I was introduced to Straub through his work with King on the Talisman and Dark House books. Given their tie to the Dark Tower books, his ability to write about two overlapping worlds (and more) became obvious. In A Dark Matter he’s right back in this element, describing an overlapping world beyond ours with disturbing clarity.

He does take a long time to get to the point of this story, but there is some gifted writing to enjoy en route. He uses multiple viewpoints to continually shed new light on the mystery at the core of the story. The character who spoke primarily in quotations from other literature was entertaining as well.

The highlight of this book occurs (not unsurprisingly) near the end as the narrative approaches its climax. Straub has a gift for using adjectives you wouldn’t expect to make surreal scenes absolutely vivid in your imagination.

A Dark Matter isn’t an instant-payoff novel—it’s like an album you grow to love the longer you listen to it.

Straub, Peter. A Dark Matter. Doubleday, 2010.