I finished this book about 20 minutes ago and my head has been spinning from the start. Barry Sutton a detective called to talk a woman off the ledge is led down a winding road of FMS, False Memory Syndrome. This woman claims to have memories from a life that are no longer her own. Meeting the right or wrong people Barry gets to answer the question of "What would you do with a do-over?"

Helena Smith is a scientist working on a chair that will help preserve memories, her mother suffering with Alzheimer's. She is running out of time and money when Marcus Slade offers to fund her research. She suddenly learns that Slade knows more about the chair than she ever expected.

Crouch takes this sci-fi thriller to an exciting and new level! A huge thank you to NetGalley, Crown Publishing, and Blake Crouch for this ARC! I can't wait to recommend it to everyone.

I loved this. Looooved it. If you need a story that sucks you in and makes you forget about the world, this is the book you should pick up. Don't let the slow-building start fool you, this story is big and bold and explosive. Stories that play around with the concept of time can be tricky, but Crouch handles it deftly and goes to interesting places with it while keeping his characters realistic. Stop reading reviews and just go get the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing a free ebook copy for my review.

Blake Crouch is the master of “WTF did I just read?”!

No words. I have no words that can adequately describe just how GOOD this book is. Start reading early in the day because you won’t want to put it down and it will sit with you long after you finish; while you wander aimlessly through your house, questioning everything about life as you know it. Yeah…Crouch has the power to do that to you.

Blake Crouch hit another home run with Recursion.

Bottom line? Buy the book.

5 stars…then let’s go back in time and give it another 5.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book to read and give my own, honest opinion.

This was an entertaining book, focusing on memories and what if we could go back and have a do over. At the beginning of the book Barry, an NYPD officer, is responding to a call about a suicidal person at the top of a building. He attempts to talk her down and during that talk she tells him that she has False Memory Syndrome (FMS), she remembers an alternate life she had lived. Barry knows about FMS, though it’s thought to be some sort of disease, the Centers for Disease Control is investigating the cause. Something the woman said stays with Barry and he decides to investigate it by going out to the address the woman said her husband from her false memory resides. The guy denies it’s him, then calls Barry afterwards to say yes it was him and that he had gone to this hotel where he was able to go back to a certain point in time and live his life again. In an alternate arc, we meet Helena who actually invented the process that enables people to go back to a certain point, in particular to a strong memory. The two eventually get together to try to stop the FMS from happening. Helena returns to a point in time and relives that period numerous times in an effort to stop FMS, and as a reader we are also in the same loop. Though a bit repetitious, each time was just a little bit different to allow them to get a little bit further. The ending is hopeful. I would look forward to another from this author.

5 STARS!

Recursion was a science fiction thriller that kept building and building for an epic finale!

I’m still thinking about the ending of Recursion today. It’s a hard driving look into what is the meaning of déjà vu, much less the possibilities of rewriting mistakes and tragedies in your life.

Recursion starts off with a woman jumping to her death in front of NYPD detective, Barry Sutton. Barry doesn’t understand what caused her to do this, why she has false memory syndrome and wants to know what it is. Is this contagious? Will he get it now that he’s had contact this suicidal woman?

So begins the journey of Barry tracking down what false memory syndrome is and how it will destroy a person. His journey introduces him to a fascinating and brilliant scientist named Helena Smith.

Helena has been working on a technology that will change the world and let us relive intense memories. She’s hoping this cutting-edge technology will help Alzheimer patients and the loved ones who are dealing with this crippling disease.

Recursion blew me away with reality theories along with what the mind is capable of doing. This book asked the questions about playing God, along with whether it’s a good idea.

Isn’t the whole point of being human to experience the good and bad memories in your life? It's not necessarily a pretty experience and gets slightly messy.

Did you love Dark Matter? Well, I think you’ll love Recursion too!
It’s an unyielding thriller and excellent science fiction book that asks the tough questions on morality, time travel and excepting the good with the bad.

Kudos to Blake Crouch for producing a complex plot in where I’m thinking about the book days later!!
Recursion will likely be the best science fiction book that I’ve read this year!!

Black Mirror meets Russian Doll.

Once again, Blake masterfully blends sci-fi, action, and thriller into an exhilarating, genre-crossing read.

Told from multiple perspectives at different points in time, Recursion will make you question reality and the constructs of both memory and time.

In the present, Barry Sutton, a NYC detective with a troubled past, is investigating a series of suicides that seem to be linked to a new, mysterious disease called False Memory Syndrome. Those infected experience vivid memories of alternate lives they feel they have lived. Unable to come to terms with these new, false, and sometimes upsetting memories, many have begun taking their lives.

In the past, Helena Smith is conducting groundbreaking research in the field of memory, all the with purpose of curing Alzheimer's. However, her research is noticed a very affluent and mysterious man, Marcus Slade. Once Helena begins working with Slade, she realizes that his intentions for her research may be less than benevolent.

This book will appeal to a wide audience of readers. There are some sci-fi elements, but they are not overwhelming or heavy. Instead, they enhance the action and thrills. The fast-paced plot and short chapters will keep readers hooked and make for a very fast read.

I would recommend this for fans of Crouch's previous novel, Dark Matter, the television series Black Mirror and Russian Doll, and those looking for a fast, action-packed read.

I received an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley.

Blake crouch is truly an amazing author. Per usual, this book was fabulous. Unique storyline. Likeable characters. And an easy to follow story.

You won’t regret reading it.

If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would. This is an amazing book. Recursion starts down one path and with one goal in mind, to find a cure for losing your memories. Then Blake Crouch twists our minds and his story takes the reader in a completely different direction. The science and ability to capture memories was an amazing concept as was presented. Recursion make Inception simple by comparison. Recursion is so multi-layered and complex it almost requires sketching it out on a white board just to keep it all straight. Every scene and moment of storytelling is so bright, colorful, emotional, deep and thought provoking. Blake Crouch’s ability to bring this level of brightness to a story was stunning. My mind was fully blown as each twist occurred, and there are more than I could count. In his acknowledgements, he says it was the hardest story he has ever written. By my count, it is hands down the best damn story he has written. After reading Dark Matter I couldn’t imagine I would love a book more, but Recursion is that book. Yes, it’s that damn good!

After finishing Dark Matter, I was excited to see Blake Crouch's new book, Recursion, up on Netgalley.  Recursion is another scifi novel that blends a pageturner with a thought experiment. Here, Crouch plays with travel through time, instead of the multiverse, but the themes of fixing mistakes, returning to a soul mate, and obsessive dedication to science return.

Recursion begins as random people begin suffering from a confusing psychological phenomena, False Memory Syndrome.  False Memory Syndrome is just detailed enough to remind you of every moment of deja vu in a place that should be unfamiliar, or that weird feeling that something's missing. People suffering from FMS commit suicide when they're unable to reconcile what they know to be their past with the life they have now.

In one life, a lab assistant realized the value of his boss' work and, after using his repeating lifetimes to become a multi-billionaire, he builds an entire research station and funds her work into the time-traveling chair.  With round after round of memorizing the final form and then rebooting into the past with a lifetime of betatesting, the time-traveling chair would require a lifetime of technobabble to explain that it takes one person back in time. Naturally, this starts as a way to avert tragedies and disasters, but over time (SEE WHAT I DID THERE???) it becomes clear that this can be used for much more sinister purposes. Plus, each change sets off more False Memory Syndrome. This section leans into scifi tropes, like the nosebleeds of mental exertion or the fraying fabric of much-altered spacetime, but it works. 

The plot works fine, and I enjoyed the author's continued exploration into two people searching for each other in an unforgiving scifi landscape, but it's the worldbuilding that stays in my mind. The reports of False Memory Syndrome, how one person knows the world is wrong because they have another life while everyone around them is sure that nothing's happened makes a disturbing premise, and darkly realistic for our world of post-truth news.

As a huge of some of his previous work, I was eager to check out the latest release by Blake Crouch. In many ways, this novel had a lot of similarities to his blockbuster hit, Dark Matter. Blending together elements of science fiction into into a thriller plot, this was a fast paced read that read quickly.

Readers who enjoyed Dark Matter will likely enjoy this one too, but not quite as much. This felt like a pale comparison of his previous work. Even though this read quickly, I was never fully immersed in the story. So while good, this one was not amazing. However, I would still recommend this one to fans of his previous work.

Disclaimer: I requested an electronic copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Blake Crouch does not disappoint, again! A wild sci-fi thriller that I had trouble putting down. As with all of Blake's books, truly a great story!

Many Thanks to Crown Publishing and Netgalley for a super read!

Crouch offers another creepily warped vision in which time travel is discovered and the results wreak havoc. In attempting to find a cure for her mother, who has dementia, Helena Smith inadvertently creates a machine to travel through time and change past events. The only problem is, that even when an event is changed, the participants of that event eventually remember what actually happened initially, frequently with disastrous results.

Barry Sutton, an NYPD cop, encounters one set of those disastrous results when he tries to talk a woman out of committing suicide. Because something nags at him about the whole thing, he investigates deeper and stumbles onto the phenomenon known as False Memory Syndrome. In an effort to stop him, the owner of the technology (who has taken it over from Helena) offers him the opportunity to change tragedy in his own life.

Eventually, Barry and Helena meet and spend years traveling through time, attempting to 'un-invent' the machine. Of course, they are pursued through the years by the thief who made his fortune using the machine. A fast-paced thriller that only Crouch could devise.
Dr. Cheryl Youse

I always love some good time travel shenanigans. The pacing was great and I loved the element of reliving lives. Thoroughly enjoyed this.

Recursion
by Blake Crouch
due 6-11-2019
Crown

Sci-Fi Thriller about the perception of time, False Memory Syndrome and a scientific invention gone horribly wrong. This is genre-bending at itś best. I loved this one!

A Scientist, Helena Smith, whose mother has Alzheimers, creates a memory chair meant to help her with her lost past. But the chair did not turn out as intended, giving people false memories, and questioning their reality. leading many to suicide.
Barry Sutton, working for the NYPD, is investigating the suicides and the FMS causing them, until he finds himself tangled in memories of his own....lost in a timeline where he cannot stop the inevitable and longing for a unreachable past.
Thanks to Crown books and net galley for the ebook ARC for review.
#Recursion #netgalley

I love Blake Crouch and I love his books!!! This book was another one I couldn’t put down, late nights and early mornings to read. Very interesting and was easy to follow with great characters. Thank you so much for the chance to read this ARC, I highly highly recommend tvis book.

First of all thank you to Netgalley and Crown Publishing for the Advance Reader Copy! I was very excited to get the opportunity to read Recursion, especially on the heels of reading Mr. Crouch's previous novel Dark Matter! Both novels use science fiction mixed with science fact while creating an exciting narrative. The best way I can put it is that he makes the unbelievable seem completely possible! What is so fun about the mixture of science fiction and fact is that it makes anything possible! This creates plot points that seem to come out of nowhere, but later make perfect sense. Amazing how Mr. Crouch keeps all the "timelines" together! Not going any deeper, I do not want to spoil the awesome narrative. I consider Blake Crouch one of my go to authors, always a exciting adventure, and he always makes me question my reality! A fun adventure that reflects on what it is to be human, our memories, and reality itself. Thank you so much! Happy reading! #netgalley #blakecrouch #recursion #crownpublishing

Courtesy of NetGallery for this ARC . I've been so excited for another book by one of my fav authors and it did not disappoint. Similar feel to dark matter, I spent at least half of the book trying g to figure out what the f was happening.

This book started out incredibly strong. At about 50% through I stared to get worried because I couldn't figure out where it was going to go from there. It got (or stayed) interesting! It starts out with the False Memory Syndrome, which is a really original concept, but it really comes down to humanity and how much our memories define who we are. This is a mix of science fiction, mystery, and love story. The characters were amazingly drawn out and deep with their own motivations.

Notes:
- Not sure if this was because it was a draft copy but loved that he used real names for some of the characters. It looks like they are in the acknowledgements so hope it sticks. I hope I found some new authors to read too.
- Some of the scenarios at the end of the book were a little gruesome for me to read. I was going to reduce the stars because of that (and because of how many times it happened) but ultimately, the reader needs to understand what is at stake.

I have loved every book by Blake Crouch so far. This book is not the exception. I can't wait for everyone else to read this book. Great concept, great characters, great story!

Policeman Barry is sent to stop a suicide, a suicide spurred on by false memories. False Memory Syndrome is a spreading plague, and his investigation of it leads to questions about whether the past is written in stone. These questions are linked to the work of Helena Smith, a neuroscientist determined to unlock the secret of human memory in order to help her mother who is struggling with Alzheimer’s. This was propulsive and fascinating!