Review: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (2016)

I was introduced to the concept of the multiverse and the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics through the television series Sliders (1995-2000). In the series, we met four travelers traversing the seemingly unlimited worlds of the multiverse and trying to get back home. I found the concept intriguing, and when a story touches upon parallel worlds, I grab it and watch or read it (as evidenced by my last book review). But this review is not for Sliders (I will post reviews of its episodes when I start my rewatch.), this is a review for Dark Matter, a 2016 science fiction-thriller book by Blake Crouch, which, like Sliders, features the multiverse.

The book revolves around Jason Dessen, a college physics professor, a husband, and a father. He was abducted one night and then woke up and found out that he was now a famous scientist, just like he always dreamed, but he was not married to his wife, and his son had never been born. Realizing that this is not his world, he will find a way to get home to his wife and son by passing through world after world.

I liked the pace of the story. Though this is a science fiction book, you need not know the complexity of quantum mechanics and neurology to follow the plot, although I appreciated the well-placed info dumps. There is also a romantic aspect to it by way of Jason’s love for his wife, Daniela, and this love fuels Jason’s desire to get home. I found the scenes on their romance a bit off—just a bit.

In this next section, I might get to spoil something (but not the book’s ending).

The many-worlds interpretation implies that all possible alternate histories are real, each realized in their world in their corner of the multiverse.

It’s terrifying when you consider that every thought we have, every choice we could possibly make, branches off into a new world.

In this book, the alternate world branched off fifteen years ago when Jason decided to continue the relationship and build a family with Daniela or continue his work as a scientist and make a breakthrough. I always play the “What if” game: what if I did this? What if that happened? At the end of the game, I always tell myself, at least somewhere in the multiverse, that a version of me will get what he wants. In life, there are no do-overs – there are no time machines, yet — but it is harmless to dream once in a while.

I liked how the central conflict of the book was written. I was surprised because I haven’t seen the branching of worlds affecting the main character in other multiverse stories.

Quick rating:  (4.5 out of 5; I very much loved it.)

: https://promdigeek.blog/2017/09/07/review-dark-matter-by-blake-crouch-2016/