Having loved two of Crouch's previous titles, Dark Matter and Recursion, I was eager to read Upgrade.

I'm happy to report I wasn't let down.

There were parts of the middle that seemed to drag, which I felt could have been tightened up some, but it was still entertaining.

I think of this novel as sort of a modern day X-Men. When Logan Ramsay's DNA is upgraded, he develops sharper skills and senses. But others receive the upgrade as well, including the main antagonist whose identity shall remain a surprise for the sake of this review.

The plot is engaging and entertaining, as are the characters. The main antagonist perhaps could have used a bit more development, but it's not a big deal.

The fates that befall man--human civilization as a whole--are unpredictable when our DNA is altered, and the story does a great job of exploring a future just like this.

Upgrade then ends on a very refreshing note of what it means to be human, and the flawed beauty of the human experience. Wonderful human-centric ending.

It's a great read for any Crouch fan, thriller fan, or probably even most sci-fi fans.

Special thanks to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview this title.

Another great Blake Crouch book! Creative, unusual, and really gets you thinking. Don't know how he does it.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Logan Ramsay wakes up to find himself in a hospital bed, the doctors say he's been infected by a virus--one designed not to make him sick, but to modify his very genetic structure."

Signature Crouch story, full of mind bending and time warping events. It started out strong with all of my empathy for Logan and what was happening to him through no fault of his own. I'll admit I lost some interest as the genetic science-y techno stuff played out but the ending was strong. Is a sequel in process? 🤞

3.75☆

Blake Crouch does it again! This novel focuses on the genetic code that we all possess, and digs into genetic modification and technology. If you could change your genetic code to enhance your abilities, would you do it? Should you do it?

Logan Ramsay works for the Gene Protection Agency, tracking down dark labs focused on gene editing and delivery. His mother, a scientific genius, created a DNA modifier system, which led to a global catastrophe and the spread of dark gene labs throughout the world. As he strives to counteract the fallout, he becomes the target of a genetic virus that significantly alters his DNA and gives him superhuman abilities. But as he grapples with these abilities, he is now seen as a threat to those around him, to the very government that employs him. He also discovers that he may not be the only one whose genetic code has been altered. What does this mean for him? What does it mean for humanity?

This book was a whirlwind that I am still processing. It is full of science, action, philosophy, despair, and hope. All of Blake Crouch's books have a way of challenging me intellectually - oftentimes, I am Googling terms and concepts as I read. But, this book challenged me philosophically and emotionally. Blake Crouch takes the concept of genetic editing and explores the reasons for and against it. Without giving too much away, I was able to see both sides of the debate. If genetic editing could cure, could repair, could grow, could heal - is it worth it? Or are the risks too great?

This novel is action-packed! I could not put it down. Blake does a fantastic job of intertwining scientific knowledge about genetics with suspense and fast-paced conflict. He also makes sure to explain genetics to those of us who haven't taken a biology class in awhile, in a way that makes it easier to understand. But what I liked the most about this novel is how Blake Crouch ends it. He shines a light on our humanity: all of the good and bad that comes with our species, but also all of the greatness that we have within ourselves. It left me breathless at the end.

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Blake Crouch for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. It was an honor.

I will post my review on GoodReads and a quick update on Instagram this week, and post a full review on Instagram closer to the publication date.

As a fan of both "Dark Matter" and "Recursion", I fully expected to enjoy this book. Crouch's writing is a unique blend of creative plotting, larger than life concepts, and sympathetic characters that make his books compulsively readable. However, "Upgrade" is in a category all it's own.

Logan Ramsey, in many ways, is a man searching for redemption. He works for the Gene Protection Agency, a personal penance for a tainted family legacy, striving to keep a post-apocalyptic world from total collapse. However, when Logan is exposed to a contagion that changes him on an atomic level, enhancing his physical and cognitive capabilities in unimaginable ways, he begins to see that his past actions have merely laid the groundwork for what's coming. But is this "upgrade" really the key to salvation for mankind? Or will it simply bring a different kind of destruction?

Crouch is a master of weaving stories that both delight and teach. I know next to nothing about genetics and learning just a fraction more about the topic was absolutely fascinating (kudos to Blake for all the research he clearly did to speak so knowledgeably on the science behind this incredible plot!). There are times the language gets a little technical for a layperson but generally, I think the details provided enhanced the story in really positive ways.

I also loved the way the emotional stakes and inner journey were present throughout the narrative. Sometimes in stories with really compelling and complex plots, it can be easy to lose the emotional arc. Crouch does not fall into this trap, keeping the question at the heart of the narrative (what does it mean to be human?) front and center. In doing this, the ending (captured so well in one of the most stunning epilogues I've read in a while) was truly satisfying.

This is a brilliant read for anyone but especially for fans of science-fiction, thrillers, and futuristic dystopian stories. I have no doubt that this will be one of my favorite reads of 2022.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for the advanced reader copy. Blake Crouch is one of my favorite authors and it was a dream to read and review his newest work months ahead of the pub date.

Upgrade is an amazing novel about the fate of humanity, the upgrade of homo sapiens as a species, and one man's attempt to save mankind while losing everything he holds dear in the process.

Logan Ramsay has been genetically modified against his will. The changes to his DNA have left him smarter, stronger, more resilient. But this upgrade has stripped him of his family and the life he once knew. Now on the run from the genetic police agence he once worked for, he must reconcile with his family's dark past to stop the death of billions of people.

There's an aspect of this book that reminds me a lot of the movie "Limitless" and to an extent the book it was based on, "The Dark Fields". The difference here is that the story is much more engaging and action packed, and it carries a much stronger moral or social message.

There's a lot of intrigue, suspense, and some espionage thrown into the mix. At no point did it ever drag, and the ending was emotionally poignant. I loved this book so much.

Blake Crouch has another winner here. It's not as mind-bending as "Recursion" or "Dark Matter" but it's just as much of a masterpiece.

5/5 stars and my highest recommendation!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books, and author Blake Crouch for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for this honest review.

Honestly, when I first started this book, I had a hard time getting into it so I set it aside. I came back to it a few days later and couldn't put it down. Much of the science was beyond me, but the story was incredible and terrifying and so realistic. One can only pray that we are not at this point yet, nor will we ever get there. Upgrade changes everything we know about humanity. I'm not a big scifi fan but felt this book was amazing, even if it did get bogged down with a lot of detail that felt unnecessary.
Thanks to the author, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Blake Crouch as done it again! I absolutely love the way his mind works. While I think Dark Matter and Recursion were his best this is another great read! Highly recommend!

Thanks for letting me review the book to Netgalley and the publisher.
Crouch is a master at this mind bending genre and this one is no exception. He leaves you guessing with his wtf plots in a good way . He’s done it again.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC.

Having read previous books by this author, I anticipated an interesting read. It did not disappoint. Providing a mix of thrills, adventure and high tech speculation, this book keep me engaged and wanting to find out where the story was going next. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure in tech, intrigue and the future of humanity.

Oh man. This was a lot. And by that, I mean a lot of SCIENCE. Don't get me wrong, I love sci-fi so obviously science is a given. But this was material that flew WAY over my head. And even more, there was TONS of it. I read full pages where I felt the only words I understood were "I", "and", and "the".

So if lots of science isn't your cup of tea, don't consider this book.

Another thing I thought about with the science of this book is that, because it went way over my head, I can't even begin to figure out if it makes sense to people who DO know about genetics and molecular biology. Like, I have no clue that if they read this, they'll scoff at how absurd this was written.
I'd be interested to see what they think of this.

Science aside, this book was, in fact, interesting. The premise of the book is that Logan Ramsay is a geneticist who after working with his genius mother, became a disgraced scientist and eventually joined a new branch of government called the GPA aimed to stop illegal genetic modifications. Like, imagine SWAT raids on meth labs, but these are PhD's in a legit genetic laboratory.

On one of his raids, he's tricked and trapped when a bomb explodes with DNA editing ability that enters his blood stream. When Logan wakes up, he's got super human abilities. Think like, the deduction ability of Sherlock Holmes mixed with the physical ability of Hulk.

Logan is now determined to stop whoever did this to him.

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The story was not as action-packed as I expected it to be. I mean, Dark Matter had its downtime too, but I felt like the scenes where Logan is analyzing things just takes SO LONG. It definitely broke up the excitement and I then basically had to either take a break or reset to get myself pumped to read again.

One aspect that I really enjoyed was the little bits eluding to the fact that this is set in the near future. It's little comments about NYC being half submurged under the ocean, or the Rockies no longer being snow capped to show that global warming was wreaking havoc. They also mention "charge stations" instead of "gas stations" implying all cars are electric.

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This story really, is about playing God. If humans have the ability to change the world on a huge scale, should we? Is it our right to interfere? That's what this whole book tackled. I thought the morality of it is beautiful because that's already issues our world powers and scientists struggle with today.

After finishing this book, I think the message will stick with me for a while, even if the experience of reading the book itself was rocky at times.

This was great, and I generally expect no less from Crouch. I did think this fell short from Dark Matter, though, as the pacing towards the end was a bit off. After I hit the 75% mark, it felt like a slog to finish and ended up taking me almost two weeks to properly get through. Sci-fi fans will generally like this, though, and I'm excited to see what Blake Crouch is up to next.

This novel didn’t pack an emotional wallop for me the same way that Crouch’s previous books did. Still, an interesting concept.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and Netgalley for the ARC of this highly-anticipated novel.

Upgrade is a blindingly fast-paced peek into the near future. Imagine if Ancestry.com and 23andMe took their DNA data and began to codify what certain genes were for, then used that data to upgrade human kind into a new highly-rational species. What would happen? What genes would be modified? Blake Crouch takes those questions and more and gives us this thriller set in a world on the brink of collapse, where humans are working on a Hail Mary to save the species.
The antagonist in Upgrade is reminiscent of those in Dark Matter and Recursion. Family man, a bit higher than average intelligence, and introspective. He takes that character further in this novel, however, and changes the way that he thinks, speaks, and acts to line up with his upgrade status. I loved the way Crouch used even more technical terms and ideas throughout the novel.
Speaking of the science, Crouch is a master at taking real-world ideas and theories, and placing his characters in the thick of them. DNA tampering is absolutely happening right now in our world, but Crouch takes it a step further into the very real what if possibilities. It’s frightening to see how these things play out in his novels.
The plot was incredibly fast paced, which makes this a quick read. I found myself speed reading as much as I could because so much was happening that I just couldn’t put the book down. Overall, I’d give Upgrade a 4 out of 5 stars. It didn’t hit me as emotionally as Recursion or Dark Matter, but I still very much enjoyed it.

Posted to Goodreads on 4/1/22

Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copies in exchange for an honest review! I've loved Blake Crouch since I read Dark Matter. Upgrade included a lot of the same things I loved about Dark Matter - extrapolations on well-researched science, a main character it was easy to root for, a plot that was totally unique. It was quick to get engaged in the story, and although the plot slowed down a little towards the middle it picked back up again and the ending was fast-paced.

Crouch's science fiction is presented in a way that really makes the reader think - I typically read his books more than once (sometimes back-to-back) just because there's SO much to untangle and understand. This book didn't have the same play on time that I loved in the last two books, but it did give me lots to think about around topics of 'what makes us human' and 'how can we tune into reality without reality forcing us to tune out.'

Firstly, I would like to show my appreciation to the Blake Crouch and and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books for allowing me to review an early E-copy of Upgrade via NetGalley.

The bar is set high when it comes to Crouch, he placed it there himself with his amazing story telling and track record. He has yet again reached the mark. Upgrade is a fast paced, energetic, futuristic whirlwind that never feels stuffy or bogged down by all the science. The science, geography, everything, is just immersive and real. Several people have created books and movies on similar subject matter but its never felt as real or plausible as the way it was served it up to us here. The lead in this story is another fully developed character that you can relate to and empathize with and I love that, and yet again the dynamic relationships tugged at my heartstrings. He gets me every damn time. In typical Crouch fashion I never truly knew where the story was going, but I enjoyed every step of the journey. There was never a point in reading where I felt like something could've or should've been cut out or skipped over, I throughly enjoyed every page, loved this book.

I wanted to love Upgrade, and for a brief moment -- I truly did. In typical Blake Crouch fashion, the first chapter was INCREDIBLE. It set up the story so nicely, and hooked me right away. I needed to keep reading. However, as the story progressed, it got progressively more boring. The character's "upgrade" was nauseating to listen to. At times, he was just rattling off scientific information, lists of genes. Suddenly, he was able to scale buildings? Yes, the upgrade was a "thing" but some of the stuff was just obnoxious to listen to. I don't need to hear about how many milliseconds a bullet is flying at and how fast he can react. I also really didn't understand the relationship between the protagonist and his sister, and felt it was severely underdeveloped. Moreover, I would have liked more backstory on the protagonists' mother. Overall, this one fell flat for me after starting so strong. If you're a huge sci fi fan you may like this, but if science isn't your thing, I'd avoid. I haven't read Recursion but I feel like it'll be more popular than this one. I also didn't like Dark Matter, so I guess take my review with a grain of salt.

Science fiction is not even my favorite genre, I rarely read it, but this thriller kept me on the edge of my seat. What happens if people were able to be upgraded, much like a computer? While certainly anxiety inducing, this human engineering science fiction is thought provoking and exciting. Another great one from Blake Crouch!

I continue to be impressed by Crouch's work. This book showcases his skills in writing solid action scenes, accessible "near future" Sci-Fi, and compelling characters with rich interior lives. (Wish the publisher had given it a prettier cover. It deserves it.)

The idea of an Upgrade is a novel one and is handled well in this book. I loved the firsthand accounts of what it feels like to go through the transition and how it affects your brain. The book geeks out hard in these sections, but I dug it. There's quite a bit of genetics talk being thrown around, but overall I found the descriptions accessible.

The book's plot is surprisingly thin. Both Logan and another character are Upgraded. They have different agendas about what to do with their amazing new powers and their plans to share/infect it with others, and they battle it out.

Thankfully neither character's agenda is all good or all evil. The book does a nice job of parsing out the shades of grey. Humans have not treated our world well, so do we ALL deserve to the right to keep on doing as we please in the future? Even if we did want to change our ways, do we even have the evolutionary skills to even pull that off?

As it's so eloquently put in the book, "We were a bunch of primates who had gotten together and, against all odds, built a wondrous civilization. But paradoxically--tragically--our creation's complexity had now far outstripped our brain's ability to manage it."

The ending landed as a little preachy (although appropriate to the story), and, as I mentioned, I would have liked a bit more action to balance out all the science, but overall this was a great read.

Thanks to the author and NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

WOW!!!!!!! I absolutely adored this book. Blake Crouch is an auto-buy author for me. Dark Matter and Recursion are two of my all time favorite books and this one can be added to that list. Upgrade is a very fast paced sci-fi thriller about a man that gets a genetic upgrade. It does have quite a bit of “science-y stuff”, but not so much that it’s inaccessible. As with all Of Crouch’s novels, Upgrade has great heart and social commentary about what it means to be human. Loved it.