Upgrade by Blake Crouch is a Sci-Fi thriller that asks the question: what if humanity’s only hope for a future lies in genetically engineering a way to make people think smarter?

Logan Ramsay is happily married with one daughter. He lives in Washington D.C. at a time set in the near future. He works as a special agent for The Gene Protection Agency. The GPA was formed after a failed gene editing experiment created by Logan’s late mother caused a great famine. During a raid, Logan is blasted by a device of unknown origin. Over the next few weeks, his DNA dramatically changes. He becomes smarter and healthier. The GPA puts him under house arrest and tells his family that he has died. Eventually, he is rescued by the only other person who has received the same upgrade.

Logan and the other person come to an impasse on whether they should use their knowledge to upgrade mankind. The other person thinks it will be the only way to keep humans from extinction. Logan thinks that it will take the humanity out of humans and does not want to do it. The other person decides to kill Logan to keep him from preventing a worldwide upgrade. Thus a game of cat-and-mouse ensues.

I mostly enjoyed this story but felt it got bogged down with too much scientific information on DNA and gene editing. 3.5-stars rounded up to 4-stars. Many thanks to #NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Ballantine Books for my advanced reader copy. This book was published on July 12, 2022.