DARK MATTER
by Michelle Paver
I wish I’d written this ...
... because the depiction of isolation is beyond impressive!
Incredibly atmospheric, this tale of ice and isolation really got under my skin. I loved the sense of menace, the rich desolation, and the creeping unease. As with all the best ghost stories, it leaves the question open as to whether the protagonist is haunted by an actual ghost or by his own deteriorating psychological state. His "cabin fever" is tremendously well depicted. Whichever way you interpret the events, chills will tickle your spine. I recently read THE WOMAN IN BLACK by Susan Hill, which is generally considered as a classic of the genre. I liked DARK MATTER a lot more. It would make a great movie, too.
From the publisher
January 1937. Clouds of war are gathering over a fogbound London. Twenty-eight year old Jack is poor, lonely, and desperate to change his life, so when he's offered the chance to join an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway: five men and eight huskies, crossing the Barents Sea by the light of the midnight sun. At last they reach the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year, Gruhuken, but the Arctic summer is brief. As night returns to claim the land, Jack feels a creeping unease. One by one, his companions are forced to leave. He faces a stark choice: stay or go. Soon he will see the last of the sun, as the polar night engulfs the camp in months of darkness. Soon he will reach the point of no return—when the sea will freeze, making escape impossible. Gruhuken is not uninhabited. Jack is not alone. Something walks there in the dark ...
