Upgrade by Blake Crouch (2022) – Following a devastating genetic experiment failure by his mother, Logan Ramsay works for the Genetic Protection Agency. His job? To make sure another mistake like his mother’s never happens again. A booby trap explodes, exposing him to a virus that begins resetting his genetic structure. Suddenly, Logan is a lab rat of his own agency with no friends in sight.
Why I Liked It – This is a taut techno-thriller that feels like it could happen tomorrow.
Blake Crouch continues to crank out well-written thought-provoking thrillers. I reviewed his previous novel, “Recursion” back in 2020. This makes two novels that sucked me in a row.
Logan Ramsey faces a variety of issues in his new line of work. It means he’s turned his back on the science that was the center of his life, up to the moment his mother’s project went wrong. He also bears the name of the greatest villain of the age. The experiment killed two hundred million people when it interfered with the world’s food supply. Now all of that science is either outlawed or tightly controlled by the government. The scientists either work for the government, have gone underground, or are in prison. Logan’s job is to find the second group and turn them into the third. Which leads him into a trap, one that was set specifically for him. When he wakes up, he discovers that he’s a mystery the government can’t wait to solve. No matter what that may mean for him.
Crouch writes the kind of techno-thriller I enjoy the most. I’m not a huge hard science guy. I want enough to have a feel for how this works, but not so much that it interferes with the thriller part. My example of the other side of the coin is from one of Tom Clancy’s novel (sorry, can’t remember which one). The bad guys are working on building a nuclear weapon. Clancy goes into great detail about shaping portions of the material so that it explodes in just the right fashion for the big bang. This goes on for pages, and I eventually skipped by it. If you are really into the scientific nitty-gritty, this book may be a little disappointing. My bet is that there’s enough to keep you chasing after the action. Because that’s what Blake Crouch does very, very well.
In “Upgrade”, Crouch covers all the bases. The ethical issues of genetic upgrading without consent, the longer-term goals of what’s “best” for humanity, but also the very personal level questions of an upgraded man. Logan Ramsey is no longer the person that his wife and child knew, no longer the officer his partner knew. How do you live in a world where you have less and less in common with everyone else? Where the real question is if you are still the same species as those others? In the final quarter of the novel, he will face challenges that are both more dangerous and more personal.
If you’re looking for a great book to curl up with on a snowy weekend, or to take to the beach, or have on your nightstand, let me recommend Blake Crouch and especially “Upgrade”.
Four Stars-Recommended
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