[Book Review]: Recursion by Blake Crouch

About the book

Genre: Sci-Fi, Techno-Thriller

Publisher: PAN Macmillan

Release Date: 9th January 2020

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER – From the bestselling author of Dark Matter and the Wayward Pines trilogy comes a relentless thriller about time, identity, and memory–his most mind-boggling, irresistible work to date, and the inspiration for Shondaland’s upcoming Netflix film.

“Gloriously twisting . . . a heady campfire tale of a novel.”– The New York Times Book Review

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY  Time  – NPR –  BookRiot

Reality is broken.

At first, it looks like a disease. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. It’s just the first shock wave, unleashed by a stunning discovery–and what’s in jeopardy is not our minds but the very fabric of time itself.

In New York City, Detective Barry Sutton is closing in on the truth–and in a remote laboratory, neuroscientist Helena Smith is unaware that she alone holds the key to this mystery . . .and the tools for fighting back.

Together, Barry and Helena will have to confront their enemy–before they, and the world, are trapped in a loop of ever-growing chaos.

About the Author

Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. His novels include the New York Times bestseller Dark Matter, and the internationally bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy, which was adapted into a television series for FOX. Crouch also created the TNT show Good Behavior, based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. His latest book is Recursion, a sci-fi thriller about memory, and was first published in June 2019. He lives in Colorado.

Media Links:

Website: www.blakecrouch.com

 Twitter : @blakecrouch1

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blakecrouchauthor

My review

4,5* stars

Recursion, a high-octane, fast-paced techno-thriller by Blake Crouch, was an absolutely mind-blowing read, making a reader challenge everything, even the reality itself.

A neuroscientist Helena Smith is on the brink of a groundbreaking discovery, able to save humanity from the Alzheimer’s and a long-term memory loss. In a clandestine laboratory owned by an extravagant tech tycoon Marcus Slade, she’s building a memory chair, a device which is able to record and rejuvenate memories. Helena pours her heart and soul into the research, trying to save her mother and millions of others from the terrible disease. However, Slade has his own vision of the chair’s main purpose.

In New York, Detective Barry Sutton is investigating a mysterious death, closely linked to the so-called FMS, the False Memory Syndrome. The disease is spreading like a wild fire, driving its victims to insanity and suicide with the memories of many lives they’ve never lived.

When the full potential of Helena’s memory chair is unleashed, it becomes not a cure, but the most powerful weapon, able to rewrite memories and shift reality.

The book is cleverly written and full of twists, turns, and suspense. Crouch’s theories about how memories work and interact with time and space are believable and mind-blowing at the same time. Despite its fast pace, the novel is also lyrical, philosophical, and deeply emotional. It reflects on love, loss, grief, freedom of choice,  and the second chance.

In the very centre of its plot isn’t a memory chair, but Helena’s love to her mother which keeps her research going regardless of many years of failures. Barry’s love for Helena pushes him to live many lives and die many deaths together with her.

The book tries to answer many existential questions, too. Is humanity ready for such a powerful technology? Will it ever be? What is our past, if not just a set of memories which can be rewritten by the chair?

I give it 4,5 stars, because it becomes a bit repetitive closer to the end. To me, Barry and Helena don’t need so many attempts to fix the “curse” of the chair. The novel ends on a cliff-hanger, but I love cliff-hangers, and this one is brilliantly executed.

I thoroughly enjoyed Recursion and recommend it to the fans of Michael Crichton and Philip K Dick.

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