Recursion: A Novel

An Amazon Best Book of June 2019: The mind-bending thrillers of Blake Crouch (Dark Matter, Pines) remind me of Michael Crichton at the top of his game, but peopled with more complex characters. After New York City detective Barry Sutton sees a woman jump off a ledge because she’s a victim of FMS—False Memory Syndrome—he decides to track down her story of suddenly remembering a whole life she apparently lived instead of her “real” one. The strangest aspect of FMS is that friends and family of the afflicted also remember portions of the false lives. Motivated by a tragedy in his own past he wishes he could change, Sutton is determined to find out whether FMS is truly false or the gate to a new, better life. Alternate-reality stories are tough to maintain while suspending the reader’s disbelief, but Crouch’s cinematic style makes every moment vibrant, suspenseful, and convincing as his heroes struggle to untangle an impossible solution. —Adrian Liang, Amazon Book Review