Currently, he is in Los Angeles working on the screenplay for the movie version of Dark Matter. Crouch has published more than 25 books and written screenplays for the popular series “Wayward Pines,” which is based on his novel Pines. This fall, his new series, “Good Behavior,” will premiere on TNT. Crouch is a busy and proud Durangoan who is riding a crest of popularity fueled by his creative imagination that takes readers beyond the usual answers to the question “What if?”

Dark Matter is a story that defies genre and stereotype. It is a mystery plopped into a world of science fiction, which has at its core a timeless love story. It isn’t a typical or sugary love story at all, but one that provides the fuel for a tortured man’s strength for survival against bizarre forces.

Crouch introduces the Dessen family. First there is Jason, a former wonderkin in the rarified field of quantum physics, who now as an atomic physicist, teaches undergrad physics and quantum physics at a local college in Chicago. There is his wife, Daniela, who was an up and coming artist with a solo art show scheduled for a gallery in New York when life interrupted and took this couple with so much potential down a less rarified path. Finally, there is son Charlie, who is just shy of 15 and shares his mother’s love of art.

On page one, Crouch introduces the Dessens during their traditional Thursday family night with Jason fixing pasta for dinner. Crouch uses a killer hook that reels in the reader with Jason thinking … “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.”

Shortly after, Jason is encouraged by Daniela to go to his local tavern where his old college roommate is being honored for receiving a prestigious award in the field of physics. On his way home, Jason is kidnapped at gunpoint. After being hit on the head and losing consciousness, Jason wakes up to a new and frightening reality in a place called Velocity Laboratories. From that moment on, Jason’s quest is to return to the life he had, but maybe didn’t treasure as he should have. The obstacles he encounters are complex, involve quantum physics and are deadly. Jason will not give up as he struggles against time and space to be reunited with his loved ones.

Dark Matter is a mind-bending, mind-expanding and intriguing read rife with scientific information that fires the imagination with endless possibilities about our concepts of the world around us. The action is suspenseful and races along at breakneck speed. Crouch introduces readers to fascinating concepts about the universe and introduces a current real-world advanced physics concept of the existence of multiverses, and parallel universes. The science does not slow the action (no knowledge about quantum physics needed) but enhances it. The core of the story loops back to one of the most important needs of human beings, that of the desire for deep and enduring love, especially for family. Dark Matter is a exciting novel with many layers that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

Leslie Doran is a retired teacher, freelance writer and former New Mexican who claims Durango as her forever home.

Talking with Blake Crouch

Q: What “Aha” moment started you on this writer’s journey to create this story?
A: It was two years ago while I was in Chicago for a few days of brainstorming with a writer-friend, and I suddenly realized that three separate ideas that had been intriguing me actually fit together, almost like puzzle pieces, to form the structure of Dark Matter. When I realized that, I was off and writing.
Q: What were the three ideas?
A: 1. A guy lost in time. 2. The idea of a box that would make a copy of you. 3. What if there were thousands of you?
Q: How did you do your research?
A: I read a ton of articles in places like Scientific American, books about concepts in quantum mechanics and consulted with Clifford Johnson, a renowned physics professor at USC, who read my book when it was finished and gave me feedback on what I’d gotten right and wrong.
I could not have written Dark Matter without the work of many physicists, astronomers and cosmologists who have dedicated their lives to seeking fundamental truths about the nature of our existence. Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michio Kaku, Rob Bryanton and Amanda Gefter were instrumental in helping me begin to understand all things quantum. In particular, Michio Kaku’s elegant analogy of a pond, carp and hyperspace informed my understanding of dimensionality, and became the basis of Jason’s explanation of the multiverse to Daniela.”
Q: What were the most challenging aspects to write?
A: The science was the hardest part. I had so much information, so many challenging concepts to incorporate, but I didn’t want them to drag down the narrative momentum.
Q: I understand there may be a movie deal in the making. How does that process involve you as the writer?
A: I’m writing the script for the movie! Too early to talk about that process, but hopefully there will be much to talk about in the near future. We shall see!
Leslie Doran

Dark Matter

By Blake Crouch, published by Crown Publishing Group. $26.99. Available at Maria’s Bookshop.