Novel Bakery

Upgrade by Blake Crouch is a fast-paced sci-fi thriller.

In the future, genetic testing has gone wrong, wiping out a huge portion of the population. Logan Ramsey works for the Gene Protection Agency, a government agency that enforces the new laws against genetic research. While on a job, Logan gets infected with a strange virus that after a few days seems innocuous. But then Logan starts to notice changes. He’s smarter, faster, and stronger. 

Now Logan needs to understand why his DNA has been changed, or Upgraded. He’s learning it’s all part of a larger plan that could save or destroy humanity and Logan has to decide whether to support it…or stop it.   

Upgrade was a fast-paced sci-fi thriller that I flew through in just a couple of days. I liked that Logan’s world, while it was under duress, never felt like an apocalyptic future. It felt closer to our current reality and everyone was dealing with a new problem. Without giving away too much, I also loved Logan’s conclusions at the end of the book and find myself thinking about it again and again. The book’s climax was a bit disappointing, though, and the final bit lost some of the book’s momentum. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it and recommend it if you enjoy sci-fi thrillers that take place in a world similar to our own.

I had to recreate the butterflied chicken meal since it was so appropriate for the story that the same knife used to butterfly the chicken gets turned on Logan.

I prepared the asparagus in my favorite Staub casserole dish. I also made frozen balls of ice with this tray for the weird ice spheres they find at the beginning of the book.

You can find my reel for Upgrade here!