Have you ever wondered what the future will be like? Just about everyone has. In Dark Matters, Michael Dow takes you to a future where software exists that allows you to control your own dreams. But nothing is cheap. The cost of living is outrageous, and a group of global elites rules the world.
When a member of the Consortium and his family die in a car crash, he needs to be replaced. And Rudy is the one approached. This is when he learns about the existence of the Consortium and just how much power they wield. The Consortium—they see all, they know all. They are basically the behind-the-scenes gods of the world. And now he has been invited to join them.
As Rudy discovers just what the Consortium is capable of—making natural disasters occur, controlling the economic stability of nations—he is a bit overwhelmed. He, of course, wonders what gives them the right to decide these things. He is told it is for the survival of mankind, but is it right for any one group of people to decide what is best for everyone else?
Jonas is a physicist who has made his life’s goal to unravel the mystery of dark matter, which in his words is the scaffolding of the universe that holds things together. His company, Hanssen Scientific, has been hired by the company Rudy works for to find an asteroid.
My knowledge about asteroids is not really that great. When I read just what this asteroid Jonas finds would be used for, it amazed me. And the fact that it was worth so much money amazed me even more.
Monique is an art curator who has visions. The decision to find the people in her visions isn’t hard to make after she is disrespected by an asshole of a man who buys a painting from her gallery and expects her to be the one to deliver it to his house that same evening. Her first stop is Singapore.
Each person she is directed to find by her visions also has visions. As her small group grows, what they see becomes more powerful, and they learn from each other to do things such as move objects with their mind. One by one, Monique brings them all together.
If even a fraction of what is revealed as going on behind the scenes in this science fiction/thriller is true, even though there are no zombies staggering around threatening to annihilate mankind, it is just as scary. After all, this novel is described as being (mostly) fiction. I wonder which parts are fictional.
Dark Matters is the first book in a trilogy. Things are up in the air at the end of book one, so of course, I wanted to pick up the next book immediately. Maybe God is using the wait for the second book to teach me patience.
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you would like to read what our future possibly holds, I have provided an Amazon link below.
Amazon Link: Dark Matters
Recommended Article: Michael Dow Interview – Secret Organizations, Research, and the Cost of Living
imagination and reality, ladyjudina.deviantart.com
Favorite Sentences:
The cloak-and-dagger secrecy of the Consortium was beginning to wear thin—he had little patience for wasted time.
Implications swirled through his mind, like an icy wind through the trees.
He took another deep breath, opening his eyes to what was suddenly a much smaller room.
Think of dark matter as the scaffolding of the universe; it holds things together.
All the dichotomy of his love for both physics and reality shows barely tugged at his conscience; if anything, they flowed together, like yin and yang, into a coherent and meaningful whole.
New Words Learned:
ancillary– a subsidiary or auxiliary thing or person
apathy – absence of interest in or enthusiasm for things generally considered interesting or moving
arrondissement – a municipal district of certain cities, esp Paris
attosecond – one quintillionth (10-18) of a second
claytronics – an abstract future concept that combines nanoscale robotics and computer science to create individual nanometer-scale computers called claytronic atoms, or catoms, which can interact with each other to form tangible 3D objects that a user can interact with
durian – the edible fruit of a tree, Durio zibethinus, of the bombax family, of southeastern Asia, having a hard, prickly rind, a highly flavored, pulpy flesh, and an unpleasant odor.
Fourier transform – a mapping of a function, as a signal, that is defined in one domain, as space or time, into another domain, as wavelength or frequency, where the function is represented in terms of sines and cosines.
haupia – a Hawaiian pudding made of cornstarch and coconut cream
inexorable – unyielding; unalterable
Oort cloud – a region of the solar system far beyond the orbit of the dwarf planet Pluto in which billions of comets move in nearly circular orbits unless one is pulled into a highly eccentric elliptical orbit by a passing star.
picotechnology – a neologism intended to parallel the term nanotechnology
poke – a raw fish salad served as an appetizer in Hawaiian cuisine
About the Author:
Michael Dow spent 25+ years in corporate America, in roles running the gamut from management consultant to CEO. He has worked at companies ranging in size from start-up to over one billion dollars in revenue, and in locations across the globe, from Washington DC to Saudi Arabia. Dark Matters is his first work of fiction (though his competitors have accused him of writing fiction for decades).
Mike grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Virginia Engineering School. He has also completed the Harvard Business School General Manager Program. He currently lives in Traverse City, Michigan, with his wife and two teenage daughters.
