Dark Matter

Initial reaction: Just by the law of averages, the movie is bound to be better.More thoughts: I keep telling myself I should write a review before this book vanishes from my memory. It's the sort of high-concept thriller that will quickly fade. There is a good chance that in a few months, the only thing I'll remember is that the author doesn't know the difference between Spanish and Tex-Mex cuisines.Final thoughts: Dark Matter isn't so much a bad book as it is two mediocre books often working at cross purposes. On the one hand, there is the thriller, the pulse-pounding excitement of a man thrust into dangerous situations and having to think on his feet to survive. One the other, there is the speculative fiction, the thought-provoking vista into how a man's choices define him and what happens when he confronts the road not traveled. That is, Dark Matter would like to be Sliding Doors meets Face/Off.Yet, those two impulses end up working at cross purposes. It's need to keep the pace up keeps the novel from really sitting with the spec fic elements, leaving most of the potentially intriguing questions about choice and identity to be dealt in really superficial matters. On the flip side, the sci-fi conceit is fantastic enough that the protagonist spends much of the novel dependent on underdeveloped secondary characters for exposition and even survival, robbing the character of agency. It's not until near the end that he finally starts making decisions which don't feel idiotic, but by that point it's too little, too late.I can imagine a better version of this novel, one in which the sci-fi and action beats are better integrated, the characters more fleshed out, a greater sense of mystery and wonder cultivated. However, the version of the story in this reality is dull and forgettable.Though not in any way related to Crouch's novel, I'd recommend the Starz series Counterpart for anybody interested in the combination of thriller and speculative fiction.