Content levels
Trigger warnings
Positive tags
Hero archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Synopsis
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • OVER ONE MILLION COPIES SOLD! • NOW STREAMING ON APPLE TV+ A “mind-blowing” (Entertainment Weekly) speculative thriller about an ordinary man who awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew—from the author of Upgrade, Recursion, and the Wayward Pines trilogy “Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the kidnapper knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a 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 professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this life or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how will Jason make it back to the family he loves? From the bestselling author Blake Crouch, Dark Matter is a mind-bending thriller about choices, paths not taken, and how far we’ll go to claim the lives we dream of.
Tags
Is Dark Matter appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 16 and up.
Parents should know this is a cerebral science fiction thriller involving kidnapping, some violence, and existential themes about identity and alternate realities. Strong language appears throughout, though sexual content is minimal.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, no sexual content, and moderate language. Content notes include kidnapping, violence, and anxiety (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Teens will be hooked by the mind-bending premise of waking up in a world where everything you know has changed and racing to get back home.