Synopsis
Memory makes reality. That’s what New York City cop Barry Sutton is learning as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.
Neuroscientist Helena Smith already understands the power of memory. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious moments of our pasts. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.
As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face-to-face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.
But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?
Review
My second Blake Crouch book (after Dark Matter), and this was equally as mind-bendingly thriller-esque!
It’s another take on the whole “if you could get another chance to do your life again, how would that go?” type hypothetical exercise. With this book, instead of parallel worlds where you made alternative choices, this is a sort of time-travel loop where you return to an earlier memory in your life to re-do that time over again.
And of course all the consequences of that.
It’s fast-paced and frenetic, with some strong romantic undertones, and the to-be-expected moral and ethical debates throughout. There is quantum physics and sci-fi tech, and I admit I struggled to wrap my head around some of it.
I felt like some of the bigger moments were lacking in emotional weight, with some characters jumping to conclusions faster than I expected, plus some plot conveniences in the second half.
There is pedal-to-the-metal action almost from the first chapter, with tension growing in leaps and bounds throughout. The final third ended up feeling like a mash up of Minority Report, Looper, and One Day All This Will Be Yours
The audiobook was dual narrated and I really enjoyed both of the narrators.
Overall, very enjoyable!
Leave a Reply