About the Book:
“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.
My Review:
(I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.)
”The greatest threat to our species lies within us.”
What a mind-bender! Loved it. Leave it to Blake Crouch to write another nonstop sci-fi thriller packed with philosophical observations on the human race. Don’t let the science fiction label put you off, this one is another unputdownable book, with complicated genetics explained for the layperson. (And did I mention my husband and I read the book AT THE SAME TIME? #NerdAlert)
Dark Matter and Recursion are two of my favorite Blake Crouch books so I was beyond thrilled to grab Upgrade. This book raises many moral and ethical issues, and has a fantastic Epilogue. I love books that challenge my way of looking at the world. I also love books that require a little extra effort, and I found myself looking up the meaning of lots of words and phrases. Genome! Hyperloop! R-naught!
Set in the near future, the world has changed in many ways. Miami and Lower Manhattan are under water. Google Roadster coupes travel the roadways. Desertification has changed the landscape. Blake Crouch takes many things that exist today, and expanded upon them in this frightening new world that Logan Ramsey lives in.
“We lived in a veritable surveillance state, engaged with screens more than with our loved ones, and the algorithms knew us better than we knew ourselves.”
Logan works for a shadowy government agency and has finally come to terms with the worldwide havoc wreaked by his mother, the brilliant and revolutionary Miriam Ramsay. She invented a DNA modifier that ended up causing a global hunger crisis that led to the deaths of million of people. The system is now outlawed. But somehow Logan has become changed as well, and must go on the run from the same government agency that he once worked for.
“We had gotten so much right. And too much wrong. The future was here, and it was a fucking mess.
Miriam Ramsay intended to help save the human race and the planet. But her actions led to unspeakable, unintended consequences. Is dabbling in DNA ever justified? This book raises these issues and many more. This is an intelligent, non-stop thriller that has lots of twists and turns. Logan’s adversary is a surprise and I won’t give away any spoilers. ‘Upgrade’ is incredibly creative and thought-provoking and I could not stop reading until I finished the last page. The ending was very satisfying and so emotional!
“We contained within us the potential for great evil, but also for great good. And we were capable of so much more than this.”
