The emotions and the personalities of the characters are fleshed out very well, particularly with Jack, who is a strong but very troubled young man- his motivation to join the expedition is that of escapism- fleeing his dank and miserable life from foggy London.

The edges of the story touch on love, on companionship and on fear, but primarily on the who. When the 4 months of never-ending darkness of the eternal night set in, Jack feels uneasy, as if something malicious, something malign, is watching his every move, willing him to leave…ĭark Matter is very much more than just a ghost story. Written in a first person diary-style, Dark Matter follows the six months of Jack Miller’s expedition to Gruhuken, Spitsberg (Svalbard in the modern day). It is a vividly terrifying book exploring nyctophobia in a rather different way.

Dark Matter is her first adult ghost story, and it deals with the timeless human fear of the dark, or more particularly, things that inhabit the dark. Most people will know Michelle Paver for her critically acclaimed series about the stone age, entitled The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. As the land of the midnight sun becomes the land of the eternal dark, things seem to start happening – a last revenge… How could he say no when he’s offered a chance to join an expedition to the Arctic Circle, away from the fog and dirt of London? The expedition starts well, but gradually it seems that something, or someone does not want them. Life for Jack Miller is not going good he has no family, no friends and lives in a grimy part of London. It’s January 1937, and London is on the brink of a new world war. Soon he will reach the point of no return - when the sea will freeze, making escape impossible. Soon he will see the last of the sun, as the polar night engulfs the camp in months of darkness. One by one, his companions are forced to leave. As night returns to claim the land, Jack feels a creeping unease. At last they reach the remote, uninhabited bay where they will camp for the next year.

Spirits are high as the ship leaves Norway: five men and eight huskies, crossing the Barents Sea by the light of the midnight sun. So when he's offered the chance to be the wireless operator on an Arctic expedition, he jumps at it. Twenty-eight year old Jack is poor, lonely and desperate to change his life. Clouds of war are gathering over a fogbound London. Synopsis: 'What is it? What does it want? Why is it angry with me?' January 1937.

Dark matter paver novel