Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

77 reviews

akswhy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A good sci-fi novel, but a bit of a drag as a thriller. The last third was weakest. A little misogynistic at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Misogyny, Car accident, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Pregnancy

janieboucher's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Murder

kturner_16's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Blood, and Stalking

Minor: Gore, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

jillnole's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Blood, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infidelity

manders_panda's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Stalking, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Confinement, Sexual content, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Alcohol

taylornelms's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Stalking

keiraonyxraven's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5 stars 

 

Dark Matter is a gripping sci-fi thriller filled with scientific theories, unexpected dangers and emotional turmoil. The Novel follows our main character, Jason, after he is abducted by a masked stranger and his ordinary cosy life is suddenly snatched away. Jason would do anything to return to his beloved wife, Daniela, and son, Charlie, but now they are worlds apart and separated by an infinite number of choices. 

 

I adored this novel. It had me on the edge of my seat, gasping in shock and even in tears from the sheer emotion of Jason’s situation. I was simply gripped from the beginning, from the perfect blend of thriller, action and heart this novel contained. Not only did Crouch create an interesting and compelling story, they also managed to portray the hopelessness and agony of losing a loved one and the lengths humans would go to be reunited with the people they care about most. It’s not easy to get a reader to truly care about fictional characters but I really related to Jason and felt genuine sympathy and heartbreak for his character. For all this, I have nothing but praise for this novel and the author.

 

Overall this was a fantastic read and I would highly recommend this novel to any readers with even a passing interest in science fiction, thrillers or the horror of true infinity.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

keaganbailey's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The book starts off well, but by the end of chapter 1 you know exactly what's going on until near the last third. The plot until over 60% of the way through is straight forward, the main character doesn't even realize what happened to them until about 40%. This is frustrating as the reader as you're sitting around waiting for the book to catch up to where you know it's going. 

The main character is one dimensional and does not change at all throughout the book, interestingly this ties into the plot and is excusable. What isn't excusable is that all other characters in the book are also one dimensional, the son could be replaced with a cardboard cutout the wife carries around and the story would not change dramatically. There are also several characters at the end of the story that the author explicitly tells the reader that they have "changed" but goes into no detail about this and does not explore the concept beyond the surface observation that their motivation has changed because the plot demands it. 

As much as it pains me to say it, the show Rick & Morty has explored many of the concepts in this book and dulled the wonder of interacting yourself in a multiverse. But if you have not watched the show this book may be a 4 or 5 star for you. 

If you enjoy the dilemma at the end of the book you will also really enjoy the game SOMA which came out in 2015, it goes on sale for $5 often. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, Blood, and Pregnancy

refractionsofray's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

My first si fi book, I really enjoyed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

eveningreverie's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Very good—I was thinking as I started reading that it was going to be more of a straightforward, Andy-Wier-esque just-hard-enough-sci-fi-without-being-too-intense kind of thriller, but the developing twists kept me on my toes and I finished this entire book in just over a day. Very, very fast read. It's a cool idea, it's a pretty solid execution, but the writing style is very one-note (which works for the emotional content of the story).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Blood, and Stalking

Minor: Forced institutionalization