A Maxim Jakubowski selected title.
A gripping thriller with a touch of the impossible, if not outright leap into science fiction, the new novel by the creator of WAYWARD PINES is already fast-tracked for the big screen and this is no surprise. Jason Desen's life is perfect if ordinary until the day he is suddenly abducted and finds himself kidnapped to a parallel world by another Jason, whose life took another path at some decision-making point. His alter ego is both a millionaire, a brilliant scientist and full of regrets at his own earlier decision not to pursue a normal, family life, and has forcibly switched worlds with him. How will our meeker Jason return to his world, rescue his wife and son when all is heavily weighed against him? The pace is frantic and never lets go, while the plot twists are clever and devious and lurking on the corner of every scene. A true page-turner. ~ Maxim Jakubowski
| Primary Genre | Thriller and Suspense |
| Recommendations: |
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Closing date: 15/10/2026
Explores the universal “what ifs” that haunt us all: would our lives be better if we’d made a different choice?
Jason Dessen is kidnapped and wakes up in a world he doesn’t recognise. In this version of his life, he never married the love of his life or had a son; instead, he walked away from them to pursue his dream of becoming a renowned physicist. Something is clearly wrong. As Jason begins to question his sanity, he’s forced to confront whether the life he remembers was ever real—and, if it was, how he can possibly get back to it.
With a new revelation at every turn, Dark Matter explores the universal “what ifs” that haunt us all: would our lives be better if we’d made a different choice?... Read Full Review
'Are you happy in your life?' Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he wakes to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before the man he'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. From the author of the bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, Dark Matter is a brilliantly plotted tale that is at once sweeping and intimate, mind-bendingly strange and profoundly human - a relentlessly surprising thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we'll go to claim the lives we dream of.
Dark Matter features in the following genres: Thriller and Suspense, eBooks of the Month, Fiction, Recommendations
Dark Matter is available in Paperback, Hardback, Ebook
Dark Matter was written by Blake Crouch and published by Macmillan an imprint of Pan Macmillan
Dark Matter has 342 pages
£11.69
