Recursion by Blake Couch

Recursion by Blake Crouch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jacket Blurb: Memory makes reality.

That's what NYC 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?

At once a relentless pageturner and an intricate science-fiction puzzlebox about time, identity, and memory, Recursion is a thriller as only Blake Crouch could imagine it—and his most ambitious, mind-boggling, irresistible work to date.

Read for July 2021 book group.

But! I actually read this back in May of 2021 because I got it mixed up with Paradox, which was the May book group selection. In my defense, on my e-reader, the covers were quite similar, what with each having a mobius loop and a little do-dad.

There are enough reviews recapping the plot and premise that I'm going to jump straight to my opinion on this one.

I enjoyed this quite a bit and read it over the course of a weekend. I found it to be a somewhat gripping emotional roller-coaster ride. Recursion has an interesting premise - time-change rather than time-travel - a vendetta that crosses time, and world-wide ramifications when time is altered, but those ramifications aren't always apparent right away. I liked there were significant consequences to the actions of a handful of individuals.

It was, simply, fascinating.

I will also admit, I did briefly lose interest about 2/3 of the way through. I felt the plot hit a "rinse and repeat" lull that was more repetitive than informative. Thankfully, as things neared the climatic conclusion, the pacing picked up again.

I should add, book group was mixed on this one: two of us thought it was better than Paradox, one thought Paradox was better, and two folks had't started it yet.

Overall, I'd recommend this one as an unconventional scifi, strong emotional, time-change read.

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