RECURSION by BLAKE CROUCH

 

SYNOPSIS:

 

Memory makes reality. That’s what New York City cop Barry Sutton is learning as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.

Neuroscientist Helena Smith already understands the power of memory. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious moments of our pasts. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.

As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face-to-face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.

But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?

 

MY REVIEW:

 

“Do you want to change the word with me?”

Mind-bending, smart and very thought-provoking! What would you do if you invented a object that could literally bend time and memory and change the course of history? What would you do with this technology? Those are just some of the questions posed by Blake Crouch in this incredibly action-packed and suspenseful thriller. There is so much discussion of time and space and memory that I feel like I just had a physics lesson. In the very best way!

Barry is a New York City cop mourning the loss of his daughter. His grief has driven him apart from his beloved wife Julia and they both are shells of their former selves. Barry’s grief as a father simply overwhelm him. Then one day he is called to scene of a potentially suicidal woman. That sets off a rapid chain of events that are so mind-bending and creative that I simply cannot imagine where the author gets his ideas from! From New York City to Arizona to Antartica, Barry and a team of scientists rocket down a path that might ultimately lead to the end of civilization as we know it. Can Barry and the brilliant researcher Helena solve the puzzle of the devastating mass “false memory syndrome” that is plaguing the world?

“If we can’t rely on memory, our species will unravel. And it’s already beginning.”

This thrilling story took many twists and turns and I applaud the author for sustaining this very thought-provoking tale to its fantastic conclusion. There is even a beautiful romance at the heart of this story because really, what is life without love?

“Is this real? Is this happening? It can’t be, and yet it feels exactly like living.”

If you have ever experienced deja vu or have been been interested in the concept of non-linear time, you will love this book. It is addictive and suspenseful and I could not put it down. ‘Recursion’ is one of those books that would make a fantastic movie. Calling Keanu Reeves!

“Because memory . . . is everything.”

(Reviewed from an advanced copy provided by the publisher in return for an honest review. Releases on June 11, 2019)