“Two-thirds through, I found myself suddenly afraid to look out of the windows, so I’ll call it a success!” “The ultimate test of a good ghost story is, surely, whether you feel panicked reading it in bed at midnight” writes Emma John in The Observer. “The kind of subtly unsettling, understated ghost story MR James might have written had he visited the Arctic.”

“It’s a spellbinding read” agrees Eric Brown in The Guardian. It is a ghost story, but it is also a metaphysical meditation on what lies beneath our little lives.” “Compelling… direct… relentless” writes Helen Rumbelow in The Times. The novel virtually defines a new genre: literary creepy. “Dark Matter is brilliant” enthuses bestselling novelist Jeffery Deaver. It makes for a surprisingly touching story in the end.Michelle’s hotly-anticipated ghost story, DARK MATTER, has been published in the UK to massive critical acclaim. It is clear from his desire for wealth, his longing for a better friendship with his teammate Gus, his need for a solution to the mystery of Gruhuken. There is also a hunger that permeates Jack’s life. But seeing his fears and understanding his feelings made me root for him. Initially, he even dislikes the Huskies that accompany the group, though one of them ended up being his best companion (a very good dog!). As a character, Jack starts out cold and bitter. We get to delve deep into Jack’s mindset as he struggles to deal with his increasingly doomed situation. While I’m generally ambivalent about the epistolary format in books, here it works. The slow buildup of shortening winter days leading to the loss of the sun made for a claustrophobic, oppressive tone. I was immediately transported into the story from the vivid descriptions of the grime of London to the peace of Gruhuken. They need to kill that great Arctic totem to give them some sense of control over the wilderness – even if that is only an illusion.”Ītmospheric and tense, Dark Matter is the perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter’s night. It isn’t for the pelt or the meat or the sport – or not only those things. “And yet I think I now understand the impulse which drives men to shoot bears. As polar night approaches, they face endless nights with something else out there. Their destination is Gruhuken, an isolated bay in Svalbard surrounded by water and ice.Īs Jack and the team settle into the expedition, his relationship with his teammates improve. The other men in this team are educated, well-to-do and could not be more different from Jack. When he hears about a research expedition to the Arctic, he applies for a position as a wireless operator. Jack is a poor, depressed man who hates his work in London and longs for a way out. Set in the 1930s, the story is told through the journal of the main character, Jack Miller.

Dark matter by michelle paver