RECURSION by Blake Crouch

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK
On Amazon.com
On Goodreads

How I discovered this book:  I've read loads of Blake Crouch books and hadn't bought one in a while, so I took an Amazon browse and decided on this one.

In a Nutshell: Parallel lives and time travel.

Scientist Helena's life's work is making a memory device - a 'chair' - that can extract memories from the brain and store them.  The purpose of this is to help her mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer's.  Out of the blue, she is approached by entrepreneur Marcus Slade, who wants to fund her project.  She little realises that Slade has other plans...

Barry is a cop whose daughter died when she was fifteen; this death led to the break-up of his marriage.  When his world collides with Helena's, the fate of the entire human race is affected.

I admit to getting slightly lost with the science in this book, as I didn't absolutely understand how the reliving of memories could work in the way they did, though this is perhaps because I found it difficult to think of time as anything other than linear; I'd be about to grasp it then not understand the next bit.  It amounts to time travel, as Helena goes back to her sixteenth birthday over and over again, in an effort to alter the catastrophic outcome of the technology that she created and Slade misused.

I did enjoy reading it, and I liked all the parallel life stuff; it is clear that this book has involved an incredible amount of work and thinking through, and I love the way Mr Crouch writes, generally, but it's not my favourite of his books (my favourites are Abandon, and his collection of short stories, Fully Loaded). I found it overly complicated, and ended up just reading it as a story without trying to understand exactly what was happening.  It has a good ending, which I always appreciate.

LOCKED DOORS by Blake Crouch

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

How I discovered this book:  I've read and reviewed a few of this author's books, and had just read the prequel, Desert Places - had to know what happened next!

Desert Places was jolly good, but this is even better.  Obviously I can't say anything about the plot because it's a sequel, and it would give away what happens in Book One, so I'll give the reasons why I liked it:

There's no exposition-type recapping of the previous book, and the situation of the main character, writer Andrew Thomas, seven years on from the end of the last book, is all that you would hope for him.  He's in Yukon, and I loved the description of the lonely cabin where he lives (okay, okay, I wanted to live there too....).  When the psychopathic Luther Kite beckons, though, he can't help responding....

The pace is terrific.  It alternates between characters, and from first to third person, and each change is just right, building the suspense perfectly - I'd swear that on occasion I got that adrenalin flutter of excitement as I moved from one section to another!

The new characters brought in are terrific - there's young Christian detective, Violet, plus Andrew's 'biggest fan', Horace Boone... and the parents of the evil killer. 

It's realistic - although all books of this type (serial killer thrillers in which your average guy takes on ultimate evil) can get a little far-fetched, all of this is well within the bounds of feasibility.  It's not predictable, either.  Just when you think it's going to be okay, it gets bad again.  And Crouch shows no fear about killing off people you badly, badly want to stay alive.....

A fab example of its type.  Really looking forward to the next one, Break You.  The reviews for that aren't so good... we'll see.  Incidentally, like all Blake Crouch books, this one finishes by about 80%, followed by excerpts from other books and bits and bobs generally telling you how awesome Blake Crouch is.  I don't mind this, if the book's been really good, but some people feel ripped off by anything that doesn't end at 99%, so I thought I'd better mention it.

DESERT PLACES by Blake Crouch

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

How I discovered this book: I've read and reviewed several of this author's (click author tag at the bottom if you would like to see them), and couldn't resist trying another.

I love a nice bit of Blake Crouch when I've been writing all day and want a nice easy read with a cracking good plot that I know will keep me turning the pages.  Desert Places was no disappointment.  It's about a super-successful writer, Andrew Thomas, who, at the peak of his career, gets a note from a stranger to say that a body has been buried on his land, and that the sender of the note has all the evidence he needs to get Andrew convicted for the murder.  To say any more would be to give away the plot, but it's a belter.  Plenty of fast action, surprises, and situations that you'll think can't possibly be remedied as the plot travels from beautiful, rural North Carolina to the deserts of Wyoming.

It's pretty grisly in places, but not excessively so, and not just for the sake of it.  It's not great literature, it's popular fiction, and a fine example of its type.  Good enough for me to nip over to Amazon and download the next in the Andrew Z Thomas/Luther Kite series, anyway!  

 

FULLY LOADED by Blake Crouch @blakecrouch1

5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

How I discovered this book:  I'd read four of Crouch's novels, then tried a short story, Shining Rock, which I liked very much, so I thought I'd splash out £1.99 on this collection of his short stories.

Fully Loaded is a collection of different lengths, from less than one page (yes, really) to a couple that are a good hour's read, and every one is very good indeed; I wonder if the shorter story may be absolutely Crouch's forte, because each one encapsulates all that is brilliant about his writing.  My favorite novel of his is Abandon, and the very best in the Fully Loaded collection is an outtake from it, On The Good, Red Road, which is as stunningly good as the main story.  My other favourites were The Meteorologist (I enjoyed reading that Mr Crouch adores extreme weather, as I do - he ought to try the frustration of living in boringly moderate England!), about a lonely man who chases storms, Unconditional, which is about a father whose son is a killer, and I loved Serial, because I like reading about grisly murders and psychopaths.  They're all great, though; there isn't one weak one.

Before each story is a short explanation of how it was born.  Excellent book.  Get it.

FAMOUS by Blake Crouch

4 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

How I discovered this book:  The first book I read and reviewed by this author was Abandon, after reading a review for it on Between The Lines book blog.  I have since read and reviewed Run and Snowbound.  I happened to notice this one as a suggestion on my Kindle app, when I'd just finished my last book, and couldn't resist letting it queue-jump the to-read list ;)

This is a long novella length story (or perhaps a short novel, I didn't count the words!), and a fair bit different from others I've read by this author.  Although there are moderately horrific elements, it's essentially a darkly humorous contemporary tale, about a man called Lancelot Blue Dunquist who happens to be the exact double of famous Hollywood star James Jansen.  All his life he has had a plan, and one day circumstances conspire to make him put it into action.

I love the way Blake Crouch writes, and this story is great fun.  As with Run and Snowbound, though, I felt myself having to do the belief suspension thing just a little bit too often.  Lance's character is fairly fluid, changing to fit the plot; he's a 38 year old who has lived with his small town parents in South Carolina all his life, happens to be incredibly handsome, and moderately self-confident and intelligent, but has only ever slept with one girl, 18 years before, and has no social life.  At times he seems entertainingly naive, which is reasonable considering his lack of life experience, yet at other times displays a sharp insight that seems unlikely to have evolved, given his story-so-far.

I won't be giving out too much in the way of spoilers if I say that he pretends to be James Jansen, but where it became a bit too ludicrous even for belief-suspended-me was when people that Jansen knew well were taken in by the charade.  The end is great, a terrific twist in the tale, but, again, impossible - however much you look like someone, you can't fake medical records!  On the other hand, it's a smoothly written, never-a-dull-moment, entertaining romp, so maybe all these things don't matter too much; I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it.  Just :)

RUN by Blake Crouch @blakecrouch1

4.5 out of 5 stars

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

How I discovered this book: I'd loved Abandon, didn't like Snowbound half so much, but perused his titles on Amazon and the subject matter of this one appealed.

Nothing I love to read about more than post apocalyptic survival, so this novel was a box ticker as soon as I read the blurb.  The US has degenerated into a killing field in a matter of days, and no one knows why (it's revealed early on, by the way).  Worse, those not intent on killing cannot tell the goodies from the baddies.  Jack Colclough is forced to flee with his family, and Run takes us through their breathtaking, horrifying race northwards from Albuquerque.  It's one hell of a page turner, and I read it all in one day.  

The downsides: 1.  Tense/verb participle inconsistencies (though I realise a stylistic thing to add tension, and it kind of works).  2.  The unlikely coincidence of him and his wife meeting up again days after they were separated; I will say no more, but Montana is a big place (it's to do with the particular town being special to them, but I felt that Crouch had thought of this at the last minute to make it feasible).  Not to mention just happening to run into a certain someone from Albuquerque there, too (if you're not familiar with the geography of the US, look up New Mexico and see how far it is from Montana).  3.  The amazing shooting skills of people who have previously never held a gun.  BUT!!!  Unlike in Snowbound, this book was so good that I was unable to suspend my disbelief. 

I liked the way that the novel just plunges in, without build up, to Day 5, when everywhere is mayhem - the blurb is the prologue, in a way, and it's not all explained, but you get the picture as it goes along.  Also liked the idea that not much backstory is given about Jack and Dee's previous life; it's no longer relevant.  The fear, tension and desperation is very well done indeed.  I also liked this new take on a pandemic - a bit like the 'Rage' virus of 28 Days Later, but the baddies still have all their mental faculties.

Not quite sure if I'm all Crouched out for the time being or not.  Yeah, I'll probably try another one.  If you like exciting, dangerous stories of survival against terrifying odds, and aren't too picky about them being great literature, you'll love this.



 

SNOWBOUND by Blake Crouch

3.5 out of 5 stars

on Amazon UK HERE
on Amazon.com HERE
on Goodreads HERE

How I discovered this book:  I'd read Abandon and loved it so much I had to read another one by the same author straight away.

Snowbound starts off with such promise.  Will's wife, Rachael, fails to return home, and we see this from his point of view as he wakes up at 4 am to find her missing, and from hers as she is abducted.  The next day, he finds out that local police fancy him for her murder.  Escape is the only answer.  Fast forward five years, and Will is living with his daughter, Devlin, in another state, under assumed names.  Enter Kalyn, a former FBI agent who has her own agenda when it comes to helping Will find out what happened to Rachael. 

Warning: contains spoilers

The book follows an exciting trail up to Alaska as they mess with the mob and get closer to finding out the truth.  Until about 50%, the book's great.  Then it starts to get too outlandish.  Like, sixteen year old with cystic fibrosis manages to survive being chased by wolves and a hike in waist deep snow to a lodge peopled by some seriously dangerous people, one of whom she kills, even though she has never held a gun before.  Will is semi-mangled by wolves but manages a similar hike to rescue his wife and daughter, the former of whom seems to be psychologically intact despite a five year career as a sex slave and worse.  I stopped reading at 75%.  I can suspend my disbelief to a certain extent, but....

 

ABANDON by Blake Crouch @blakecrouch1

5 GOLD stars

Rocky mountains adventure/thriller/history

On Amazon UK HERE
On Amazon.com HERE
On Goodreads HERE

How I discovered this book:  Read about it on Between The Lines book blog.

What a story!  I love death-defying adventure set in Arctic conditions, and anything to do with the way in which history circles around to meet the present, and this novel is made up of these two elements.  New York journo Abigail goes on an excursion to the lost town of Abandon, high in the Colorado rockies, with her father (who she hasn't seen since she was four), two guides and two paranormal photographers.  Back in the late 19th century the entire population of the town vanished, along with a stash of gold; the mystery of how and why has obsessed Abigail's father, Lawrence, for many years.

The story alternates between past and present, as events become increasingly perilous for Abigail and her group; all is not what it seems.  Back in the late 19th century, a picture is built up of the townsfolk of Abandon, until finally we discover what really happened.....

I read this over Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and couldn't have made a finer choice.  At first I just quite liked it, then, when everything starts to get scary (at about 30%) I feared that it might become a story of paranormal ghostly carry-on featuring demonic beings, which would have probably made me abandon (!) it, but such was not the case.  It's very much a story of the evil within man, of madness, retribution, greed, loneliness, loss ~ I loved it.  The pace and structure is perfect, with the slow unfolding of the past to mirror the present.  By the middle I liked it much more, and the last 30% is staggeringly good.

I also liked that it didn't follow oft-used resolutions.  It's unpredictable all the way through; I didn't guess any of the developments.  It's great.  Would be wonderful as an HBO series.  Buy it! 

Snowbound reviewed HERE, Run reviewed HERE