Blake Crouch's books: from Dark Matter to the Wayward Pines trilogy

Our pick of the bestselling author's genre-bending science fiction and horror thrillers.

Twisting, thought-provoking and hugely original, Blake Crouch's novels – several of which have been adapted for television – mix page-turning thrills with great writing and fully realised characters.

Dark Matter

by Blake Crouch

Book cover for Dark Matter

Now an Apple TV+ series starring Jennifer Connelly and Joel Edgerton, Dark Matter is a mind-bending thriller about the choices we make, and the paths we don't take. Knocked unconscious by an anonymous attacker, Jason Dessen comes round in a new life. He has a different wife. No son. And he's not a college professor, but a renowned genius who has just achieved the impossible. Is it this world or the other that's the dream? And if his memories of his old life are real, how can he get back to it?

Recursion

by Blake Crouch

Book cover for Recursion

Although touching on similar themes as Dark Matter, Recursion is a not a sequel but another brilliantly original standalone novel. An epidemic is spreading, driving people mad with false memories of lives they haven't lived. But this is no disease, it's the first shockwave from a stunning and dangerous discovery. Detective Barry Sutton is closing in on the cause, and on neuroscientist Helena Smith, currently unaware that she is the only one who can unravel the mystery. . .

Upgrade

by Blake Crouch

Book cover for Upgrade

You can swap your phone for the latest model, move from economy to business class – but could we humans also be due an upgrade? Logan Ramsay's genes have been hacked. His focus is clearer, he can do more, faster, he sleeps better, and he's beginning to see the world – and the people he's close to – in a whole new light. He's also the only person standing in the way of a plan to hijack humanity by replicating his upgrade throughout the population, and he's about to be pushed to his ever-expanding limits. 

Abandon

by Blake Crouch

Book cover for Abandon

A journey into the history of the American West and an edge-of-your-seat survival thriller, Abandon follows four adventurers as they attempt to work out what happened in a remote mining town on Christmas Day, 1893. Abigail Foster, a journalist, and her father, an historian, are accompanied by a psychic and a paranormal photographer on their mission to find out why every inhabitant of the town disappeared without a trace, leaving all their possessions behind. What secrets does the town hold? Is it haunted? One thing's for sure: they're definitely not alone.

Run

by Blake Crouch

Book cover for Run

Leaning more towards the horror end of thrillers, Stephen King fans will love Run. Without warning, a series of murders occur across the country. A day later, they've increased tenfold. The President has appealed for calm, but now the power is out and an Emergency Broadcast System announces the names of the next people to be killed. And they've just read out yours.

The Wayward Pines trilogy follows Secret Service agent Ethan Burke, who arrives in the idyllic Idaho town while searching for two fellow agents who have gone missing, and finds himself unable to leave. With no phone or car, Ethan must continue his investigation alone. But are the electric fences that surround the town there to protect the residents, or protect the outside world?

Author image credit: Matthew Staver