I Can't Explain It, But I Loved It

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Some books are impossible to describe.  Judging from the skimpy plot summary, even the publisher had a tough time explaining Dark Matter, the newest book by Blake Crouch.  I'm not even going to attempt it because like I said ... impossible.  

“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.

Maybe I can't tell you exactly what Dark Matter is about, but I can tell you that I loved it.  Why?  It's unique, it's surprising, it's intriguing, it's engrossing, it's impossible to put down.  In a word: stunning.  I devoured the book, reading well into the night to see what would happen to Jason Dossen.  If you like mind-bending sci fi adventure stories, this one's for you.

(Readalikes:  Honestly, nothing I've ever read comes to mind!)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for language, violence, sexual content, and depictions of illegal drug use

To the FTC, with love: Another library fine find