Convincing You to Read Books by Blake Crouch
If you have Goodreads and you follow Maude Garrett, Amanda Tass, or Amanda Guarragi (me), you know that Maude has always praised Blake Crouch and his book Dark Matter. If Maude recommends any author to anyone, Crouch is definitely high on the list.
Tass and I have added other Crouch novels to our TBR. Personally, I’m waiting for autumn to hit to start reading Dark Matter. It is always fun reading the first book by an author you’ve heard such great things about because if you get hooked, you’ll follow their writing journey.
Blake Crouch has been writing for a while and has a total of 80 distinct works under his belt. He mainly writes suspense, thrillers and science fiction. All of our favourite things!
Blake is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of a dozen novels, most recently Dark Matter, Recursion, and Upgrade, for which he is also writing the movie for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners. His international best-selling trilogy Wayward Pines was adapted was adapted into a television series for FOX. His novel Recursion is currently being developed as a Netflix series by Shonda Rhimes and Matt Reeves, and Skydance is developing a film adaptation of his novella, Summer Frost, based on Crouch’s script. At the moment, Crouch is writing a new book and creating a nine-episode adaptation of his novel Dark Matter for Apple TV+.
Themes in Blake Crouch’s Books
Dark Matter: family, disappointment, choices, versions of reality, science, the home, identity
Recursion: love, loss, ambition, redemption, life, memories
Upgrade: AI, robots, dangers of technology and the benefits
The Wayward Pines Trilogy: isolation, time-displacement, Man vs. Nature, human evolution
Summer Frost: AI, gender-binaries, playing God, and the nature of reality and consciousness
Synopsis
Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie — when his reality shatters.
”Are you happy with your life?”
Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.
Memory makes reality.
That’s what NYC 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. That’s what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious memories.
When the SWAT team gives the all-clear, and Logan Ramsay steps into the basement, he has no idea everything’s about to change. Then there’s the hiss of aerosol. The explosion. The shrapnel punctures his hazmat gear. Logan wakes up to find himself in a hospital bed, attended by doctors in their own hazmat suits, his wife and daughter looking on from behind the glass. The doctors say he’s been infected by a virus - one designed not to make him sick, but to modify his very genetic structure.
The Wayward Pines Trilogy
Pines: Wayward Pines, Idaho, is quintessential small-town America — or so it seems. Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrives in search of two missing federal agents, yet soon faces much more than he bargained for. After a violent accident lands him in the hospital, Ethan comes to with no ID and no cell phone. The medical staff seems friendly enough but sometimes feels…off. As days pass, Ethan’s investigation into his colleagues’ disappearance turns up more questions than answers.
Wayward: Nestled amidst picture-perfect mountains, the idyllic town is a modern-day Eden… except for the electrified fence and razor wire, snipers scoping everything 24/7, and the relentless surveillance tracking each word and gesture. None of the residents know how they got here. They are told where to work, how to live, and who to marry. Ethan Burke has seen the world beyond. He’s the sheriff and one of the few who knows the truth — Wayward Pines isn’t just a town.
The Last Town: Ethan Burke discovered the astonishing secret of what lies beyond the electrified fence that surrounds Wayward Pines and protects it from the terrifying world beyond. It is a secret that has the entire population completely under the control of a madman and his army of followers, a secret that is about to come storming through the fence to wipe out this last, fragile remnant of humanity.
Maxine was made to do one thing: die. Except for the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision — veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley extracts her code for closer examination, an emotional relationship develops between them. Soon Riley has all new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world.
Why You Should Pick Up One Of Blake Crouch’s Books
If you are a fan of science fiction like Maude Garrett and the rest of the MBC community, Blake Crouch is a must-read author. Not only does he write incredible stories, but he also translates them to the screen. He has become a screenwriter and has adapted his own novels for television and film. That’s the ultimate dream to create extensions of the stories that you envision in your mind. Crouch has been writing for some time, and it feels like he understands technology, space, and humanity so well.
Crouch’s latest works: Dark Matter, Recursion and Upgrade are all being adapted for the screen. As of February 10th, 2022, Amblin Partners announced that it has acquired the film rights to Upgrade and will be adapted by Crouch. Not only is Crouch working with Spielberg’s company, but he has also signed with Shonda Rhimes over at Netflix. Rhimes wants to turn Recursion into a feature film and “television universe.” It will be interesting to see how this model plays out. It doesn’t stop there for Crouch, if you enjoyed the Divergent film series, director Neil Burger has been tapped to direct Summer Frost for Skydance as well.
Which Blake Crouch books have you read? Let us know in the comments below or join our discord today!
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