'German author Juli Zeh seems to have won every continental European prize going, and it's easy to see why. Zeh's clarity of thought, plausible characterisation and ability to conjure up a world where everything that is possible happens make Dark Matter a thrilling read as well as a terrific mental workout' Guardian 'An intelligent and beautifully crafted existential thriller . Zeh's lyricism and intellect lend the book a depth often lacking in mainstream thrillers' Big Issue Sebastian and Oskar have been friends since their days studying physics at university, when both were considered future Nobel Prize candidates. But after graduation, their lives took very different paths; while Oskar holds a prestigious research post in Geneva, Sebastain worries that he hasn't lived up to his intellectual promise, having chosen marriage and fatherhood as an exit strategy. A few days after a particularly heated argument between the two men, Sebastian leaves his son sleeping in the back seat while he goes into a service station. When he returns, the car has disappeared without trace. His phone rings and a voice informs him that in order to get his son back he must kill a man. As Sebastian's life unravels, the only person he can safely reach out to is Oskar.