Recursion - Grimoire.Social

Hardcover, 329 pages

English language

Published June 11, 2019 by Crown Publishing.

ISBN:: 978-1-5247-5978-0

(1 review)

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.

That's what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious memories. 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 …

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.

That's what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious memories. 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?

9 editions

David Hughes reviewed Recursion by Blake Crouch

Actually quite good.

5 stars

The other Crouch books I've read have been better plotted than written. Happily that isn't the case here. I wasn't expecting much, but the whole false memory premise does take very interesting and thoughtful directions. Happy to give it five stars, for the plot, the exploration of the central conceit and the open-ended... ending which is bound to disappoint all those who like things wrapped up neatly (I like to think of "Don't Stop Believin'" playing on the jukebox in the bar), but it really is a pale imitation of Ken Grimwood's 'Replay', which I heartily recommend to the two or three people who'll see this review (and to everyone else who won't).