Review of “Dark Matter” by Blake Crouch

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Published by Crown on July 26th 2016
Pages: 342
Goodreads

Holy weirdness! This book is as strange and compelling as a book can be!

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began Dark Matter. It was much-hyped at BEA and I’d seen all of the rave reviews but still… I’m not even a sci-fi fan. Sure, I love a little Stephen King or Dean Koontz now and then. (Who doesn’t??) But it has to be good. Really good. Weird enough to be interesting but not weird enough make me roll my eyes every 20 seconds. This book is THAT good! It’s sci-fi but in a medically/science-y way. Not a UFO or monsters living in the ground sort of way. An important distinction for me as someone who needs at least a shred of believability even in a sci-fi book.

This book was full of twists and turns that kept me in suspense from beginning to end. There is no long, drawn out preamble. Things, big things, start happening pretty quickly and the momentum only builds from there. I can’t share too many details of the story without giving it away, so I won’t. All you need to know before starting this book is what’s in the blurb. (But I will say that Daniela must really be something special… When you read the book, you’ll know what I mean.)

This is the first book I’ve read by Blake Crouch. I was surprised to see how many others he’s written, at least 30. All get very solid to outstanding overall reviews on Goodreads. I will certainly look forward to reading his next book.

I would very much recommend this book to anyone looking to expand their genre horizons, which is something I’m always looking to do if the right book comes along. (Stay tuned for my upcoming review of When the Moon Was Ours.)

Many thanks to Crown Publishing for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.