Dark Matter (Paver novel)
Dark Matter is a novel by Michelle Paver that falls within the speculative fiction genre, combining aspects of horror and ghost story. The book was released in the United Kingdom by the Orion Publishing Group on 21 October 2010.
Plot introduction
The story takes place in London during 1937, focusing on 28-year-old Jack Miller, who leaves behind a monotonous job to serve as a wireless operator on an Arctic expedition lasting one year to Gruhuken, located on the northeastern shore of Svalbard. Although Jack feels uneasy about the social gap separating him from the Oxford-educated members of the crew, he decides to participate in the journey. Upon reaching Longyearbyen, the team encounters setbacks and receives cautions urging them to rethink their choice of base camp; however, ambiguous tales concerning Gruhuken fail to dissuade them.
Critical reception
Eric Brown, writing for The Guardian, commended the book as "a spellbinding read" and described it as "the kind of subtly unsettling, understated ghost story MR James might have written had he visited the Arctic."
Dark Matter earned a nomination for the Shirley Jackson Award in the best novel category.
Within the narrative, Paver weaves in allusions to author Robert Louis Stevenson, such as the Stevenson screen—an apparatus created by Stevenson's father—and a character named Gus Balfour, whose surname is taken from Stevenson's mother's maiden name and is also shared with the main character in Stevenson's novel Kidnapped.