A Book A Week

"That's what it means to be human--the beauty and the pain, each meaningless without the other."

Several years ago, Crown Publishing reached out to me with an advanced copy of Blake Crouch's Dark Matter. I was hesitant to jump into science fiction, a genre I don't normally read, but decided to give it a shot. That novel became one of my favorite reads of the year, and Crouch became a must-read author. When Crown offered me a copy of Crouch's latest novel Recursion, I eagerly accepted. As was true with Dark Matter, the less you know about the plot, the better. I won't give away all of the secrets, but here's a brief rundown of this sci-fi thriller.

Barry Sutton is a jaded NYC police officer who is on his way to meet his ex-wife on the day that would have been his daughter's birthday. All of these years after the hit and run that claimed her life, Barry still can't forgive himself for not being able to stop it from happening. As he walks the sidewalks of the city, he is drawn to the scene taking place 41 stories above him. He races up to the heights of the building where a woman is precariously perched, threatening to jump to her death. She tells Barry of a husband and child who vividly remembers having, but who have been removed from the world. They simply do not exist. Before Barry can make sense of what is real and what is imagined, she thrusts herself from the building and hits the ground below.

Dr. Helena Smith is a young neuroscientist who is about to lose funding for her passion project. For several years now, she has studied the science behind memories. What are they? How and why do we experience them? If she can map the process that the brain goes through when experiencing a memory, she may be able to help her mother, who is rapidly losing a battle with Alzheimer's disease, to relive the moments of her life that have been lost to her. Just when it seems like her life's work is drawing to an unceremonious close, Helena is approached by a wealthy philanthropist. He has taken an interest in her work and wants her to work in his ocean-based lab to complete her work. In exchange for a stake in whatever Helena creates, she will receive whatever funds the project requires. What could possibly go wrong?

In Recursion Blake Crouch effortlessly executes a high-concept science fiction work that is as thrilling as it is thought-provoking. He forces us to question what is real and imagined in a way that no other author has dared to. The fact that Crouch packages this quiet reflection of memory into a multi-faceted thriller only further cements his skill as a masterful storyteller. For all of the mind-bending action that Recursion possesses, it stays grounded through strongly developed characters. Each character brings a new layer of emotional depth to the story, raising the stakes of the situation and sucking the reader further into the wormhole. I was completely blown away by Recursion and can't recommend it enough. No matter what genre you normally read, there is something for everyone to love in this book.

For more information visit the author's website, Amazon, and Goodreads.
(2019, 21)