Upgrade: A Novel

Blake Crouch

Jul 2022 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Henry Leyva

About this audiobook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “If Michael Crichton had written a superhero novel, it would look a lot like Upgrade.”—The New York Times Book Review

“You don’t so much sympathize with the main character as live inside his skin.”—DIANA GABALDON, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Outlander series
 
“Mysterious, fascinating, and deeply moving—exploring the very nature of what it means to be human.”—ALEX MICHAELIDES, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient and The Maiden

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Time, She Reads

The mind-blowing new thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Dark Matter and Recursion—currently in development as a motion picture at Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners

“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 that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.

Because of his new abilities, Logan’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. Maybe even something other than human.

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?

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.

Ratings and reviews

Overall an enjoyable audiobook for my work commute. The voice actor did a good job with the main character, Logan. However, there often wasn't enough of a tonal shift with other characters - leading to occasional confusion as to who is speaking in a conversation. The author routinely gets bogged down in background specifics that feel as though he's trying to prove he did the research. Quite often the dialogue (internal and external) devolves into long winded psuedo-intellectual preaching about the selfishness of mankind. The kind of stuff you'd hear vacant eyed freshman spout after their first intro to sociology class. Also has some uneven character shifts/actions throughout that are kind of waived off - especially Logan's plan in the epilogue. I've really enjoyed his other works, including the whole Pines series and was glued to Dark Matter and Recursion. Upgrade just felt flat and a little lifeless. Still, like I said, made my commute much more bearable. He's got a fan in me.

incredible. it shows so much growth over his previous books I've read, dark matter and recursion. the narrator is no Jon Lindstrom but, who is?

Interesting story, odd ending.