In 2007, Helena Smith's life changes when she starts working for Marcus Slade. A neuroscientist, Helena wants to create a technology to stock memories hoping to help her mother who has Alzheimer's. Helena believes she is nearing a breakthrough, and Slade has the means to make it happen. In 2016, the first cases of FMS - False Memory Syndrome - are identified. It is driving people insane, the suicide rate is increasing and it's all because of Helena's research. On November 2, 2018 Detective Barry Sutton comes across his first case of FMS. Or was it really his first case?

The concepts of time and perception of reality hold for me an immeasurable fascination: Martin Heidegger's Sein und Zeit - Time and Being; Augustine's Book XI of the Confessions; and the concept of reality in Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Blake Crouch extrapolates on those themes in the phenomenal RECURSION. Told in alternate POVs, Barry's and Helena's, RECURSION is a mindbender to end all mindbenders! I had devoured DARK MATTER, and I think RECURSION is even better. I might go as far as saying it is the best technothriller I have ever read. The story unfolds at lightning speed, the writing is flawless, the research is thorough, and for me it worked superbly as a technothriller that also embraces serious philosophical concepts.

RECURSION is exciting from page one, but when the first really huge twist happens, I literally went, " Whoa! What did I just read?!" And re-read it again, to make sure I got it right. From that moment on, it is a surreal and exhilarating rollercoaster ride that kept me enthralled until the end. At first, I could have cried because I wouldn't have time to read the entire book the same day, but RECURSION is so intense that I was grateful that it is divided in "Books" that make it easier to stop, if necessary. I needed mental breaks and moments to process what I had read, and ponder on what might come ahead. I have no idea how Blake Crouch was even capable of writing such a masterpiece and keep it coherent; it's mind-boggling!

RECURSION is the most intellectually demanding novel I have ever read and possibly the most satisfying. If you enjoyed DARK MATTER, don't hesitate to grab RECURSION as soon as you can. With this book, Blake Crouch joins my select group of books that have made a significant difference in my life, and I already want to read it again!

Book Summary

From the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter and the Wayward Pines trilogy comes a relentless thriller about time, identity, and memory—his most ambitious, mind-boggling, irresistible work to date.

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?

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