This book is hard to rate. This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I was over the moon when I was chosen for an arc. And it started it so well. I loved the first half. Then.

The upgrade happens. And now the relatable MC turns into the worse kind of know it all. Not in a charming way like the Martian. But just like a horrible character that just. Ugh. He was just so superior to everyone. His mom. His sister. Even the way he talks about his wife and his kid after the upgrade is just so condescending. He’s just so unlikeable. I had to force myself to finish this and it didn’t get better. He just continued to be totally just yuck. And I like unlikeable characters. But not him.

So the first half. Five stars. Second half is zero. Rounded to three

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This typically isn't my genre of book to read however I found this book really good! I might add I really liked the writing style of Blake Crouch. I recommend everyone take the time out of their day to read this.

Crouch is great as always. Propulsive and engaging. I read it in one sitting. Will definitely recommend it!

Another ridiculously fun page-turner from Blake Crouch, UPGRADE is an entertaining mix of sci-fi and thriller, close enough to the edge of possibility to be keep-you-up-at-night scary.

This was a scary story without being a thriller, looking into our possibly future and left me thinking about what's to come in our future and next generation's future. It was a fascinating science based story without getting too in depth into the science behind it, which I and the rest of the public would not need in the story. It was a great balance of emotion, future possibilities, and maybe government crimes. It was very exciting story which left me guessing at every page turn.

I loved this book and everything about it! It was a completely unique concept and I felt the science was very approachable for someone who usually couldn’t care less. I loved all the twists and turns of the story. Definitely going to think about this for a long time!

Recursion was one of my favorite reads of the past 5 years so i was very excited to be gifted a galley of Upgrade.

while the sci-fi conceit is completely different than Recursion or Dark Matter, the writing style is just as fast-paced & economical &, like both the previously mentioned novels, tackles love & relationships in the midst of all the madness.

there is a whole lot of (what felt to me) unnecessary biology jargon but i'm guessing the sciency crowd (of which i am not) will appreciate it much more than i did.

still, i'm definitely going to recommend.

**I received a free ARC from NetGalley and am leaving this honest review voluntarily.**
I was not aware of this author before I was invited to read this book. Skimming through the other reviews, I now need to go read his "Dark Matter" books. This book was just sublime. It was intelligent (sometimes a tad too deep into the biology of things), fast-paced and kept me turning pages.

The reason I did not dole out the coveted five-star review is because at times, as alluded to briefly above, things got a tad too mired in specific chromosomes, what they did, etc. I "think" this may be a quirk of the writer, but for me, it got a bit much at times. Still a fantastic read!

Upgrade by Blake Crouch exists in a fictional near-future that is deeply and unsettlingly possible. After a minor gene editing mistake in insects causes the unforeseen consequence of decimating part of the world's food supply, indirectly killing thousands of people, all gene-editing is banned. But since there will always be people who decide to live outside the rules, there must also be people ready to enforce them. One of those people is Logan Ramsay - the son of the microbiologist who almost killed the world. He's chosen to try to pay for his mother's legacy by making sure nothing like it ever happens again, but when someone starts 'upgrading' humans in order to save the world, Logan has to decide if being smarter, faster, and stronger will actually save us - or just make us much better at killing ourselves. As Logan tries to figure out how to save the world, and what the world might look like after it's saved, he discovers uncomfortable truths about himself, his family, and humanity as a whole. The book is a fast-paced thriller that kept me turning pages long after I meant to put it down, but it turned out to be a quick read with a long tail, leaving me thinking about the questions it asked for quite a while after I finished it. I enjoyed this book a great deal and look forward to anything else the author puts out in the future; hopefully we'll all still be around for that.

I am so grateful to have gotten an invitation to an ARC of this book! I've been hooked on Blake Crouch's books since Dark Matter. I love how he is able to make these science-y/nerdy plots into exciting reads.

Upgrade starts with Logan, who is on a team of agents responsible for seeking out those conducting illegal genetic research (his mom was one of the reasons it was outlawed!) getting an "upgrade." Very Boorne identity but with genetic editing and more science.

This one is going to be a hit so I'm grateful for the opportunity to get an early look!

Ah, Upgrade is my pain. It feels that this book what written on the wave of covid. I was looking forward but it was too raw. Sometimes I was really bored. I wonder if the author needed a page count. Damn, I love this author and the premise of Upgrade is kind of cool. Upgrading DNA to the point that you become proficient and super human.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this arc. I enjoyed the book. Very fast paced and would make a great movie. The premise was interesting of a super human created by DNA manipulation.

A fun and fast-paced thriller from Blake Crouch, "Upgrade" will keep you turning pages until you hit the surprising (and logical) ending. The book follows Logan Ramsay, a geneticist in a world where genetic research has been outlawed after a horrible genetic engineering tragedy has caused the death of millions, What he doesn't realize is that someone's hacked his DNA too. At first, he's puzzled by the fact that his memory is improving, he can read faster, and he can multitask like a champ. He doesn't even need as much sleep. The problem is, he keeps evolving even as he realizes that there's a deeper conspiracy and that these changes might not just be limited to just him...

This was a terrific and eminently readable book, based on some interesting genetic research, without getting bogged down in technicalities like so many other modern "hard" sci-fi books. Highly recommended.

Let me be the first to say I am not a sci-fi fan, but this book intrigued me. It’s a doomsday scenario. Lower Manhattan is under water due to rising seas. Food is scarce. The planet is dying. In an attempt to improve human adaptation, a botched genetic experiment results in the spread of a virus killing millions of people around the globe. But, can failure sometimes lead to success? Should we keep trying? Maybe those deaths were worth it. Could genetic mutation create a generation of brainiacs who could survive, thrive, and make life worth living again? In continuing to experiment, how many more deaths would result? Do we care? A moral dilemma.

The story is told through the son of the scientist who created the deadly virus. He is kidnapped and injected with gene enhancing materials by which he develops super human strength and intelligence. He is made aware of the fact that his dead mother is still behind the scenes influencing more genetic experiments behind black ops doors. His gut says he should stop them before they cost more human lives. The government can’t be trusted either. There’s a lot of intrigue, violence, being chased and chasing. In other words, a movie in the making.

And, even though there was a ton of scientific mumbo jumbo, of which I had absolutely no comprehension, somehow it didn’t bother me. I mean, even with that, the writer totally kept my interest. And I loved the epilogue. A twist that gave me food for thought.

This is my first experience reading this author. Apparently, his other books have been well received. All I can say is if you like exciting spy thrillers with a dash of dystopia, this might be your bag. It’s not really mine, but a good writer can make anything work. I was very impressed.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read and review this book.

In such a great way that pulls you into the story from the beginning, the author does a fantastic job of laying out the story. This is a frightening concept that makes you wonder how much has actually happened already in real life. I highly recommend this book. Blake Crouch does not disappoint.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

Blake Crouch is one of my desert island authors. I had high expectations for this book, and he absolutely smashed all of them. Upgrade is fast paced, but most importantly brilliantly written.

I love Blake Crouch novels so when I was able to get abs ARC of this book, I eagerly took advantage. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this.
This book was a nice near future sci-fi novel. I like the first person narration the author uses. There was a lot of research done to make the genetics in the book accurate abs it shows. The book has a nice conclusion which is so often lacking in sci-fi books.
That being said, it wasn’t a page turner to the extent good last novel was. The stakes were high and the action was there but I didn’t find myself as invested as usual in the authors novels.

“Upgrade” takes place in somewhat future semi-dystopian time, one far enough distant that climate change has flooded parts of major coastal cities, but not so far that a reference to the Coronavirus pandemic was expected to be understood. It is also a time in which genetic modification has advanced to a point only dreamt of today by scientists and science fiction authors. Miriam Ramsay is a geneticist whose attempt to solve an agricultural problem with genetics led instead to a global famine and millions of deaths. Her failure in turn led to global bans on genetic work enforced by omnipotent agencies, for whom her son, Logan, is an agent as the book begins.

Logan’s interrogation of a suspected genetic criminal takes him to a house believed to house a lab, but instead is booby-trapped deliberately to “infect” Logan with an upgraded version of human potential, including both physical and intellectual attributes. As these changes occurred while Logan was recovering from the explosion, his agency locks him in a totally isolated environment while they try to analyze the changes. In a deus ex machina sequence, Logan is rescued by his estranged (and also upgraded) sister, Kara, and learns that his mother, thought by all to be dead, was responsible for the upgrades.

Logan, working first with, and then against, his sister, tries to stop the attempt by his mother to spread the upgrade globally, given the mishaps from Miriam’s earlier attempts to use her genetic skills. The plot takes Logan all around the country and eventually pits him in direct conflict with his sister in flooded lower Manhattan.

The book is well written with just the right amount of suspense, failures, and successes. My major objection is with the use of an epilogue to resolve the plot. As much as I dislike the tendency of many current writers to add chapters to keep the plot going, this ending, while wrapping up the loose ends, left me wondering how Logan got there. Will this be the basis for a sequel?

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

First off, if you're exhausted by COVID or world current events, I'd probably steer clear of this one as it is very clearly inspired by COVID and extrapolates to the near future of the implications of COVID and genetic engineering. The main premise of this is "what if COVID, but it makes you stronger, better, faster, stronger?" Also can be a bit of a downer about the path we're headed down as a species, which is fine, but if you're looking for an escape might not be the best way to do that.

Crouch writes a good thriller and it's easy to read and get through a bunch of chapters in no time, this would make for a good beach read that challenges your thinking a little bit but not too much.

Some of the ideas here are interesting but feel a little rushed and they definitely needed more room to breathe and more page time to get more connected to the characters and dig into the ideas a bit deeper.

It was definitely enjoyable to read, but I'll probably forget about it pretty quickly. It all does feel a bit too familiar of a movie you've seen before but with more of a COVID and current events angle that never feels completely believable in the way that Crichton books can feel.

Would recommend this book to anyone who wants a quick read with a lot of action that does a decent job of creating a near future world and asks some interesting questions about genetic engineering and what it means to be human. Didn't blow me away but I enjoyed my time with it.

I like this writer and went looking for more of his books. Solid story, good science too. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx