Bumpy Oak Books

**I was provided an electronic ARC from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for honest review.**

Actual rating : 3.5

Blake Crouch returns with another scifi thriller, Upgrade. Readers follow Logan, a geneticist by education in a near-future where no private industry geneticists are allowed. Logan’s mother was a geneticist as well, and her actions led to the Great Starvation, resulting in a tainting of Logan’s family name. Logan, post-pardon, works for the Gene Protection Agency to ensure nothing similar happens again. When Logan finds himself beginning to change accompanied by information that maybe his mother isn’t quite as dead as he thought, Logan has to work fast to prevent another mass casualty event.

I was eager to read a book by Blake Crouch focused more heavily on genetics than on timelines and multiverses, especially considering that my own formal education centered on genetics. Crouch clearly had wonderful subject matter experts in his corner and was good enough to actually listen to them when writing this book. Sure there were a few errors here or there that clearly were not the product of artistic liberty, but nothing that was harmful to the success of the book. The science in general seems to hold up, at least in concepts, if not in specific methodology. I was very pleasantly surprised by this.

If the “scifi” aspects of the book were a strength, then I would have to point out the characterization as a relative weakness in comparison. We got some development on Logan, and a very little bit for Kara and maybe Edwin, but overall this is a very plot-centric story. Realistically, any of the characters could have been swapped out with little effect on the story beyond having another character with the same area of expertise. Unfortunately, I am a reader who prefers to be drawn in by characters and maybe have a cool plot to engage those characters, so I felt a little dissatisfied with this setup. Accompany that by stakes that always felt relatively low, and I was left feeling vaguely lukewarm. I did find the overall message of the book to be interesting and worthy of thought, if a bit heavy-handed and cheesy.

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy a fast-paced plot, but not to those who need to love characters in order to feel engaged with the story. I was happy to have an opportunity to read this book early and look forward to exploring Crouch’s backlist.