I discovered Blake Crouch in the Book of the Month Club, where I saw his books featured in the “Members Most Loved” category. Once I dug into Recursion, I immediately saw why. Crouch writes books that are smart, twisty, and feature fully-developed characters, creating a trifecta that leaves the reader wanting more. I don’t normally lean toward science-fiction, but Crouch has almost single-handedly made me a fan of the genre.
In Recursion, a mysterious phenomenon begins to pop-up throughout the population that causes its victims to experience memories of a life they never lived. The media calls it False Memory Syndrome, and Crouch writes about it in such detail, you almost feel that it could truly happen outside the realm of fiction. Of course False Memory Syndrome isn’t an organic illness. When neuroscientist Helena Smith and NYC copy Barry Sutton begin to investigate its origin, they discover a force to be reckoned with. The hunter becomes the hunted in a twist that made me gasp. Without Smith and Sutton, the world faces almost certain destruction.
With impressive detail woven into the narrative, Crouch marries physics and philosophy with lines like, “But what do you cling to, moment to moment, if memories can simply change. What, then, is real?” My journal got some extra action during my reading of Recursion. Reading a Crouch novel is like conversing with a highly intelligent, super-fun friend. I saw that Netflix purchased the rights to make a film based on this book. I’m going to get my popcorn ready now.