Recursion

A Novel

By: Blake Crouch

Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom, Abby Craden

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

New York Times best seller

From the best-selling author of Dark Matter and the Wayward Pines trilogy comes a relentless thriller about time, identity, and memory - his most mind-boggling, irresistible work to date, and the inspiration for Shondaland’s upcoming Netflix film.

"Gloriously twisting...a heady campfire tale of a novel." (The New York Times Book Review)

Named one of the Best Books of the Year by Time • NPR • BookRiot

Reality is broken.

At first, it looks like a disease. An epidemic that spreads through no known means, driving its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. But the force that’s sweeping the world is no pathogen. It’s just the first shock wave, unleashed by a stunning discovery - and what’s in jeopardy is not our minds but the very fabric of time itself.

In New York City, Detective Barry Sutton is closing in on the truth - and in a remote laboratory, neuroscientist Helena Smith is unaware that she alone holds the key to this mystery...and the tools for fighting back.

Together, Barry and Helena will have to confront their enemy - before they, and the world, are trapped in a loop of ever-growing chaos.

Praise for Recursion

"An action-packed, brilliantly unique ride that had me up late and shirking responsibilities until I had devoured the last page...a fantastic read." (Andy Weir, number one New York Times best-selling author of The Martian)

"Another profound science-fiction thriller. Crouch masterfully blends science and intrigue into the experience of what it means to be deeply human." (Newsweek)

"Definitely not one to forget when you’re packing for vacation...[Crouch] breathes fresh life into matters with a mix of heart, intelligence, and philosophical musings." (Entertainment Weekly)

"A trippy journey down memory lane...[Crouch’s] intelligence is an able match for the challenge he’s set of overcoming the structure of time itself." (Time)

"Wildly entertaining...another winning novel from an author at the top of his game." (AV Club)

©2019 Blake Crouch (P)2019 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"A mind-bending thriller." (USA Today)

"[Crouch] has sketched out the rules for a new reality.... [Recursion] has a thrumming pulse that moves beyond big ideas and into their effects on a larger, more complex world." (NPR)

"[Recursion] will keep you up all night - first because you can't stop reading it, and then because you can't stop thinking about it." (BuzzFeed)

The power of positive thinking

Blake Crouch's Recursion begins with two separate plots: a detective investigating a suicide linked to an emerging medical condition known as false memory syndrome (FMS) and a young neuroscientist studying memory for Alzheimer's patients. Eventually, these two individuals cross paths and uncover a terrifying connection with a billionaire playing god with people's memories and influencing the rest of the world as well as history itself. As they try to intervene, the government gets involved and every attempt seems to only make the problem worse.

Crouch takes an intriguing twist on the notion that humans are merely the sum of their accumulated memories, both personal as well as tribal. When memories collide, confusion reigns. At the same time, the possibility of rewriting history is too much for people and nations to tolerate, leaving the notion that our current perceptions of time as a linear dimension that only flows in one direction may be an evolutionary result to ensure survival of our species.

The narration is well done given the dual narrators which was a wise choice given the dual perspectives of the story. Pacing is quick.

Too many holes in this one…

The plot of this book attracted me, and the beginning of the book was fine. It grew more and more incredible as the book went on. Without spoilers, there were too many holes in the plot and became too unbelievable,violent and repetitive for me.

If you’re looking for the best multiverse book you’ve ever listened to, this will be it

This book picks up at the quarter mark and never lets go. I’ve already listened to it twice. It’s that good. A world I don’t want to leave as each listen comes to an end.

No criticism here.

Mixed Feelings

I liked Dark Matter and other Blake Crouch novels so I came into this expecting another interesting read. Unfortunately, there was definitely something missing, though I'm not exactly sure what it was. I think a lot of it had to do with the narration. It wasn't bad, per se, just monotonous and really boring. Both narrators read with little inflection, and the female's performance outright annoyed me. Maybe it was just me, but it was if everything she said came across as either shaky or sultry, or a combination of both... and her attempt to deepen her voice for male parts was irritating.

As far as the story goes, although I wanted to know what was going on overall, I didn't like any of the characters. Helena, for an accomplished academic, was whiny and childish, Marcus Slade was a total douche who I wanted to punch and Barry, who is supposed to be good at solving puzzles can't even seem to find his own ass.

I found myself zoning out quite a bit. It was too much explanation and not enough natural dialogue. And to be honest, half of it didn't make any sense. It's like fake science was created solely for the benefit of moving the story forward. You have to be able to do way more than suspend your disbelief. So if you're looking for a light read that you don't have to think too much about, this probably isn't the book for you. If you're looking for unlikeable characters with an unrealistic and confusing, albeit intriguing, storyline, then give it a shot.

Smart, but Really Dragged On...

Brilliant concept, just like Dark Matter, but this one just simply lost steam and got super boring. Was counting down the remaining time so I could start something else. Disappointed. :(

I am suffering ...

... trying to make it through this book. Half-way, and I'm ready to give up. It is dull beyond belief, and trying to make sense of how false memories work is just impossible for me. I really enjoyed the Wayward Pines series, so this is even more of a disappointment. Hate returning books to Audible, but tempted to return this one.

I must be the only one.

I am going to return this book because frankly, I could not bring myself to care how it ended. The narrator was over the top dramatic. The story was beyond repetitive and I could not see the point. Maybe I was just having a bad couple of days. Moving on.

A Good Story that Could have been better

The concept of this book is fascinating but seems to get bogged down in redundancy. The build of Barry discovering the hotel and the chair promises a “Quantum Leap” story. However, the recurring idea of repetition in chair usage, Slade’s cold attitude, and the government’s involvement brings down the plot to a preachy cautionary tale I have seen before but not done as well.
The two narrators were good and helped break the drudgery of the story.
As a whole, it’s a passable story but if this is your first exposure to the author it may be a disservice.

Narration

The book is pretty good; not as good as Dark Matter. It's complex, and I didn't find it boring like some did. My biggest complaint is with Abby Craden's narration. Her voice is fine, but in my opinion her delivery was distractingly over-dramatic, mainly when reading the character's thoughts. The level of drama was more appropriate during dialog. I listen to audiobooks while commuting, and I have to turn up my sound system's volume to understand the very soft, whispery phrases, and then the louder parts are too loud. Her delivery unnecessarily resulted in many phrases which were too soft. Audible should encourage narrators to keep this in mind.
Jon Lindstrom's narration did not suffer from this nearly as much.

Solid, but not great

Blake Crouch has a certain style with a lot of twists, and this didn't disappoint, but I didn't connect with any of the characters like I did in his other novels. The narration was great and I didn't mind so much that there was two different narrators like I have in the past.

My biggest complaint is that the books structure made listening to the book a little rough. It was broken up into books and not chapters, so it was hard to find stopping points unless you listened to the whole 1-3 hour block.