Dark Matter - A Novel

Aug 25, 2026

457

Uploaded by Aurora

A suspense-filled opening frames a tight family Thursday night that feels anchored outside time, until a sudden, unannounced shift threatens everything the protagonists know and love. As dinner preparation continues with music, rare vinyl, and quiet domestic banter, personal histories and ambitions surface, including a wife’s stalled art career and her relationship to a promising prizewinning scientist acquaintance. The narrative blends intimate character conflict with an escalating sense of catastrophe.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages327

Reading Time8 h 24 min

AccessFree to download

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author ’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Copyright © 2016 by Blake Crouch All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Crown, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. [crownpublishing.com](crownpublishing.com) CROWN is a registered trademark and the Crown colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC. Grateful acknowledgment is made for the excerpt from “Burnt Norton” from FOUR QUARTETS by T. S. Eliot. Copyright 1936 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company; copyright © renewed 1964 by T. S. Eliot. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All right reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Crouch, Blake, author. Title: Dark matter : a novel / by Blake Crouch. Description: First edition. | New York : Crown Publishers,[2016] Identifiers: LCCN 2015040107 | ISBN 9781101904220 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781101904237 (ebook) Subjects: | GSAFD: Science fiction. | Suspense fiction. Classification: LCC PS3603.R68 D37 2016 | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at [http://lccn.loc.gov/2015040107](http://lccn.loc.gov/2015040107) Hardcover ISBN 9781101904220 ebook ISBN 9781101904237 International Edition ISBN 9780451496416 Title page and chapter opener images: agsandrew/Shutterstock Cover design by Christopher Brand v4.1 ep Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Epigraph Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Acknowledgments For anyone who has wondered what their life might look like at the end of the road not taken. What might have been and what has been Point to one end, which is always present. Footfalls echo in the memory Down the passage which we did not take Towards the door we never opened. —T. S. Eliot,“Burnt Norton” I love Thursday nights. They have a feel to them that’s outside of time. It’s our tradition, just the three of us—family night. My son, Charlie, is sitting at the table, drawing on a sketch pad. He’s almost fifteen. The kid grew two inches over the summer, and he’s as tall as I am now. I turn away from the onion I’m julienning, ask,“Can I see?” He holds up the pad, shows me a mountain range that looks like something on another planet. I say,“Love that. Just for fun?” “Class project. Due tomorrow.” “Then get back to it, Mr. Last Minute.” Standing happy and slightly drunk in my kitchen, I’m unaware that tonight is the end of all of this. The end of everything I know, everything I love. No one tells you it’s all about to change, to be taken away. There’s no proximity alert, no indication that you’re standing on the precipice. And maybe that’s what makes tragedy so tragic. Not just what happens, but how it happens: a sucker punch that comes at you out of nowhere, when you’re least expecting it. No time to flinch or brace. The track lights shine on the surface of my wine, and the onion is beginning to sting my eyes. Thelonious Monk spins on the old turntable in the den. There’s a richness to the analog recording I can never get enough of, especially the crackle of static between tracks. The den is filled with stacks and stacks of rare vinyl that I keep telling myself I’ll get around to organizing one of these days. My wife, Daniela, sits on the kitchen island, swirling her almost-empty wineglass in one hand and holding her phone in the other. She feels my stare and grins without looking up from the screen. “I know,” she says.“I’m violating the cardinal rule of family night.”“What’s so important?” I ask. She leve

FAQs

What is the central premise established at the start of Dark Matter?

The opening builds a warm, familiar family routine before an abrupt change signals that the characters’ lives are about to transform without warning.

How is the family night portrayed, and what mood does it create?

Family night is depicted as a cherished tradition with music, cooking, and affectionate dialogue, creating a sense of timeworn stability that makes the coming disruption feel harsher.

What personal conflict involving Daniela is introduced in the excerpt?

Daniela recalls a past rooted in Chicago’s art scene and contrasts it with her current work teaching private lessons, revealing unresolved feelings about what life took from her.

Aug 25, 2026

457

Uploaded by Aurora