Recursion

April 1, 2019
In Crouch's sci-fi-driven thriller, a machine designed to help people relive their memories creates apocalyptic consequences. In 2018, NYPD Detective Barry Sutton unsuccessfully tries to talk Ann Voss Peters off the edge of the Poe Building. She claims to have False Memory Syndrome, a bewildering condition that seems to be spreading. People like Ann have detailed false memories of other lives lived, including marriages and children, but in "shades of gray, like film noir stills." For some, like Ann, an overwhelming sense of loss leads to suicide. Barry knows loss: Eleven years ago, his 15-year-old daughter, Meghan, was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Details from Ann's story lead him to dig deeper, and his investigation leads him to a mysterious place called Hotel Memory, where he makes a life-altering discovery. In 2007, a ridiculously wealthy philanthropist and inventor named Marcus Slade offers neuroscientist Helena Smith the chance of a lifetime and an unlimited budget to build a machine that allows people to relive their memories. He says he wants to "change the world." Helena hopes that her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's, will benefit from her passion project. The opportunity for unfettered research is too tempting to turn down. However, when Slade takes the research in a controversial direction, Helena may have to destroy her dream to save the world. Returning to a few of the themes he explored in Dark Matter (2016), Crouch delivers a bullet-fast narrative and raises the stakes to a fever pitch. A poignant love story is woven in with much food for thought on grief and the nature of memories and how they shape us, rounding out this twisty and terrifying thrill ride. An exciting, thought-provoking mind-bender.

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Starred review from April 15, 2019
Cutting-edge science drives this intelligent, mind-bending thriller from bestseller Crouch (Dark Matter). Neuroscientist Helena Smith, whose mother has dementia, has devoted herself to studying the biology of memory. She seeks “a way to save memories for deteriorating brains that can no longer retrieve them.” Her struggle to find grants for her work ends in 2007 when inventor and philanthropist Marcus Slade offers her carte blanche to pursue her work on his facility located on a repurposed oil rig in the Pacific Ocean—unlimited funding, whatever computing power she needs, and a team of highly skilled scientists. Helena’s research leads to some disturbing results. Meanwhile, in 2018 Manhattan, a woman jumps to her death from a tall building after telling the NYPD detective trying to save her that she has false memories of being married to a man whose first wife jumped from the same building 15 years earlier. Crouch effortlessly integrates sophisticated philosophical concepts—such as the relationship of human perceptions of what is real to actual reality—into a complex and engrossing plot. Michael Crichton’s fans won’t want to miss this one. Agent: David Hale Smith, InkWell Management.

April 1, 2019
In 2007, neuroscientist Helena Smith invents a "memory chair," a device that can capture the memory of a specific event?and then reintroduce that memory into a person's brain on command. Her aim is to help Alzheimer's patients, including her beloved mother. But the wealthy tech magnate who has the funds to make the chair a reality has more sinister motives. Come 2018, the world sees those motives in action: people are afflicted with False Memory Syndrome (FMS), in which they suddenly wake up one day with a new set of memories of a different life. These memories compete with their current "real" life and drive people mad. But are the new memories indeed false? Or are they evidence of the chair enabling time travel? New York detective Barry Sutton investigates an FMS suicide and finds himself entrenched in a past, present, and future he never could have imagined. Crouch fills his follow-up to Dark Matter (2016) with mind-bending science, mounting suspense, and some romance. Readers may have to accept that they might not get the physics of what's going on, but, in a peculiar way, that's part of the fun.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

Starred review from May 1, 2019

Scientist Helena Smith focused on memory research when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, hoping to enable others with memory loss to record their recollections and retain connections to their lives and loved ones. She did not anticipate that the technology her team developed would allow users to travel back into those memories and change the entire fabric of reality. The results of their invention begin to manifest as False Memory Syndrome (FMS), which causes additional sets of memories suddenly to appear and coexist simultaneously (not always comfortably) in people's minds. Det. Barry Sutton is drawn to investigate the phenomenon and its origins when he fails to prevent the suicide of an FMS victim. He and Helena join forces to find a way to save humanity from the monstrous creation. VERDICT This latest technological thriller from Crouch (Dark Matter) is completely engrossing and should have wide appeal. Highly recommended, especially for readers who enjoy suspenseful, fast-moving, well-crafted, science-based sf. [See Prepub Alert, 12/6/18.]--Karin Thogersen, Huntley Area P.L., IL

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2019

In this follow-up to Dark Matter, which has sold more than 400,000 copies, Barry Sutton learns that a new technology for preserving our more beloved memories can also be used to remake them. Rights sold to Netflix in a multistudio auction.