About 90 pages in. His house is different, he’s not married anymore, son doesn’t exist. He somehow has a career life he’s completely unfamiliar with.
Also he’s a top of the line scientist.
He can’t just deduce that he’s obviously in an alternate dimension? Doesn’t cross his mind at all? He already went to the doctor to check for brain damage. Like yeah amnesia is a possibility. But he didn’t suffer any major head trauma.
Like I get that at this point he may doubt his sanity. But he can’t even entertain the idea he’s in an alternate reality? Also why is this a common trope in stories? They completely rule out the seemingly impossible even though it’s blatantly obvious that it’s now possible.
I mean shit, if I go home and my apartment isn’t mine, job isn’t mine, and my gf doesn’t even know me then obviously I’m gonna say I definitely fucked something up.
It is a problem when the reader knows something that the narrator doesn’t know. It makes sense that the character doesn’t know it but, the longer that knowledge gap persists, the more it makes the reader feel separated from the story.
I do think Blake Crouch drags it out a little too long in Dark Matter. Although the last 100-pages make up for the first 100-pages shortcomings.