koozie. Choosing out of the five books was tough, but this one called to me for the hook-y premise. And turns out, I made an excellent choice! :)
So first, here's the back cover from Amazon:
“Are you happy with your life?”
Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.
Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.
Before a man Jason’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.
Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human—a relentlessly surprising science-fiction thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.
Got your attention yet?
So first, I'll say that, though I read it on occasion, I'm not a science fiction reader generally. Don't let that stop you if that's usually not your thing. This is a genre-blending kind of book that is science fiction, thriller, and horror rolled up into what is ultimately, a love story. Yes, a love story.
I won't go into the plot too much so as not to spoil anything, but I can say that there was a twist I feel like I should've seen coming and I totally didn't and I was all...
I love that. I love when a book pulls a "gotcha" on me. And that was another reason I'm glad I read this early. I probably would've been spoiled at some point.
This book was also a very quick read. There are many pages where each sentence is its own paragraph, creating that quick, staccato type rhythm where you're flipping pages faster than you realize. Very effective. And the black moment (where all seems lost) was truly a black moment. I couldn't help thinking, "How in THE HELL are they going to get out of this?" When an author can make me doubt that it's going to work out, they've done a good job. And don't worry, though this is definitely set up for a sequel, there is a satisfying conclusion.
So two thumbs up! Now go get it! :)
What are you reading right now? Has anyone else read this one yet?