This text is was a great Blake Crouch, reminiscent of the pines trilogy. Great book- will recommend to everyone I know.

I'll pick up every Blake Crouch book, but shortly after finishing this one I've already forgotten it.

Logan Ramsey volunteers to be infected with a virus that will alter his genetic makeup. Logan is an experiment - a guinea pig for the government to see what happens to him. Once the virus clears out, Logan starts getting smarter and smarter everyday. He becomes "superhuman" almost, or "upgraded." But now is he the only person who can stop this genetic altering from getting into the wrong hands?

This science fiction novel is very entertaining, and presents questions that are very relevant in today's society, as new viruses are created, and abound. I loved the Blake Crouch book Dark Matter, and while this was a good read, I much preferred Dark Matter. I love Blake Crouch's creativity and can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Special thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine for this Advance Reader E-book in exchange for an honest review.

I so so badly wanted to love this one!!
I think its the genre, not the book!! It didn't hook me in a way that I had hoped! The concept of this might have gone over my head? After reading this, I realized science fiction isn't for me!

I tried starting this book three different times before I got past the first few chapters. A very sci-fi thriller, with genetic upgrades.

This thriller was exactly what I expected in the sense that I was intrigued from page one and could not put it down!
Great book characters were intriguing ! Highly recommend

Catching up on reviews so... Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for access to this book in exchange for my honest review.

If you are looking for a sci-fi book to read, look no further. This book is partially an action/thriller and partially an exploration of self - Mind and Body. The genetic science seems so well researched but presented in a mostly approachable way that hopefully isn't off putting to readers that may not read much science fiction. Occasionally it feels like the science is really being pounded in and I could see it being overwhelming but the pay off is worth it.

I will say that many moments felt like they were written for a hopeful film adaptation and occasionally pulled me out of the story because of that. For that reason I'm not giving 5 stars.

UPGRADE is a fun, nerdy, fast paced sci-fi thriller. I loved the "what if's" that Crouch posed in this futuristic world. The idea of genetic upgrades are both awesome and terrifying.

After reading and loving DARK MATTER earlier this year, I knew I wanted to read more of what Crouch was writing. I was thoroughly entertained and invested, though the family drama bogged it down a bit for me in the middle/end, as I was much more into the gene war than some other aspects of the plot.

If you're looking for a sciencey book that reads like an action movie, you'll love UPGRADE.

Upgrade, the latest novel from Blake Crouch, is the story of Logan Ramsey, a scientist/felon/government employee who becomes sick one day with a mysterious set of symptoms that seem to be upgrading every layer of his being, from his bones to his brain.

Upgrade is very similar in tone to Crouch’s last two books, Recursion and Dark Matter – part sci-fi, part thriller. It took me several tries to really get into it but once I got 15% of the way in I was hooked and basically read it in one sitting.

While I frankly don’t remember the plots of Recursion and Dark Matter anymore, I feel like this one will stick with me for quite a while as the topic was quite unsettling and felt somewhat closer to reality and scientific feasibility than the topics of the other books.

That said, the ending of the book detracted from my overall enjoyment. The last 20%, starting at the beginning of Part Three, felt really rushed. And the epilogue … yeah the epilogue didn’t do anything for me. It felt pretty oversimplified. This is what took it from being a four star book for me to a three star book.

That said, I’d absolutely recommend this to any lovers of speculative fiction and anyone who’s ever enjoyed a Blake Crouch book or folks with an interest in medical ethics – an engaging read that’ll leave you with lots to think about.

Blake Crouch!!!! He is quite literally the best of the best when it comes to unputdownable sic-fi novels. He is an automatic read/ purchase author, and this book did not disappoint. While I didn’t love it as much as I loved Recursion, Upgrade is a solid futuristic sci-fi novel, where the main character Logan goes through a genetic-altering event that causes such an immense effect to himself, and ultimately humankind as a whole. This has some gene warfare, virus spreading, family angst, and provokes some crazy thoughts (albeit a little scary).

Highly, highly recommend Upgrade (as well as the rest of the novels written by Crouch). Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy in exchange for my honest review!

I enjoy Crouch’s books because I think they are really dang cool to read.

In this one, Logan is a geneticist whose mom is infamous for accidentally killing millions of people by altering a gene in an insect that then destroyed crops. He went to prison after she drove her car off of a bridge, serving time for the crimes of his mother. In the current time, Logan goes into a house on a raid and gets caught in an explosion. Then weird stuff starts happening to him.

He finds out that he has been upgraded; many of his genomes have been targeted in order to make him intelligent and physically superior to the “normal” humans. This turns out to be one cog in the machine to try to save the human race.

This book was a bit up and down for me during the reading experience. There are times of heightened tension and times when the story moves slower, and I got a little bogged down when it was moving slower. This also has a lot of science talk, something to be aware of if that’s not your thing.

But the overall plot was interesting, and there were enough twists to keep it interesting without feeling completely outrageous. If you’ve read his other books or are interested in an imagined scientific future, this is a good one for you.

Blake Crouch's work has a way of making me feel stupid, breaking my heart and making me turn pages. While I read this one, I kept telling myself that this one should definitely be a movie.

This is the first book that I’ve read by Blake Crouch but it won’t be the last! If you’re looking for a great science fiction book look no further! Thanks for writing such a great book!

I will preface this review by saying I am absolutely not a science fiction reader, yet I really enjoyed this story. I requested it on Netgalley because I had heard everyone raving about this author and thought I should give something different a try. I am really glad I made an exception for this book as it was a wonderful tale of a possible future society in which genetic engineering can help take over the world.
I read this story on audiobook and am quite glad I did. I think it made the story much more enjoyable and much more easily understood for me. The story is fast paced with a lot of adventure and action. I really liked the way Crouch writes so that anyone can understand the science behind things without it taking away from the rest of the plot.
I will definitely be raving about this book to anyone who needs something different than their usual read.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

I rarely read sci fi novels but Blake Crouch and Andy Weir do such a fantastic job that their books are easy to read for the average reader with no STEM background.

This book is extremely fast paced and you will be able to blaze right through it. It’s non stop action and I think it would do amazingly well when adapted into a film. I say when because I’d be shocked if it wasn’t.

Because it’s fast paced, I think the only thing lacking was character development.

I am not generally a science fiction reader, but after reading previous works from Crouch, I knew I had to read this one. Crouch has a way of writing science fiction that is easily accessible to non-scifi readers. The topic of this one, gene editing and DNA, was an immediate draw for me as I loved learning about this topic while in high school/college. I was so interested in reading a fiction take on the topic and see how a sci-fi thriller would take shape. While I knew the overarching topic, I didn't read the plot summary and went into this book mostly blind. I felt that it was the best way to go into this because each twist and turn is surprising and I found myself turning the pages to read more. This book felt super fast paced as the action starts off immediately and continues to build throughout.

I really liked the writing style in this book and I felt that the world created in this book was extremely realistic. While some of the science feels out there, I feel like ongoing research into DNA and genes in real life that make me think that something like this could potentially happen, although I would really hope it doesn't. Logan Ramsey is an interesting protagonist and I liked following his adventures, for lack of a better word, as he is "upgraded" by the very technology his mother experimented with. This book is filled with thrills, family drama, and a pretty interesting discussion on the future of humanity. I would definitely recommend this book to sci-fi fans and also those wanting to start venturing into the genre. I've read a couple of Crouch's backlist books, but will definitely be checking out more in the future!

Blake Crouch has delivered up to the expectations on this one - breakneck pacing, twists and turns and high stakes. Everything I've come to like about his novels. One thing I noticed is that his protagonists, especially male ones, seem like carbon copies of the same old familiar template of a man's man, true to his family, ready to make sacrifices. I would like the author to write more "gray" characters and do a better job with the female characters in future novels.

Rating : 4 out of 5
Blurbs :
“You are the next step in human evolution.”

At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.

But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways.

The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.

Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.

Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.

And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help wondering: what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.

Thoughts :
Another monster of a book! It's amazing! Highly recommend this book for scifi lovers out there!
Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy!

Crouch has been a favorite author since I read the Wayward Pines series. He is always innovative and imaginative. This story is both. The protagonist receives a transplant after contracting a virus which makes him continually smarter. It’s a really fun read.

This was a super tough one to put down! The story moved right along perfectly and always continued to flow. Super entertaining and will give readers s great ride and keep them guessing.