Upgrade is an amazing book that is totally immersive once you start reading it. Blake Crouch has an uncanny way of enticing the readers to his style of writing with his brilliant and equally impeccable story plot. By asking the question of what exactly makes us human, Crouch puts us all on a path of looking at our humanity in a way that many of us never consider.
If there was a way to change and upgrade your genome, to speed up evolution and become someone better, faster, smarter, stronger, would you take it? Or how can we as human beings stop our own decline and subsequent extinction? These are some questions raised in Upgrade, and there are also some profound things said in this book that offer food for thought.
Upgrade introduces the reader to a new futuristic world in the classic dystopian view. Couch hits all the high notes for the sci-fi genre, and this is not a surprise for those who have read his previous works. The setting is at once familiar to those of us living in the 21st century with issues such as climate change, electric vehicles, and species ending environmental disasters.
Upgrade follows the story of a brother and sister, Logan and Kara Ramsay - both being enhanced with genetically engineered upgrades. Unfortunately, they don't agree on their mother’s plan for the human race, hence they square off against each other in a dangerous battle of conflicting schemes to save humanity from itself. In Logan especially, Crouch gives us a flawed but likeable character which the reader can engage with effortlessly.
After a stint in prison, Logan received a pardon and eventually went to work as a special agent for a federal law enforcement agency called the Gene Protection Agency (GPA). The GPA enforces federal laws that prohibit gene editing and goes after rogue scientists still attempting to do gene editing research in clandestine labs and those trafficking in high-end genetic elements.
Meanwhile, Logan is trying to live down a horrific legacy. His mother, Miriam Ramsay, a brilliant geneticist, was responsible for a genetically engineered worldwide famine, though that wasn’t her intention. The virus was originally designed to end a blight on rice crops, but it mutated and spread to various other food crops across the planet, resulting in starvation for over 200 million people.
During a raid on what was believed a dark lab, Logan sustains serious injuries from an IED left behind at the site. As he recovers, he notices biological changes in his body that make him suspect the bomb contained some type of DNA modifier. While Logan tries to investigate the changes happening to him on his own, his agency discovers what has happened and confines him to a black site to determine whether he poses a threat.
Couch then introduces Kara, Logan’s sister, when she breaks him out of the GPA prison. They then discover that both of them have recently experienced the same genetic editing, transforming them into “superhumans”.
Upgrade offers some fresh perspectives with Couch’s unique takes on some standard ideas. The story’s specifics are fascinating, though at times there are long meandering explanations of genetics and DNA that can be a little tiresome. Still, the action sequences are well-placed and exciting.
By using Logan to share his life and experiences in a first-person format, the readers get to glimpse and also share his thoughts and life in an intimate manner. There are moments when they will share his pains and anger as well as his joys and hopes as he journeys through his new life after the upgrade.
His struggles with guilt, grief and rage feel very believable, as did his love for his wife and daughter. Those relationships are well portrayed here and both Beth and Ava are lovely side characters.
The novel will appeal to sci-fi fans as the book offers a unique take on saving humanity from itself. Those who don’t usually read sci-fi but enjoy a good thriller will find Upgrade an entertaining read.
