Let’s get this party started with my first foray into a genre I have previously avoided: science fiction.

I am not a reader that likes to take too many chances – that’s what book club is for! I want to be fairly confident I will like what I read. This one was worth stepping out of my comfort zone.

Recursion by best-selling author Blake Crouch (Dark Matter) was probably the perfect experimental dip into sci-fi. If you haven’t heard about it, you will soon. All the booksellers, bloggers and reviewers are chatting about this wild ride of a story.

And if that isn’t enough, Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes is adapting it as a Netflix movie AND a television series.

Here’s how the story begins:

Barry Sutton is a divorced NY city cop investigating recent phenomena called False Memory Syndrome, an unusual condition which drives its victims bat-crazy with memories of a life they did NOT live. Barry is a broken man who is still struggling to cope with the accidental death of his daughter many years earlier.

In the meantime, neurophysicist Helena Smith is desperately trying to develop technology to enable an individual to preserve their memories, with her mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis being the chief motivation. She needs time and boatload money to make her dream a reality.

“What if I were to tell you that we will give you anything you ask for? No-limit funding. Would you be interested?”

Her heart is beating faster and faster.

Is this how it happens?

She thinks of the fifty-million-dollar chair she has dreamed of building since her mom started to forget life. Strangely, she never imagines it fully rendered, only as the technical drawings in the utility patent application she will one day file. . .

Recursion (Blake Crouch)

The plot is fast-paced and the characters are so believable, I almost forgot I was reading about technical science stuff.

That sounds rude, but you know what I mean . . .

Instead of labeling it strictly “science fiction”, Recursion is more of a gripping thriller with a bunch of science thrown in. There were times it reminded me of my beloved television series Lost, but I do not want to spoil anything for you, so I’m gonna leave it right there.

If you decide to read Recursion, I’d love to know what you think.

Do you enjoy science fiction? If so, what’s your favorite title?