Upgrade
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4.3 • 63 Ratings
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
Upgrade is the new mind-bending thriller from Blake Crouch, author of the bestselling Dark Matter and Recursion.
“You are the next step in human evolution. . ."
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 to inflict the same changes on humanity at large, and at a terrifying cost. Because of what Logan’s becoming, he’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. 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…
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Nobody does imaginative and chilling techno-thrillers like Blake Crouch—and this is his best since his breakthrough, Dark Matter. Set in a disturbingly realistic near future, Upgrade draws us into a world where private companies are experimenting with illegal genetic engineering to combat a looming environmental disaster. Things get very strange when Logan Ramsay, a low-level government scientist investigating these rogue scientists, gets showered with altered DNA in what seems like a lab accident. A fast and furious blend of hard science fiction, thrilling action adventure and a splash of smart comedy, Crouch’s novel is an absolute blast.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this nail-biting near-future science thriller from bestseller Crouch (Recursion), the world is still recovering from the Great Starvation, which killed hundreds of millions of people, the unintended consequence of the hubris of Miriam Ramsay, the discoverer of a "revolutionary, biological DNA modifier system." Seeking to eliminate a leaf blight decimating a rice strain in China, Ramsay inserted a virus into locusts intended to infect the rice to create increased resistance to the disease. Unexpectedly, the modified insects ended up targeting other crops, depleting the world's food supply. That catastrophe led to draconian measures, including harsh restrictions on biological research. Now, Ramsay's son, Logan, who assisted her before the Great Starvation, has found a new purpose working for America's Gene Protection Agency, tracking genetic scientists deemed risks. During a raid on an illegal lab, Logan becomes infected by something that hacks his genome, transforming him in frightening ways that seem to match his mother's vision of an upgraded version of homo sapiens, whose enhanced intelligence supposedly will preserve the species. Crouch fully develops his alarming concept and its implications along with delivering masterful characterizations. This is the best yet from a creative and gifted author.
