Dark Matter (Crouch novel)

Last updated

Dark Matter
Crouch DarkMatter.jpg
First edition cover
Author Blake Crouch
Cover artistChristopher Brand
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genres Science fiction thriller
Publisher Crown Publishing Group
Publication date
July 2016
Media typeHardback
Pages342
ISBN 978-1-101-90422-0
OCLC 1004186724
813/.6—dc23
LC Class 2015040107

Dark Matter is a thriller science fiction novel by American writer Blake Crouch, first published in the United States in July 2016 by the Crown Publishing Group. The story is about a physicist who is kidnapped and sent to a parallel universe in which another version of his life unfolds because of a different choice he made fifteen years previously. The book draws on the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics which posits that every possible outcome of every event creates a new universe or world that runs parallel to our own. [1] [2]

Contents

Dark Matter received mixed reviews from critics, and was nominated for the 2016 World Technology Awards. [3] A television adaptation, partially written by Crouch, premiered on May 8, 2024, as an Apple TV+ original.

Plot summary

Jason Dessen, a former quantum mechanics physicist, is a college physics professor who lives in Chicago with his wife, Daniela and their son Charlie. One day Jason is kidnapped and drugged. He wakes up in a science laboratory and stumbles out of a metal cube. He discovers that he is in an alternate Chicago where, fifteen years previously, he had decided not to marry Daniela and had pursued his career as a physicist instead. In this world he built the cube that enables the occupants to move between the countless worlds created from every possible outcome of every event.

Jason is held and questioned by the scientists. They believe he is the Jason from this world, referred to as Jason2, and is the first person to successfully return from a journey in the cube. Jason learns that Jason2 was his abductor who came to Jason's world to see what his life would have been like had he abandoned his career and married Daniela. Jason2 sent Jason to Jason2's world so that Jason2 could pretend to be Daniela's husband.

Determined to return to his own Chicago and his wife and son, Jason and Amanda (Jason2's therapist), escape and enter the cube. Unfamiliar with its operation, they find themselves transported to a number of parallel worlds. Eventually, Jason reaches his own world, where he finds Jason2 living with his wife and son. He convinces Daniela and Charlie that he is the real Jason, and takes them into hiding to evade Jason2. Jason2 finds Jason and attempts to kill him, but Jason mortally wounds his rival. To avoid the other belligerent Jasons who were created each time Jason made a new decision in his travels through alternate worlds, he flees with his family to the cube to start a new life in another world.

Background

In 2014 Crouch shared early ideas he had for Dark Matter with American author Marcus Sakey. Crouch and Sakey often had brainstorming sessions where they discussed new books they were writing. Crouch said after working with Sakey for several days, "the shape of this book come out of the fog". [4] Crouch's decision to set Dark Matter in Chicago came "partly out of sentimentality but also because of the landmarks of Chicago, the skyline, the lake . . . there's just something about it that spoke to me". [4] Regarding the book's title, Crouch explained that life is full of mysteries, but that there are many more beneath the surface that we cannot see, just as the dark matter in the universe is hidden from view. [4]

Crouch's interest in quantum mechanics began when he read an article on it in Scientific American . His fascination in the subject grew further when experimental quantum physicist Aaron D. O'Connell demonstrated that subatomic particles exist in quantum superposition. [5] This led Crouch to ask himself, if microscopic particles occupy multiple realities, why not everyday objects, including people? What if a device could be built that allowed a person to exist in superposition? [5] [6] Crouch said Dark Matter is about "the nature of reality and of identity, and of questioning whether or not to trust what we see before our eyes." [6]

Publication

Reception

In a review in The Guardian , Alison Flood described Dark Matter as one of "the most helter-skelter, race-to-the-finish-line thriller you'll read all year". [7] She stated that it is "not ... a sensible book", but "[i]t is proud and joyful in its absurdity". Flood said Crouch's "path-not-taken fantasy is intriguing", and Jason's devotion to his wife and son is "touching, and charming". [7]

Andrew O’Hehir wrote in a review of the novel in The New York Times that it is a mix of several genres: alternate-universe science fiction, a countdown thriller, and a fantasy not unlike C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia and Lev Grossman's Magicians books. [8] He said that notwithstanding the inclusion of "pop physics", Dark Matter is a book you can read in one sitting, and one which "barely qualifies as beach reading". [8] O’Hehir complained that its frantic pace leaves little room for character development and opportunities for readers to critically examine what it is they are reading. He also felt that Crouch's "need for speed" impacts his "better writing", and concluded, "I'd have appreciated more expansiveness and more relish." [8]

Reviewing the book for USA Today , Brian Truitt called Dark Matter "a nightmarish quantum-mechanics version of It's a Wonderful Life ". [9] He said the book's science is "thought-provoking", even if some of it appears to be "a bit too convenient" in places. [9] Truitt stated that the minor characters receive little to no characterization, but found Jason's "mind-set" well explored. Truitt summed up that Dark Matter is "a hard tale to shake once finished". [9] Peter Heck in Asimov's Science Fiction also thought that some of the plot elements were "a bit too convenient ... to be entirely plausible", but added that this comes with the territory in "action-orientated fiction". [10] Heck called Dark Matter a "good, fast-paced read" by "a writer without extensive genre credits taking a classic SF trope and making something fresh out of it." [10]

Writing at The Verge , Andrew Liptak said that in Dark Matter Crouch uses science fiction's familiar theme of multiple realities to explore identity. [11] The book's collection of different Jasons raises the question, "which is the real one?", but Liptak felt that it never really develops them enough to make them memorable. [11] Some of the minor characters like Daniela and Charlie also felt underdeveloped and evoked little empathy. Liptak said that while Dark Matter is "the equivalent of a science fiction beach read", and Crouch "never lets up on the breakneck pace", it is a "fun ride". [11]

Several reviewers criticized Crouch's use of short single-sentence paragraphs. Flood said that Dark Matter is "madly fast-moving", and this is accentuated by his "not un-irritating habit of breaking his narrative up into single-line paragraphs". [7] O’Hehir wrote that the book's profusion of "one-word sentences, one-sentence paragraphs and dramatic oceans of white space" is a ploy Crouch uses to hold the reader's attention. [8] Jason Sheehan at National Public Radio called Crouch's "maddening addiction to sentence fragments and single line paragraphs ... annoying at first, then infuriating, then simply numbing." [12]

Translations

The book was translated into Dutch by Corry van Bree as Dark Matter and published by Karakter in August 2016. [13] It was also translated into German by Klaus Berr as Dark Matter: Der Zeitenläufer and published by Goldmann in March 2017. [14]

Adaptation

In November 2014, Sony Pictures made a pre-emptive bid of $1.25 million for Dark Matter. The bid was based on Crouch's incomplete 150-page manuscript at the time. [15] In December 2020, it was announced that a TV series based on Dark Matter will be co-produced by Apple Studios and Sony Pictures Television. Crouch will adapt the script and the series will be produced by Matt Tolmach and David Manpearl, with Crouch as executive producer. [16] The adaptation was originally intended to be a feature film, but it was dropped in favor of a TV series. [17]

In March 2022, Apple TV+ ordered a nine-episode TV series with Joel Edgerton playing the part of Jason Dessen. Edgerton will also be the show's executive producer, while the book's author, Crouch will serve as writer for the pilot episode and also showrunner for Sony Pictures Television and Apple Studios. [18] It premiered on May 8, 2024. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alternate history</span> Genre of speculative fiction, where one or more historical events occur differently

Alternate history is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alternate history stories propose What if? scenarios about crucial events in human history, and present outcomes very different from the historical record. Some alternate histories are considered a subgenre of science fiction, or historical fiction.

An ansible is a category of fictional devices or technology capable of near-instantaneous or faster-than-light communication. It can send and receive messages to and from a corresponding device over any distance or obstacle whatsoever with no delay, even between star systems. As a name for such a device, the word "ansible" first appeared in a 1966 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin. Since that time, the term has been broadly used in the works of numerous science fiction authors, across a variety of settings and continuities. A related term is ultrawave.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neal Stephenson</span> American speculative fiction writer (born 1959)

Neal Town Stephenson is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joel Edgerton</span> Australian actor (born 1974)

Joel Edgerton is an Australian actor and filmmaker. He is known for his portrayal of Will McGill on the first two seasons of the Australian drama series The Secret Life of Us (2001–02), and for playing Owen Lars in the Star Wars films Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith (2005); a role he reprised in the Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022). For his portrayal of Richard Loving in the 2016 historical drama Loving, he received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Croucher</span> English actor and director

Brian Croucher is an English actor and director best known for his role as Ted Hills, which he played from 1995 to 1997, in the soap opera EastEnders. Croucher also had a regular role in the science fiction series Blake's 7.

Edward M. Lerner is an American author of science fiction, techno-thrillers, and popular science.

In cosmology, dark matter is matter that emits no detectable radiation, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheree Thomas</span> American writer and editor

Sheree Renée Thomas is an American writer, book editor and publisher. In 2020, Thomas was named editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean M. Carroll</span> American theoretical cosmologist (born 1966)

Sean Michael Carroll is an American theoretical physicist and philosopher who specializes in quantum mechanics, cosmology, and philosophy of science. Formerly a research professor at the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) department of physics, he is currently an external professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University. He has been a contributor to the physics blog Cosmic Variance, and has published in scientific journals such as Nature as well as other publications, including The New York Times, Sky & Telescope and New Scientist. He is known for his atheism, his vocal critique of theism and defense of naturalism. He is considered a prolific public speaker and science populariser. In 2007, Carroll was named NSF Distinguished Lecturer by the National Science Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black science fiction</span> Science fiction involving black people

Black science fiction or black speculative fiction is an umbrella term that covers a variety of activities within the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres where people of the African diaspora take part or are depicted. Some of its defining characteristics include a critique of the social structures leading to black oppression paired with an investment in social change. Black science fiction is "fed by technology but not led by it." This means that black science fiction often explores with human engagement with technology instead of technology as an innate good.

George Mann is a British author and editor, primarily in genre fiction, and is best known for his alternate history detective novel series Newbury and Hobbes (2008-2019) and The Ghosts action science fiction noir novels (2010-2017), a book series set in the same universe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Sakey</span> American novelist

Marcus Sakey is an American author and host of the Travel Channel show Hidden City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harrison Ford filmography</span>

Harrison Ford is an American actor who has had a long and varied career in the entertainment industry across seven different decades. Ford made his film debut in 1966 and spent most of the first ten years of his career in small supporting roles in both films and television before rising to stardom for his portrayal of the iconic and heroic character Han Solo in the epic space opera films Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), and then again 32 years later in The Force Awakens (2015) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019). In the early 1980s, his career soared to even bigger heights when he claimed the starring role of another heroic character Indiana Jones in the adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), a role he reprised in The Temple of Doom (1984), The Last Crusade (1989), The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) and The Dial of Destiny (2023). He has also famously portrayed two literary characters brought to the silver screen: the anti-hero detective Rick Deckard in the neo-noir dystopian science fiction film Blade Runner (1982) and its sequel 35 years later, Blade Runner 2049 (2017), and CIA analyst Jack Ryan in the spy thrillers Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Tieryas</span> American writer

Peter Tieryas is an American writer. He is the author of Bald New World (2014) and the Mecha Samurai Empire series which consists of United States of Japan (2016), Mecha Samurai Empire (2018), and Cyber Shogun Revolution (2020). He attended the University of California Berkeley. Tieryas worked previously at studios like Sony Pictures Imageworks and Pixar Animation Studios. He has also worked at LucasArts as both a technical artist and technical writer. He is currently a Narrative Director for Nicalis. Many of his stories involve the American Dream, conflicted identity in dystopian futures, and strange romance amidst culture clash.

Douglas E. Richards is an American writer, primarily of science fiction and both nonfiction and fiction for children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierce Brown</span> American science fiction author

Pierce Brown is an American science fiction author who writes the Red Rising series, consisting of Red Rising (2014), Golden Son (2015), Morning Star (2016), Iron Gold (2018), Dark Age (2019), and Light Bringer (2023). He has also written a six-issue prequel comic book series, Red Rising: Sons of Ares, which was published in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blake Crouch</span> American author (born 1978)

William Blake Crouch is an American author known for books such as Dark Matter, Recursion, Upgrade, and his Wayward Pines Trilogy, which was adapted into a television series in 2015.

The Mecha Samurai Empireseries is an alternate-history science fiction book series written by American author Peter Tieryas. The series centers around an alternate America, known as the United States of Japan, after the Nazis and Japanese Empire have emerged victorious in World War II. The stories focus primarily on Asian communities since the war, depicting the struggles of survivors in a new authoritarian regime. The novels explore themes such as government propaganda and the blurring of fact and fiction. Each book in the series is a standalone novel in the same shared universe, featuring different protagonists, antagonists, and conflicts. The series has been the recipient of several awards, twice receiving the Seiun Award for speculative fiction. The first title in the series was published by Ace Books in 2016, with the latest title being released in 2020.

Dark Matter is an American science fiction television series created by Blake Crouch, based on his 2016 novel of the same name. It premiered on Apple TV+ on May 8, 2024, with two episodes.

<i>Bubble</i> (podcast) Sci-fi podcast and graphic novel

Bubble is a scripted science fiction podcast produced by Maximum Fun and created by Jordan Morris and Jesse Thorn. The podcast was later adapted into a graphic novel published by First Second Books.

References

  1. ↑ Daniels, Tony (May 13, 2016). "Alternate Worlds, Alternate Selves: PW Talks with Blake Crouch". Publishers Weekly . Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  2. ↑ Adams, Allen (July 27, 2016). "An infinity of choices – 'Dark Matter'". The Maine Edge . Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  3. ↑ "The 2016 World Technology Award Finalists". The World Technology Network. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Grubb, Nora (July 26, 2016). "For Blake Crouch, the World Is 'More Mysterious and Strange' Than We Know". Chicago Review of Books . Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Hill, Rebecca A. (December 2016). "In the box lies dark matter: an interview with Blake Crouch" . Voice of Youth Advocates . Vol. 39, no. 5. E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC. p. 40. ISSN   0160-4201 – via GALE General OneFile.
  6. 1 2 NPR staff (July 24, 2016). "What If You Hadn't Gotten Married? 'Dark Matter' Imagines An Alternate Life". National Public Radio . Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 Flood, Alison (August 22, 2016). "Dark Matter review – quantum fiction that's delightfully unserious". The Guardian . Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  8. 1 2 3 4 O'Hehir, Andrew (July 27, 2016). "A Countdown Thriller in Which the Hero Inhabits Many Alternate Universes". The New York Times . Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 Truitt, Brian (July 31, 2016). "'Dark Matter' delves into fate, family and alternate realities". USA Today . Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Heck, Peter (March–April 2017). "Review: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch". Asimov's Science Fiction . 41 (3 & 4). Norwalk, Connecticut: Dell Magazines: 205–206. ISSN   1065-2698.
  11. 1 2 3 Liptak, Andrew (July 26, 2016). "Dark Matter is a blockbuster read that channels Michael Crichton". The Verge . Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  12. ↑ Sheehan, Jason (July 31, 2016). "'Dark Matter' Is A Jet-Propelled Science Thriller". National Public Radio . Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  13. ↑ "Dark Matter". ISFDB . Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Dark Matter: Der Zeitenläufer". ISFDB . Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  15. ↑ Fleming, Mike Jr. (November 11, 2014). "Sony Pre-empts Blake Crouch Novel 'Dark Matter' For $1.25 Million". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  16. ↑ Kroll, Justin (December 8, 2020). "Apple Developing 'Dark Matter' Novel As Series With Matt Tolmach Producing". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  17. ↑ Sneider, Jeff (December 8, 2020). "Exclusive: 'Dark Matter' Series in the Works at Apple from Matt Tolmach, Author Blake Crouch". Collider . Retrieved July 21, 2021.
  18. ↑ Mitovich, Matt Webb (March 29, 2022). "Dark Matter Sci-Fi Adaptation Ordered at Apple TV+, Starring Joel Edgerton". TVLine . Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  19. ↑ McPherson, Chris (February 5, 2024). "Joel Edgerton & Jennifer Connelly Bend Reality in First 'Dark Matter' Images". Collider. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.