[Review] Upgrade - Blake Crouch

Summary: 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. (Pub Date: Jul 12 2022)

 

This is a good book, but not as enjoyable for those who have read Blake Crouch's previous works. 

3+.

Logan has always carried the guilty from what his mother did, spreading a lethal virus that was almost the end of humanity and that became the reason why geneticists were humbled and ostracized. However, while going after another illegal scientific activity, Logan is hit with something unknown that makes him an improved version of himself. He's faster, smarter, better. However, he was only the beginning of something greater and probably more lethal than any pandemic ever whenever the process goes wrong. Is the improvement worth the losses? 

The plot was very obviously inspired in the Covid pandemic; and I'm not sure I enjoyed reading about it this soon. However, although this would already be a problem for me, this isn't what made this book lose points with me. It lacked what Crouch's previous works had, the way it went beyond without fear of being too much. Or maybe we are just living such a complex, surreal experience that he couldn't overcome reality? In any case, the development was underwhelming for a theme that was already explored enough in other books (and in the real world too).  

It is a good thriller with enough plot twists and emotional moments, but just a little bit better than the usual thriller out there.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.