“Fear of the dark. Until I came here, I thought that was for children; that you grew out of it. But it never really goes away. It’s always there underneath. The oldest fear of all.”

Dark Matter by Michelle Paver came highly recommended to me as a great isolation horror. If you know me and my reading, I love isolation horror because when you think you’re alone, you’re not. I also love the psychological aspect of isolation horror where your mind starts to play tricks and paranoia can quickly spiral. 

Told over a series of journal entries we join Jack and crew to an expedition to the Arctic. The men remind me of the real life 1967 Denali climbing crew, brawny and moderately brainy in their own rights, but ultimately not equipped for the task at hand. Given that this is a horror story, well they weren’t ready for the trek. 

Paver before this one book wrote more YA content and this was her first attempt at adult fiction and frankly it shows she’s specializes in YA.  I wasn’t overly impressed with this one and it felt like a whole lot of nothing. I spent the vast majority of the time being really worried about the dogs. 

This would be a good intro horror for people who aren’t ready for full terror stories and for readers who appreciate epistolary novels for that additional personal level feeling of found footage. Paver does deliver solid atmospheric elements, but as someone who lives in a region of the world where we can get to minus 40 degrees and it’s dark for two thirds of the day, it felt like a regular winter Wednesday.