To The Arctic Circle, In The Dark

I couldn't not read a book that clearly states A Ghost Story under its title, 'Dark Matter'. Especially if it's written by Michelle Paver. I like her 'Chronicles of Ancient Darkness'. I only hated the waiting time in between the books. The lead is named 'Torak'. (And a cute wolf cub! SQUEAL!) How could I not gravitate towards that name? Fellow Belgariad fans would understand.

Anyway, 'Dark Matter' follows the journey of 28-year-old grammar school boy Jack Miller in his search for identity from London to Norway and finally the Arctic Circle on the fictitious "bad luck" island of Gruhuken. Of course I chose to read the book on a night when nobody would be home before 3am. I sat out on the balcony, relishing the night breeze and general quiet of the neighborhood. (Read reviews here, here and here.) 

Black and white photos of icebergs and snow caps intersperse chapters, presumably at the directive of the author who has been inspired to write this book by her visit to Spitsbergen, an island that has its history as a whaling base then development as a coal mining community. Michelle Paver writes in plain language, nothing flowery. The book builds up a good sort of suspense. Written in the form of a diary, in the genteel tone of 1937, tragedy plagued the 5-men expedition even before it left London. Eventually, 4 men and 8 huskies boarded the ship to explore the unsurprisingly remote and far flung Gruhuken where the Arctic summer sun didn't quite reach.

My writing on the page is a deranged scrawl, but I know that I'm not mad. This is not a delusion. It's not some nerve storm brought on by solitude and dark. Something made Gus and Algie experience what they did. Something gave Bjørvik nightmares and opened the door of the doghouse and frightened the huskies away. Something terrified Issak and trod the boardwalk outside.

I kept flipping the page, unable to shrug off notions of vampires and zombies. Too much tv. Half-wondered if Jack had hallucinations from being the only human on the island, and the vast nothingness, and dark had driven him mad. Naaah, they stated 'ghost' and 'dark matter' in the same breath, so a ghost that was previously a bear trapper haunted the island. Through Jack's dreams, we learnt that the bear trapper was very likely tortured by persons unknown (probably explorers or whalers) with flensing knives, chained to the bear post, splashed with paraffin, then burnt.

I've just realised the significance of what I wrote about the doghouse. Something opened the doghouse door. 

It can open doors. 

It can get in.

A malevolent ghost. Deaths of humans and dogs. Some survived. Jack Miller did, needless to say. At the end, I was just really glad that the huskies have got names in the book and not all of them perished in the expedition, and one loyal canine Isaak stayed on with Jack Miller and was brought back to England to chase rabbits, and lived a carefree life. Heh. That's a much better life for Isaak. A decade later, the husky's owner would still be haunted by the events, and a desire to avoid the sea, except on the anniversary of his friend's death, to fulfill a self-imposed ritual.