Dark Matter [Hardcover]

Garfield Stevens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1990

A scary picture of what happens when the televangelists take over the world.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While it is difficult to categorize this wide-ranging novel in relation to the author's previous Nightcaps , few readers will be able to put it down. It opens as a gruesomely explicit tale of contemporary horror, with a serial killer cleaving the skull and dissecting the brain of a young girl while she is still alive. This event occurs in Stockholm, where a brillant young quantum physicist has just received a Nobel Prize and, against the wishes of his beautiful assistant and lover, signed a contract with a mysterious American group to pursue his research in Los Angeles. Four years later, in 1995 Los Angeles, a similar murder brings black police detective Kate Duvall onto the scene, and the story becomes a standard thriller, containing the stock elements of police corruption and shadowy government agents, and focusing on the detective's growing involvement. The action scenes are leavened with complex discussions of quantum physics and the nature of reality, building toward a science fiction-like ending. The bad guys introduce some jolting deus ex machina turns, and there is one too many "final" encounter between the opposing forces, but this novel could nonetheless catapult Reeves-Stevens to the top ranks of thriller/horror writers.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- A novel that will appeal to both science fiction fans and to those of the macabre. Anthony Cross is man who crosses the line between genius and insanity. A brilliant scientist in the field of quantum physics, he enhances his abilities by dissecting the human brains of living victims. Protected by his lover, Charis Neale, and his fellow Nobel Prize winning scientists, Cross leads his double life. Homicide detective Kate Duval must track down the serial killer although she, herself, is under Cross's charming spell. The science is difficult for average readers to follow, but the horror theme is gripping, and the ending challenges the imagination.
- Katherine Fitch, Jefferson Sci-Tech, Alexandria, VA
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 375 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (September 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385247567
• ISBN-13: 978-0385247566
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,431,629 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely fantastic!, January 2, 2004

By 

Anthony Pultrone (Marlton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Matter (Unbound)

This book was gripping, thrilling, very interesting, and a real page-turner. I was up till all hours of the night reading this--I literally couldn't put it down. Garfield Reeves-Stevens' mix of science (physics especially quantum physics), murder, horror, mystery, and fiction are all intertwined to create a wonderfully fantastic story with brilliant characterizations and deep (but not too extravagant) details (some of which go beyond "gruesome"). This is one of the best books I've ever read in any genre. Definitely not for the faint of heart!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars InLiminePaxNulla, June 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Dark Matter (Hardcover)

A perfect brain-twister, in between modern physics and schizophrenia. Not only the author's writing is delightful, but also the way the plot is deviced and the motives intertwined, one of the most think-inducing aspects in this book being the way it succeeds in combining both a true psychological horror, and the most cold-hearted scientific approach - in the straight line of such masterpieces as Lovecraft's Whisperer in Darkness.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definetly different, August 19, 2004

By 

Matthew Schiariti (new jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Matter (Mass Market Paperback)

I really do like Stevens' writing...the subjects that he writes about are very interesting as well..

this book is a mixture of quite a few things...physics, murder, madness...some of the book gets a little too involved with the science but it doesn't take away from the overall experience..

the book starts off with some very bizare goings-on..this isn't just your run of the mill murder mystery..

my only problem with the book was that I found it hard to utilize teh suspension of disbelief...the latter half of the book relies HEAVILY on physics and space..and what happens..well, I'm not going to spoil it, but it was definetly way out of left field!

But I do have to say that I enjoyed the book an awful lot. Definetly worth looking into.