Thanks so much to the publisher and Net Galley for a chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
As a big fan of speculative science fiction-I really really enjoyed this book. I loved the characters and the subject matter- what to do about our steady march toward extinction, as we turn a blind eye towards what is happening on our planet with a mixture of denial, and helplessness. We read about all the looming threats in the paper, we watch it on the news, and then we get on with our day.
Disgraced genius scientist Dr Angela Ramsey, in a second attempt to alter DNA to fix a problem ( the first attempt resulted in over a billion people starving to death when an enhanced locust goes horribly wrong) has an idea that issue is a lack of human intelligence and finds a way to hack our DNA . This change makes humans less emotional, more logic driven, and also stronger and more resilient. This upgrade she hopes will save the homo sapiens from self created extinction. She infects her children with the “upgrade” with instructions to spread the upgrade though the world. One of them disagrees with the approach and the risks it carries- then the race is on to stop the “virus “ form being released.
Despite the technical explanations, the story was easy to follow, and the payoff in the end- especially the epilogue was rewarding. Thought provoking stuff. Highly recommend .
Spoilers ahead…
Some of my favorite lines from the book- We don’t have an intelligence problem. We have a compassion problem. That, more than any other single factor, is what’s driving us toward extinction.” “But for all our progress, ten million people die of hunger every year. We have hyperloops and rampant nativism. Phones more powerful than the computers that took us to the moon, but no more coral reefs.
So someone, please invent that compassion upgrade soon. Time is running out.

Crouch has a wonderful premise here. Now that we know that CRSPR can effect genetic changes in the
human genome, fast forward a bunch of years to where the earth is suffering the global effects of rising sea levels wiping out New York City and Lake Mead being totally dry, wildfires and other climate changes caused by humans. And there is much worse in that society with the government watching everyone, CCR cameras, and with facial recognition being only one way of monitoring. Everything in this science fiction novel is super advanced, from transportation to weapons. Food is scarce and mostly synthetic. It is a world that cannot survive unless drastic change can be implemented.

Gordon Ramsay, who now works for the government, is a geneticist and biomedical genius, the son of the woman who caused millions of deaths when her genetic engineering set off disease and famine by killing off rice as a food supply. the question in the book becomes "How many lives are we willing to eliminate in order to "Upgrade" the survivors to bionic supermen?" And will they then be willing to make the hard choices in order to ensure the earth's survival?

Time for a confession here. Although I read and like science fiction, I have no tolerance for the suspense-thriller genre of the die-hard films. That's not Blake Crouch's fault, so I can't criticize him for that. But I can criticize the endless (and to my mind, unnecessary) page after page of pseudo-and real science, math and futuristic inventions. Readers who have commented about all the science miss the point. This is, at core, a blast-'em, shoot-'em, beat'-'em, survive unbelievable odds story.. And that's just not my type of book.

Thank you to Random house, however, for forcing me out of my comfort zone to read and review and early copy of this book.

Welp, Blake Crouch did it again! Such a fast paced thrilling ride. I will admit sci-fi is not my typical genre but this author never fails to deliver an engaging book.

Logan Ramsey is an agent with the GPA - Gene Protection Agency who is "infected" with an upgrade that allows him to think smarter and be able to analyze and see things others can't. Sounds weird right? It is, but it works. There is a ton of genetic data thrown at us that made me glaze over but it wasn't too OTT but was certainly needed to advance the story. The main question thrown out there is how far would you go to save humanity if you had the knowledge to do so and would it be worth it?

I think for those who may be in COVID overload, this may not be for you, but at the same token it really has some points that hit close to home and now may be the perfect time to read this. This will not be for everyone, but if you would like to dabble in sci-fi this author is the one to start with. Once it got going it was super action packed and did not let up.

The ending was so good and definitely made me think.


Thanks so much to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group -Ballantine for my advanced copy.

I always like a good Blake Crouch book. I devour them quickly, because they're always well-written, fast, and innovative. This new one from him is no exception.

It's no spoiler (given the publisher's blurb), the progenitor has been "upgraded" physically. The story answers the questions of how, by whom, is he unique, and what happens next.

The fun part of this book are the things that a good author brings. He has passages where there is extraordinary attention to detail, like this: "The metamorphosed sandstone boulders in the current. The stream velocity. The erosion pattern on the far side of the bank, which showed evidence of a summer flood. The four brook trout standing in the Curren t- two of them affected with whirling disease...."

Or his existentialist / relativist thoughts like "Right and wrong ar constructs born of human sentiment. Nothing but stories we've made up and assigned meaning to. They don't correspond to any objective reality. The only thing real is survival."

Or snippets of philosophical realizations like "It is a supremely cruel thing to have your mind conjure a desire which it is functionally unable to realize. No one teaches you how to handle the death of a dream."

Or even scenarios of a future you can envision happening, like "For every one hundred people in the United States, there were 48.7 surveillance cameras, and behind them a government network of AI-driven facial-recognition search engines, paired with deeply eroded privacy laws." (Can you say China, 2022?)

But over the top is ALWAYS some deep subject matter expertise. He's always excellent at dredging up people who know their stuff, and incorporating it in the book. Here, it's all about human genes, with passages like "My hunger - another sensory artifact that I was now blindingly aware was simply the serotonin (5-HT) and catecholamine neurotransmitters in my serotonergic neurons, intestinal myenteric plexus, enterochromaffin cells in the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract, and blood platelets - telling me to eat." Yeah, I blurred a bit at this, too, but it lends SO much credibility to the writing that I wouldn't want the book to LACK this.

Over it all is an exciting story that develops credibly, and is way fun to read.

I reserve 5-stars for books that are really, really amazing; books that you put down, say "Whoa", then pick up & read again; books that you would call one of the best books you've ever read. This isn't one of those. BUT, it's an excellent book for those who read sci-fi, and I recommend it highly.

Netgalley emailed me to say that I had been per-approved for this ARC! Thanks for the opportunity to provide a review prior to the street date.

Here is the setup: Logan's mother has used gene editing to alter the DNA of locusts in an attempt to produce more abundant rice crops in China. The experiment goes horribly wrong and instead produces a famine. Billions of people starve to death; Logan's mother commits suicide; Logan ends up in jail for his part in the experiment; and a new government agency, the GPA (Gene Protection Agency), is formed. As a kind of penance for his mother's sins, Logan goes to work for the GPA after being released from prison.

During a raid of a gene-editing lab, Logan sets off an explosion and is hit with ice shards which infect him with a virus that begins altering his DNA. He develops phenomenal strength and stamina, his memory is photographic back to his earliest childhood, and his IQ is through the roof. How and why has this happened? Who is responsible? Is Logan the only one effected by this "upgrade?"

All questions that can't be answered without spoilers! Street date, July 19, 2022. You'll want to read this one!

Blake Crouch’s Upgrade is mind blowing. How the author can take an idea, gene editing, and turn it into a cautionary tale, a love story and a propulsive novel still has my heart racing. Crouch deals with questions about the effects of gene editing, humanity and hope. He takes you on a thrilling plot-driven ride with great character development not on a soapbox. The questions that come to mind reading this come from our own views of society. I love a book that has a great story, grabs me but also makes me think.

Logan Ramsey grew up feeling intellectually inadequate as the son of a now deceased, powerful but disgraced genetic engineer who caused a catastrophic global event. He joined the GPA (Gene Protective Agency) to ensure gene editing will not further destroy the planet which is suffering the effects of climate change and to ensure the future for his family.

Going on a GPA raid, Logan was felled by a booby trapped bomb which penetrated his protective gear. He wakes up in the hospital and is told he may have been infected by a virus. After a few days, he is sent home. Within a month, he starts experiencing changes to his intellect, ability to recall every detail of everything he ever experienced or read, his muscle mass and his pain tolerance. The government wants to study him. That’s not going to happen! At this point, the action goes into hyperdrive. Read it and let me know what you think!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I’m obsessed with Blake Crouch’s novels! From the moment I heard that he was writing a new one, I have been scouring the Internet and social media for details on what the latest book would be about. Not that it really matters, I’d read anything Blake wrote at this point. He’s officially received the designation in my mind as an “I will read anything this person writes author.” To be honest, Blake has bumped Stephen King from the top of my list because I’m always enthralled with Blake’s ideas. To top it all off, as I was reading Upgrade, Blake announced that this book will be transformed into a movie! I mentioned to Blake on a social media post that as I was reading this book, I felt as if I was watching a movie. This is going to translate incredibly well onto the big screen. I’d love to hear casting ideas from other readers, and from Blake himself. I hesitate to write more about the book itself here in my review simply because Blake’s books need to be read and experienced first hand by the reader. If I sat here and summarized the story, and told you how I felt reading it, it would take away from your individual experience. So I will just say, that if you are a Blake Crouch fan, and especially have enjoyed previous novels of his such as Dark Matter and Recursion, you will love Upgrade. It has the hard science, mixed in with Blake’s humanity driven characters at the forefront as always. This near future setting is definitely something that humans may eventually see occur. While reading this I kept trying to figure out what side of the argument I would find myself on. To Upgrade, or not to Upgrade?

Five Stars!

Thank you very much to the publisher and Blake Crouch for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are honest, and my own.

An exciting action/thriller set in the not so distant future, where the fate of humanity rests in the hands of one ordinary man.

While this is a complete oversimplification of the plot, Upgrade delivers plenting of twists and turns to keep you engaged from start to finish.

If you enjoyed Blake Crouch's recent work, you will not be disappointed.

I've read almost all of the books by Blake Crouch and I think UPGRADE is his best. I loved the relentless pacing and the story is incredibly believable. Blake reminds me a lot of Andy Weir and Michael Crichton. I can't wait to handbell this book. We still sell a ton of Dark Matter in my store. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to read this amazing book.

In Upgrade, Blake Crouch continues to explore scientific possibilities and to posit an opinion on how the world might end. In this fast-paced novel, the protagonist Logan receives a genetic upgrade from his genius mother, and this unexpected gift sets him on a path that first destroys his life and then shows him a way in which he might rebuild it, and possibly, the world.

Set in the not-so-distant future Blake Crouch’s Upgrade revolves around Logan Ramsay, an agent with the Gene Protection Agency (GPA). The GPA tracks the development and application of genetic research to prevent it from being used for any purpose that would be detrimental to the human race. This is a world where the application of genetics is highly regulated and gene modification or editing has been outlawed. Though the Gene Protection Act had effectively ended all private and university-based genetic research some scientists and researchers have been continuing their work illegally. The GPA is responsible for tracking down and arresting illegal researchers and the closure of all underground research labs/facilities.

Logan’s mother Miriam Ramsay had been a gifted scientist whose discovery of 'Scythe' - a revolutionary, biological DNA modifier system, had ushered in a new era of gene editing. However, her experiments with genetic modification resulted in the Great Starvation, a disaster that led to the death of millions of people, food shortages and economic ramifications that the world is still recovering from. Since then Scythe has been deemed illegal.

Logan, in the process of a raid on a suspected rogue genetics facility, is exposed to the Scythe virus. He is quarantined while recovering from his injuries and a high fever that he recovers from. When test results reveal no other effects of his exposure, he is discharged and returns home to his wife and daughter . However, as the days progress, he notices changes such as improved memory and cognition. Genome analysis reveals that his cognition, memory, concentration and pattern recognition have been enhanced among other changes happening within his body . In other words, he has been “upgraded”.

Under suspicion for self-injecting and illegal use of genetic modification tech, Logan goes on the run, learning to balance and hone his enhancements while trying to comprehend the full scale implications of all that has happened . Is his exposure a freak accident or was he targeted? Who is behind this advanced Scythe-like genetic modification sytem and to what end ? Was his exposure an isolated incident or is the world on the brink of another disaster? Who can he trust to help him find the truth?

Blake Crouch’s Upgrade is a fast-paced, action-packed sci-fi thriller that is hard to put down. Though some of the science might be hard to understand, that hardly detracts from enjoying the suspenseful narrative. While I enjoy watching sci-fi movies, I haven’t read much in the sci-fi genre in the recent past but I’m glad that I got to read this novel. I had heard a lot of good things about Blake Crouch’s books and now I can see why. This was my first Blake Crouch novel and I look forward to reading more of his work.

Thanks to NetGalley, Kathleen Quinlan and Random House for the digital review copy in exchange for my honest review.

As a big fan of the author's "Dark Matter" and "Recursion", I was thrilled to get to be an early reader for "Upgrade"!! While this latest tale had much less focus on "time or memory" concepts, it was still very engrossing, as we follow Crouch's hero protagonist, Logan, who is going through a personal "Upgrade" set in our collective near-future. (although at times it did remind me of both the "Six Million Dollar Man" and "Capt. America") The science did not seem too far-blown in this, however, as we all do know about the work on human genome & editing/cloning, et al. I found it quite enjoyable and fast-paced, however, the ending was a bit of a let down. Still massive props & highly recommend. My sincere thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the complimentary DRC, the exchange of which did not affect my opinions.

Many thanks to Blake Crouch, Random House - Ballantine, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this book. Although I do not read a lot of sci-fi, I read Crouch’s previous book, Recursion, and enjoyed it a lot, so I was thrilled to read Upgrade.

Upgrade has an interesting premise, poses a number of tricky ethical questions, and moves along at a brisk pace. I enjoyed much of it, but found it uneven — for much of the book I felt disconnected from the main character, and then at the end there was a tidal wave of emotion. Also, while I found some of the science fascinating, there were often times when the level of detail really slowed down the narrative.

Overall, an enjoyable read that will no doubt please sci-fi/thriller fans.

This book was incredible! I loved the pacing, the storyline, and all the twists. I binged this in one sitting and now I’m so sad it’s over. I’ve loved Blake Crouch’s last two books but I think this was my favorite. My only criticism is that sometimes I got a little bogged down in the scientific explanations but rereading them more slowly helped me understand them.

Blake Crouch is right about one thing: we can’t do nothing. The overarching theme of humans knowing what is going to happen (whether it be in regards to climate change, the pandemic, or other disasters), and yet continuing on as usual, seemingly content to ignore impending disaster, felt very real. I couldn’t even feel much anger towards Kara throughout the novel, because at least she was trying to do something (albeit in a rather misguided way). The concept of gene-editing tools was done very well and created some interesting moral dilemmas, but overall this felt less sci-fi and more Hollywood-action-film. Which was still fun, but at the end I wasn’t completely floored like I was with the author’s other novels.

Upgrade is the newest form of the scariness of the George Orwell novel "1984". It predicts, hopefully only a little, where humankind is headed if we are not careful. People are not aware of how much of our privacy is being shared because maybe we cannot understand what usefulness there may be in our personal information, especially beyond taking our finances. Upgrade is about genetic information shared without permission and some possible uses for it. There is scientific and political debate and little agreement about the correct course of action.

Scientists are capable of editing out genes that may not be desirable, and there may be good purposes for doing it. Genetic diseases can be removed using technologies currently available. Future generations will be passing on the edited gene, so that disease, condition, or characteristic ends with the edited generation. This is all true for us now. In the book, there are laws against genetic alterations. Of course, only criminal scientists are making new scientific exploration and advances.

Upgrade tells a tale of human hubris, unchecked. In the book, people seem unaware of the way the world is heading. They are not too worried about extinctions, rising water, the heat of the planet and the book explores reasons why this is the case. Only some concerned scientists are willing to do something about it. What they are willing to do may well be too much.

Holy cow. For one day, I would love to be inside Blake Crouch’s brain. How does he come up with this stuff?? I was terrified all through this, because this can happen!!

I’m so glad Biology and Anatomy/Physiology were my best subjects in school, because he gets pretty scientific with this one. I had to slow down and reread paragraphs to make sure I understood what he was talking about and describing. This isn’t one you’ll fly through, but man was it worth it!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced copy!!

Blake Crouch does it again, as he presents a moral quandary that could leap off the pages into reality in a matter of years. What if genetics really could move past the point of niche science and hit the black market? Would this marvel save the world (resilient crops, cure disease, make life easier) or leave it in ruins (super viruses, plagues, or modifications that mutate into our worst nightmares).

The protagonist, Logan Ramsey, has fought for years to atone for the sins of the past and of his family. Now, he finds himself further entrenched than ever before. After a devastating injury in the line of duty, he finds himself more than a man, but has he lost the very thing that made him human?

Blake's latest novel, Upgrade, brings home the real and present excitement, as well as the potential danger, behind genetic modifications and what they could do our world. Perhaps more profoundly, Crouch asks the reader not just if it is possible to shape the nature world around us; he begs the question, "should we?"

I love speculative sci-fi and this book was right up my alley. I liked it as much as Dark Matter and Recursion, both of which I also gave 5 stars. This was a fantastic story about what could happen if CRISPR technology had black market availability. Very fast-paced and explosive! Great read and I can't wait for the next from Mr. Crouch.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review -
Once again Crouch has written a thriller -
Logan finds his body transformed - he is stronger, his brain works faster and better etc. Someone has hacked him for an upgrade. Is it possible that this person will cause others to have these changes?? Can Logan stop this from happening? Will they kill him to prevent his interference?