What if, one day, you woke up in your bed, next to your spouse with whom you’ve been for 20 years, went to have a usual morning cup of coffee…And suddenly realised you remember a totally different life, not knowing anymore what’s real and what’s a fake memory created by an error in your brain?
I became a fan of Blake Crouch’s writing since the first pages of „Wayward Pines“ (2016). He just manages to create this cinematic experience, skillfully combining sci-fi with thriller, throwing in a spoonful of Stephen King and a pinch of Twin Peaks-esque sense of mystery and weirdness. Recursion is, in my eyes, no exception. Definitely a fast read that will keep you confused and unable to put down the book (or turn off the screen) until the very last word.
The book starts with Barry Sutton, a policeman in New York city, trying to save a woman from jumping to her death in 2018. The woman is suffering from a False Memory Syndrome – a strange new disease that drives it’s victims mad, torturing them with memories of lives they never actually lived. Something that feels like a super-case of deja vu, but seems real enough to make one question their sanity. And worse of all, it seems to be spreading…
In 2007, a neuroscientist Helena Smith is dedicating her life to create technology that would help people preserve their memories, driven by her mother’s fast-developing Alzheimer’s..
Two different
protagonists, two different storylines, that gradually get combined and
interwined, taking the reader on a crazy journey filled with time jumps,
dystopic landscapes, altered reality and the complexity and deep (and often
dark) aspects of human soul.
You think you got the general idea? I assure you, you’re wrong. This book has
twists and turns, it takes seemingly common premise and bends it, along with
it’s reality, into something completely new.
If you need something entertaining, gripping, action packed and fast-paced but also thought-provoking and a bit confusing at times, this book is definitely for you. A fun read all around.
***
Macmillan, 2019
Anna Kaare
Kännukuke branch library
Great review! Thanks 🙂