Dark Matter

Dark Matter is a trip. Literally. A trip through what if- decisions that you might have made differently, choices that take you in a different direction- the road not taken. It's fascinating and I can't say enough good things about it. Jason Dessen is a guy who gave up his dreams of being a top physicist when he married Daniela and had Charlie- now he's a professor at a small college. Daniela too has given up dreams but they're happy. Aren't they? 

One night on the way home Jason is abducted and given a drug that screws up his senses, and when he comes out of it he's somewhere... else. Same Chicago... but in a parallel universe. Turns out Jason had an idea to build something that would allow humans to access the multiverse- the infinite parallel universes that spring up every time we make a decision. Change your major? Decide not to get married? Every choice creates a new reality where a version of you lives that life. And the Jason of this reality never married Daniela, was obsessed with his work... and succeeded in building the device. 

That's about all I can say without spoilers. Suffice to say that this is a mind blowing, very thought provoking- and thrilling- read. I was on the edge of my seat pretty much all the way through. 

Jason has a hard time coming to grips with what's happening, and he makes some decisions that I disagreed with. For such a smart guy he seemed a little slow on the uptake- but then again it is kind of mindblowing. And the whole premise of it- the scientific underpinning behind alternate realities- is a little iffy to me. The book doesn't get too into the weeds but a large idea here is that observation defines reality, or affects it- you may or may not agree with it based on how it's presented. But regardless it's fascinating and there are moments when I was just like- whoah. 

I've read Blake Crouch before with his Wayward novels and this one is even better. It's fast paced, scary and hard to put down- I could barely stop reading. I had to know what was coming next, and there is a twist that blew my mind. Jason was sympathetic and went through a gut wrenching experience, there's a side character Amanda that I loved, and Daniela is awesome. Even Charlie kinda kicks ass. And it was fascinating to see Jason and Daniela come to grips with- are they really happy? What do they want? And how far will they go to get it? How far would you go?