Recursion by Blake Crouch

"It is the lonely hour of the night, one with which he is all too familiar—when the city sleeps but you don’t, and all the regrets of your life rage in your mind with an unbearable intensity."

Would I recommend Recursion? Yes! Would I recommend reading this during a pandemic? Probably not. I feel like the last 100 pages would not have made me as anxious if the world were not currently in such a state! In any case, put this on your TBR to read sometime when this has stabilized (whatever that means).

I am not a SciFi reader. Maybe I haven't read enough to be confident in that, but my issue with Scifi is very similar to my issue with Historical Fiction. When the scope of the story is narrowed in on a time in history, or a specific science-y driven plot point, characters become very two dimensional. I hate that. I prefer a character driven book over a plot driven book period.

While I thought this books was engaging and nearly impossible to put down, I do feel we were left to interpret the characters solely based on their actions. With a narrative arc this complicated, I think the reader needs more to connect with in order to get a sense of who these characters are and how they connect with the action of the story, not the other way around. This was definitely not the worst characterization I have seen in this genre, I just would have liked a little bit more!

With that in mind, this story is BONKERS. I don't even know how a human person wrote this book and somehow managed to keep track of all the timelines while also conveying the complication of the story in a very easy-to-grasp way for readers. Recursion centers around a New York City Police officer and a Scientist. The scientist (Helena), is trying to find a way to map the memories of alzheimer patients with the hopes that those memories can be reintegrated into their mind when their memory begins to fail. The project grows in leaps and bounds when an anonymous 3rd party offers to fund her project. What Helena stumbles upon in her research is more exciting and dangerous than she ever could have comprehended. That is all I will say because going into this read, the less you know the more exciting this is to experience.

With that in mind, this story is BONKERS. I don't even know how a human person wrote this book and somehow managed to keep track of all the timelines while also conveying the complication of the story in a very easy-to-grasp way for readers. Recursion centers around a New York City Police officer and a Scientist. The scientist (Helena), is trying to find a way to map the memories of alzheimer patients with the hopes that those memories can be reintegrated into their mind when their memory begins to fail. The project grows in leaps and bounds when an anonymous 3rd party offers to fund her project. What Helena stumbles upon in her research is more exciting and dangerous than she ever could have comprehended. That is all I will say because going into this read, the less you know the more exciting this is to experience.

4/5 Stars