I'm writing this review the day after finishing this story and I can't stop thinking about it. We follow the main character, Logan, through the decisions and challenges he must face after genetic changes are made to his body from an incident that happens early on in the book.

Reading this felt like hopping on a train that you think is going to be a gentle tour through the country-side but you soon realize that the brakes have failed and it starts rocketing out of control. Just when you think it's slowing down, next thing you know, you are hurtling down another mountain. The impact that I hit at the end is what has me thinking about this story long after it's finished.

This story will appeal not only to science fiction fans but also to readers who enjoy the timely topic of genetic engineering the philosophical dilemmas that come along with it.

This book had me reaching out to the internet immediately to see what other people thought. Never have I ever wished more to be in a book club where I could talk about this book. It is stellar.

"We seek comfort rather than a clear-eyed stare into reality." and ""I couldn't do nothing." beautifully sum up the humanity and morality points you will find in this unforgettable story.

A huge thank you for my e-ARC, which was provided by the publisher and the author via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Living his life under the shadow of his mother's genius, and her crimes, Logan has tried to do the best to redeem himself from his mother's legacy and the part he played in it.
But he is dragged back in after his DNA is forcibly upgraded. Logan find himself smarter, faster, and just all around better.
And now he has to figure out if the risk is worth doing the same to the entire human race....
Overall very enjoyable. The technical parts were made simple enough that I could breeze on through them without feeling like my genome had been downgraded. A lot of action, good character interactions, difficult choices, and overall strong plot.

It did feel like I had been in this story before though - scientist risks destroying humanity to save it... the end of mankind is nigh... and I just didn't feel the strong sense I urgency the I know I was meant to feel throughout the story.

Upgrade is essentially a superhero origin story, albeit a lot heavier on the science. In the near future, genetic modification is heavily regulated after a geneticist caused a worldwide famine. The son of that geneticist, Logan Ramsay, now works for the Gene Protection Agency. When a GPA raid goes awry, Logan discovers that he's gradually becoming...better. Sharper, stronger, faster, more adept at retaining information and calculating complex computations, requiring less sleep. He learns he's been given a genetic upgrade, used as a guinea pig for a process that could have widespread implications for all of humanity.

Upgrade is another fast-paced, high-stakes sci-fi thriller from Blake Crouch. What makes his sci-fi novels so successful for me is that, while there is a lot of science, there's also a lot of action: lots of running and hiding from the government, lots of drama and betrayal, lots of from-bad-to-worse scenarios. His books are also full of heart, with an emotional component that connects me intimately to his stories as I'm devouring them. Upgrade's Logan is an Everyman sort of character who loves his family and cares deeply about the fate of humanity, so he is easy to root for and connect with.

While Crouch does an excellent job of making high-level scientific concepts easy for the average person to understand, Upgrade is almost too heavy on the science. It probably would have been a three-star read for me if it weren't for the epilogue, which I found so unexpectedly poignant and powerful that it upgraded (ha) my rating an entire star. Epilogues generally feel unnecessary to me, but this one did an excellent job of highlighting the book's warnings about humanity's path to extinction -- a path that is still in our power to reroute. It provides a cautiously hopeful answer to a loaded question, and it really made the book as a whole work for me.

*Arc provided by Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine in exchange for an honest review.*

I am not a huge science fiction reader but when Blake Crouch puts out a book it’s an instant must read. To me a good science fiction must make things feel less like fiction and more like something that could genuinely happen in a decade or more’s time. Upgrade 100% does that with it’s focus on biological agents and DNA altering, both things that currently exist in albeit less intense forms. Main character Logan becomes “hacked” with a genome altering drug that basically turns him superhuman. The ramifications for him personally are bad given his past but also sets him up to be an unlikely hero who must stop this drug from being distributed on a global scale effectively changing the world as he knows it.

If you enjoy SciFi and if you haven’t read from Crouch, you are missing out, honestly!! Dark Matter was my first read from him and I have since read all his backlist books!! Blake is amazing in writing gripping stories with fascinating themes and compelling plot lines. Upgrade is no different. Dark Matter is still my favourite from him, but this latest book takes a creative approach on future “upgrades”. Some people might not like the morally defying story concept, but that is advantage of dystopian / futuristic literature, no bounds on speculation.

Thank you Random House via Netgalley for the arc

My first Blake Crouch and it did not disappoint. This is just some insane smart Sci Fi. Thank you Random House for the ARC for my honest review.

If you’re not familiar with Blake Crouch’s work, the first thing you need to know is you’re about to get into stuff that might blow your mind a little. Mostly sci-fi, sometimes his books are hard sci-fi, sometimes dystopian, but always cool and a good time. Upgrade is no different.

Logan Ramsay can’t be sure that things are different at first, well, other than he feels a little different. However, as time goes on from his exposure, it’s pretty clear he’s better. Stronger. Faster. Smarter. This “upgrade” is the result of genome hacking, and it wasn’t a mistake. Logan was targeted and as he fights to find and bring down these hackers, he begins to wonder if this next step in human evolution might not be so bad after all.

Though it’s no my favorite Crouch book, I really enjoyed this read. Mysterious, engaging, fast-paced, and it kept me guessing. I was along for the ride with Logan to find out where the story was going (and honestly, where it started in the first place). Cool characterization and a roller coaster ride of emotions, if you’re looking for a hard sci-fi read that’s enjoyable and just a tad mind boggling, check this one out.

I love Blake Crouch novels because whatever you go into the book expecting is not what you are going to find. This latest book was no exception to that.. I really enjoyed Upgrade. It does read a little more science fiction than some of his others. The detail that goes into talking about the world in the future was definitely a stand out. Things like food supply, injections and propaganda messages were all such a smart creative take on what the future may hold that they really added to the story. A great, unique story line that will keep you guessing. Thank you NetGalley and Random House-Ballantine Books for providing me with an ARC.

Upgrade is largely lackluster, a decent concept that’s been done too many times. “Upgrading” humans genetically isn’t a particularly new occurrence in science fiction, and Crouch does little to revitalize something we’ve seen so many times (it’s like…the foundation of cyberpunk). The moral quandaries its protagonist faces are exactly the ones you’d expect, things about defying humanity’s natural evolution, climate change and losing your roots, etc. etc. The sole interesting element, which is that the protagonist and the antagonist are siblings, is left completely unexplored. It could have been an interesting exploration of sibling competition escalated to science fiction levels, but their dynamic isn’t ever explored with any seriousness and I can’t really give Crouch credit for what isn’t there. It had been a minute since I’d read any mass-marketed consumable science fiction, and there is something enjoyable to a story that is simply a fast paced plot with no fluff or formality. That, Crouch does well, and I had honestly initially regarded it with more esteem simply because I’d missed the genre.

I enjoyed Recursion a decent amount–it’s clear that Crouch’s strengths lie in the exploration of an interesting concept and not character or theme development, and that’s okay, what the concept is interesting enough, as in the case of Recursion. When the concept is worth the entire 300-something pages. But, in the case of Upgrade, the concept was so tired I closed the book still expecting there to be a final act that actually brought something new to the table.

I don't typically reach for science fiction but I loved Dark Matter and Recursion so much that I decided to try Upgrade for myself.
This is the story of a man named Logan following in his mother's footsteps.
Miriam and her team were trying to eradicate a bacterial leaf blight in china, an unexpected mutation occurred that caused The Great Starvation; a famine that killed 200 billion people.
Miriam dies so she never witnessed the scope of the consequences including her son Logan, who was part of her team, getting imprisoned for three years-he gave up on his dreams of following in her footsteps.
At Logan's new job, his DNA is hacked and he's superhuman, including the ability to read books faster.
I kind of fell in love with Logan.
I could live in his POV all day, but I guess the sci-fi storyline he was stuck in, didn't really work for me. I'm just not a fan of biology so all the research Crouch pours into this story was lost on me.

I am a big fan of this author and loved some others books by him, but I was kind of disappointed in this one. The story is interesting but I feel like it didn’t have the draw to keep reading like his other books. I also felt like the book was too full of technical non sense to explain what was happening to him.

I still enjoyed reading it and I like some of the suspense built into the book. But overall I wasn’t super impressed. It is more of a slower story.

I rarely read science fiction but I do love Blake Crouch, and Upgrade was on point with my expectations. Dark Matter will probably still be my favorite but this was a very close second. Sometimes sci-fi can be a little over my head but this one was not, and I really enjoyed the plot which centered on DNA and an evolution of Logan Ramsay into a ‘super human’, if you will. He realizes he is feeling a littler clearer in the mind, his concentration is much better. Then he can multitask like no one else, and starts speaking much faster to keep up with how fast his brain is processing information, and knows something has happened to him but is not sure what. Turns out hIs genome has been hacked, and others know this too so now he is not only fighting to figure out what is going on, but to figure out why he was targeted and the bigger picture of how this could affect humanity while trying to hide from those that are after him.

This was pretty fast paced right from the start, and I was able to keep up for the most part. I really liked this one, thought it was well written and enjoyed the fast pace. I liked the focus on humanity and how changes to our genome affect us for the greater good (or bad).

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the digital copy to review.

This was classic Crouch. The book was engaging and enjoyable. It had plenty of twists and turns, and was pretty much what one would expect from Blake Crouch - and that is a good thing.

As with all of Blake Crouch's books, I thought this had a fascinating concept. It was a tad confusing but less so than Recursion. It was great for discussion in our book club.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

While this was my least favorite Croich novel, I still really enjoyed it. I do find that his books are starting to blur together though. I love how his writing reads like a screenplay, I’m just hoping he has some new ideas next

Whoa, Nelly! I don't think I was ready for the whirlwind that was Upgrade by Blake Crouch. This technothriller follows Logan, an investigator with the government agency tasked with enforcing the new laws against genetic research. When he becomes the victim of a genome hack, he has to fight against his friends and his family to find a way to stop this from happening to anyone else. He is smarter and stronger and faster than ever before, but would this be the answer to humanity's problems, or will it usher in the end of the world. And how many will die if it all goes wrong?

This fast-moving thriller was exciting and kept me up well past bedtime. It got a little technical at times, but the research that went into writing it must have been massive. The science is fascinating, but the real enjoyment for me came from the philosophical questions raised. If we can, should we? What would make the world better? And what is an acceptable loss to save the human species?

The end of Homo sapiens lies just over the horizon. We can see it in a thousand metrics. Which means we have a chance. But only if we collectively decide to act. If nothing changes, we will die off for the stupidest reason imaginable- because we refused, for so many childish reasons, to do the obvious things that would save us.

Science fiction set in the near future is my favorite. The reader can see the world they know, but also begin to imagine what could be. We know what our problems are now and to see them solved is exciting, even if it isn't quite real. Yet. There are other quotes I'd love to share with you, but I'd hate to spoil such an entertaining read for you. I can't wait to read more Blake Crouch.

Everyone says hangovers get worse after 30, but Blake Crouch hangovers are horrendous at any age! As soon as I read the first page I knew I wouldn’t be moving from my reading chair until I read the last. I’ve always been fascinated by time travel/alternative realities, but have VERY minimal understanding of the science and principles behind them. This novel, like the two before it, does a fantastic job of breaking down these complex topics into digestible, easy-to-understand bits. Also like the other two, this story leaves you with many complex and thought-provoking questions. Love, love, LOVE authors who do their research and leave the reader with far more questions at the end of the book than at the beginning.

I liked this book a lot, but I have liked other Blake Crouch books more. I don't always love science fiction, but I do tend to like the stories crafted by Crouch. I like that the main characters often do not know what is happening and must figure it out along with the reader. This as a writing style is something I didn't know that I would enjoy but have really grown to love. I will always pick up a Blake Crouch book because even when they aren't incredible, they're pretty dang fun.

This is a book you can finish in one sitting. It was detailed and entertaining. The perfect fusion of sci-fi and thriller. It didn’t have too many twists. Recursion is my favorite but this was still incredibly good and easy to follow along for this science fiction genre.

Blake Crouch has done it again! His ability to create an amazing sci-fi mystery is out of this world.

This is perfect for sci-fi or non sci-fi fans. Go read this book.