Following a string of hard-hitting action thrillers by some of the genre’s best authors, I have given my mind a break and took on a new style thriller that I typically don’t read. I chose Upgrade by Blake Crouch in what I thought was a techno-futuristic thriller, but what I came away with was much more than that. If you have never heard of Crouch, he’s the author of the Wayward Pines Trilogy that was adapted for television on Fox in recent years. Along with that, his more recent Dark Matter is being turned into an Apple+ streaming series soon.
Logan Ramsay has an extremely demoralizing past, but he has atoned for it by joining the Gene Protection Agency (GPA) and removing gene editing criminals from the streets. Logan Ramsay is the son of one of the world’s most notorious criminals. She was an accidental criminal though, as she engineered an insect to combat a crop infection, she ended up creating the world’s worst famine. After killing over 200 million people, the son of Miriam Ramsay has a bit of a past that follows him everywhere.
After a simple arrest in Denver, CO, the team from the GPA goes on a door kicking adventure, where Logan's life changes forever. What Logan thought he knew about life is changing, inside of his head, and in the world in front of him. The people that he thought he knew are no longer the same. His mind begins to change as he becomes aware of what happened on a fateful night in Denver. Along with his mind changing, physical attributes are starting to be a cause of concern.
The life that Logan lives changes as the fight for humanity starts to rest on his shoulders. The human evolution over decades and centuries that Earth is accustomed to is about to get trashed by gene altering infusion and for the world to survive Logan Ramsay must let go of the past and the future. The legacy that he thought his mother left changes, the family he has is left behind, and the family that left him behind is out to kill him. Logan is on a path that he can’t break away from because is he does, humanity might just end. Lies and deception are just the beginning as the family that caused the world to hurt is about to make history again.
Crouch delivers a science project on steroids that will leave you gasping for breath. This was an extremely fun and well-organized thriller that has plenty of action, great characters, and one of the most refreshing storylines I’ve read in a while. Logan Ramsay isn’t the hero that you want him to be, but he is the hero that most of the world needs him to be at just the right moment.
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