Dark Matter

Are you happy with your life? Jason Dessen’s life has turned out well. He believes he is happy with his wife and son. They live a comfortable life. Jason and his wife sometimes wonder how their lives could have been different if they made different choices, but we all wonder about what-ifs, right? Jason goes out to celebrate his college friend’s scientific achievement (an award Jason himself could have won… perhaps), but he never makes it home. He is abducted and when he regains consciousness he is in a world not unlike his own.

I have been in a reading slump lately and I knew I needed something to jolt me out of it. This book did the trick. It is extremely fast-paced which usually isn’t my thing, but it works well here. There some twists and at times the novel blew my mind. It was fun and it might make you think about the universe as a whole or your own life choices. I feel like I can’t say too much without ruining bits of the novel so I will keep my review fairly short and vague.

I would not call the writing amazing. It gets the job done. It is dialogue heavy and not particularly lyrical. The broken sentences creates a sense of urgency that adds to the pacing. The characters- apart from Jason and his wife- are not engaging. The plot carries this novel, but at times I had to suspend my disbelief. I’m not an expert in the science this book touches on, but it was hard not to imagine some plot holes. Simply put, I enjoyed this wild ride.