Upgrade ⭑⭑⭑⭑
Genre: Thriller
US Publication: July 19, 2022
Print: 352 pages
Audio: TBD
Confetti Rating: 4 stars
REVIEW:
If you got all tingly at the mere sight of this book, what you really want to know is if it’s an upgrade or downgrade from Dark Matter and Recursion, right? Here’s my quick take:
Dark Matter ⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
Upgrade ⭑⭑⭑⭑
Recursion ⭑⭑⭑
I’ll get back to you tingly people in a moment, but for anyone completely lost right now (Hi Mom!) I’ll take a moment to explain that Blake Crouch is an extremely popular author of modern sci-fi novels that are accessible to mainstream readers that only dabble occasionally in the genre (Hi Self!). He really does lean hard on the “science” part of sci-fi though, so your brain can get quite a workout reading them.
2016’s Dark Matter was such a page-turning thrill ride, and it made me feel super smart! Then 2019’s Recursion came along, which to me felt repetitive in parts and over my head in others. 2022’s Upgrade started like a thrill, lagged a little, but then won me over in the end.
The science of focus in Upgrade is genetic engineering. In the near future, the government has had to establish an ATF-like agency to regulate and crack down on civilian manipulation of DNA. I mean, you can’t have people just willy-nilly making weird unnatural shit in labs! Our book’s hero, Logan, is a member if that agency, and during a raid he gets blasted with DNA-modifying particles that make his intelligence - you guessed it - upgraded.
There’s no denying that there’s a bit of a “save the earth” agenda to the story, so if you don’t agree at least on some level that human kind is on an unfavorable trajectory then this book is most definitely not for you. It’s also not for you if you don’t like a little adrenaline in your thrillers, because this is some action-packed drama. No surprise, adaptation rights have already been snapped up by Amblin Entertainment.
What is surprising is the epilogue. Nine times out of ten epilogues are completely unnecessary turds, but this one was so thoughtful, heartfelt, and unexpected that it nudged my rating up a full star. Now that’s a worthwhile upgrade.
My thanks to the author and Ballantine Books for the gifted advance copy to review via NetGalley. The expected US publication date is July 19, 2022.
PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:
Logan Ramsay is about to get the brain he always dreamed of. But will he be transformed into something more than human… or something less? The mind-blowing new thriller from the 'New York Times' best-selling author of Dark Matter and Recursion.
When the SWAT team gives the all-clear and Logan Ramsay steps into the basement, he has no idea that everything's about to change.
Then there's the hiss of aerosol. The explosion. The shrapnel that punctures his hazmat gear. Logan wakes up to find himself in a hospital bed, attended by doctors in their own hazmat suits, his wife and daughter looking on from behind the glass.
The doctors say he's been infected by a virus - one designed not to make him sick, but to modify his very genetic structure. In a world where the next-generation gene-editing tool known as Scythe is widely available - and has already reaped disastrous consequences - the possibilities are too many and terrifying to count.
Except that after the fever, the pain, the fear... the virus is gone. And according to his government bosses, Logan's got a clean bill of health.
But the truth is that with each day that passes, Logan's getting smarter. Seeing things more clearly. He's realizing that he's been upgraded in ways that go beyond even Scythe's capabilities - and that he's been given these abilities for a reason.
Because a holy grail of genetic engineering - one that could change our very definitions of humanity - has just been unearthed. And now it's up to him to stop it from falling into the wrong hands.
Logan’s becoming something more. Something better. Even with the whole world hunting for him, he might be able to outthink his opponents and win the war that’s coming.
But what if it’s at the cost of being himself?