DNA modification is outlawed. After scientists found ways to alter and improve plants and people, major unexpected side effects caused strange mutations in people, and even altruistic endeavours helping end world hunger led to the deaths of millions. The work had to stop, and now it's rigourously enforced by the Gene Protection Agency who hunt out and arrest any one persevere with this highly dangerous and illegal research. When one of their own agents gets exposed to an unknown substance, it risks unknown chaos on the world. What lengths will they go to to stop it? . Upgrade is a fantastic adventure, blending action and crime in a near-future dystopian package. It reads like a blockbuster movie, and will have you desperate to keep reading. Easily on a par with Blake's prior books, this is not one to be missed.

I originally for some reason thought this released much sooner in the year, which made it even harder to wait for July. This author has been an auto-buy for me since Dark Matter so I couldn’t wait for this one. Upgrade is a science fiction novel that reads like scifi-realism (if that’s a thing?) and scifi/dystopia. For me this is my sweet spot for the genre, which is why the author has catapulted to a favorite. His novels are accessible to anyone, but with science just smart enough to make me feel stupid, which to me at least, feels more real seeing as I am not a scientist. And I link each one to dystopian because he has such a way about writing things that are evolutions of where we are now, nothing ever seems ridiculous or impossible, but they are most often bleak. For me this is some of Crouch’s best writing, even from the first page, there’s just something refreshing about how he tells stories. I’ve always particularly liked that his main characters are not typical, they are never young or special, they are typically around 40 and ultimately average. Yet they often face the same odds and events that you would get in a chosen-one type story. Overall Upgrade is the story of what it means to be human, humanity itself, and a cry for compassion in the world. The author knows we need to act in terms of conservation, and this novel takes place in the future, a future that looks like our own, but it doesn’t read like that, it’s not so one dimensional. Through and through this is a wild ride, it’s compulsively readable, unputdownable, and anything else you’d like to call it. Yes, there’s a lot of science and description, but this one is also filled with incredible action and pacing. An absolute must. Personally a 5/5*, probably my favorite read this year.

Blake crouch has done it again! His next installment and in an ever growing catalog of incredible stories. A world that has been destroyed by genetically modifying everything, whether that is people, animals or crops, this is how one last ditch effort to correct humanities mistakes. I loved this! It was not an easy read by far but it was very clever and enjoyable. You feel like you haven't just learnt something but you want to help the world, you want to help humanity succeed and evolve. On the odd occasion it does become a little complicated but that's just through scientific terminology, but its very clever as it shows the progression of the characters and how their minds work with the upgrade. Extremely thought provoking! Extremely well written!

“You are the next step in human evolution. . ." My thanks to Pan Macmillan for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Upgrade’ by Blake Crouch. I found this an intense high action SF thriller set in a mid-21st century USA that is struggling with climate change, economic stresses, pandemics, and other possible end-of-the-world scenarios. Yet alongside this technology has also considerably advanced. There are new prohibitions and gene editing is now a federal crime. The GPA (Gene Protection Agency) has been established with broad powers to enforce these laws. Following an incident during the execution of his duties as an agent for the GPA, Logan Ramsay begins to feel different. At first, he wonders if it’s just his imagination as his concentration is better, his memories sharper. Even his body seems to be changing. He realises that his genome has been hacked! The reason for this lies in his past and the dark legacy of his family. Yet he is not the only one who has been upgraded and this is just the first step in a much larger plan. Plus, inevitably there are shadowy groups keen to get their hands on Logan as well as the federal government. Yet Logan is the only one capable of stopping what has been set in motion. Still he wonders if this plan might be humanity’s only hope for a future…. No further details to avoid spoilers. Blake Crouch is an author that I trust to deliver on this kind of science fiction action thriller that also considers ethical questions about progress and humanity’s future. I ended up zooming through it in a single day. I consider Crouch’s novels to be a worthy successor to the works of the late Michael Crichton in that they pose serious questions about technology and the environment while providing plenty of thrills. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Upgrade is phenomenal. That’s all you really need to know about this book. It’s absolutely phenomenal. The story is so compulsive that the pages practically turn themselves. It’s a one-sitting book, because once you start, you aren’t going to want to close it until you reach the final page. Is it thrilling? Absolutely. Is it clever? Oh yeah. Are there twists? You betcha. Will the story take you on an absolute roller-coaster and leave you breathless and dizzy because you can’t believe how brilliant the book is? 100%. But that’s no surprise. If you’ve ever read a Blake Crouch book before, then you already know the answers to these questions. You know exactly what to expect. Blake Crouch has earned his stripes when it comes to writing sci-fi thrillers. Dark Matter and Recursion set the benchmark for mixing pulse-pounding action and unexpected twists with flourishes of scientific wizardry. He’s built a reputation for creating stories which simmer with inventive concepts to rival the titans of the genre. Put simply, when a new Blake Crouch is released, expectations run high. Very high. I guess the only question that matters is: does Upgrade meet them? Logan Ramsay is the beating heart of this story. And I mean that literally. The ‘upgrade’ that he experiences could easily make him feel distant or detached. But instead, however advanced he becomes, he always feels like the underdog. He’s always the person we’re rooting for. The fact that we care about him is an accomplishment in itself. That’s how much heart he’s got. Logan really elevates this story in a big way. If you’re thinking that the idea of someone’s potential being unlocked sounds a bit like Limitless or Lucy, then you’d be right. But this is Limitless on steroids, dialled up to eleven. It takes the concept of advanced humans in directions that are new and fresh, and it doesn’t feel like a retread of anything we’ve seen before. It feels bigger, bolder, clearer, and wilder than anything else out there like it. The family dynamic which permeates the pages of this story is electric. There’s something universal about the connections between the characters, and it pulls you into a tussle of ‘head vs heart’. The prose is clean. The pacing is exceptional — it never lets up, but also, somehow, creates enough breathing room for concepts and questions to be explored. What makes us human? And what about humanity is worth saving? The answer posited by the story could be seen as sentimental, but in the best sense, coming over as affirming rather than scolding. The message of the book feels timely, prescient, and necessary. It aims to make you care, and it succeeds in doing exactly that. It’s powerful stuff, and if there’s a direction in which humanity could do with an upgrade, then the final moments leave us pointing towards a good one. So, with all that in mind, does Upgrade meet expectations? You’d better believe it! Upgrade doesn’t just reach for the same heights of Crouch’s earlier work, it aims to surpass them. Blake Crouch is levelling up. He’s raised the bar once again. And I cannot wait to see what lies in store for the future while ever his books are a part of it. Basically, Upgrade is phenomenal. Totally, terrifically, truly phenomenal. And that’s all you really need to know.