#82 Recursion

Recursion by Blake Crouch 

This book at its core is about memories. Imagine you woke up one morning and everything you thought was true wasn't. Your friends, husband, kids and friends no longer exist. You have vivid memories of each of these people but that's all they are, a vivid memory. All those vivid memories are a symptom of 'False Memory Syndrome' or 'FMS' which is an illusion created by your brain. Most sufferers of FMS subsequently end their lives as the pain of living a new life whilst simultaneously remembering another one proves too difficult.

The book follows Barry, a NYC burglary cop who at the beginning of the story is called out to the scene of a womans impending suicide, she is an FMS sufferer and tells Barry she cannot live without the husband that she only has memories of. Barry is intrigued by this and begins to investigate how this man claims not to know this woman when she has memories of an entire life together. Barry falls down the rabbit hole and becomes too invested in the concept of FMS.

We also follow a neuroscience prodigy, Helena who after her mother is diagnosed with Alzheimers disease tries to develop technology that will help to restore her core memories as she deteriorates. When Helena receives funding from a mysterious billionaire she discovers that what she creates is so much more and not only delves into memory science but also allows someone to travel back into a memory in order to change something, from there they can stay in that memory.   

When Barry is amidst his investigation he discovers a hotel by a 24 hour diner and investigates to see if there is anyone inside who can answer any questions he is pulled in, strapped to a chair and asked to describe his most painful memory minute by minute, he is then transported back to that memory and has the chance to change the events that forever shaped his life, he then lives his life in that timeline. Now for the confusing bit, when he gets to the point where the past timeline meets the timeline he was once on he suddenly is flooded with all of the memories from both timelines. Honestly, its so cleverly written i was in complete awe of how intricate it was throughout.

After the timelines meet there are a few major changes that happen in the world due to many timelines meeting at once and the alterations are quite major that the government gets involved and believes at certain points that it is down to terrorism. At this point Helena and Barry must work together to create a new timeline and try to alter the future in order to save the world.

Ive tried to be as vague as i can without giving major plot points away but its difficult. This book is a highly action packed, interesting and intricate filled book. The best book i read in 2019 without a shadow of a doubt. I cannot wait to see what Blake Crouch does next after falling pretty hard for both this and Dark Matter. I will now begin to read all of his back list titles starting with Pines. Fingers crossed that they are the same style and that i will love them just as much.