Lock In
Books | Fiction / Science Fiction / Cyberpunk
4.1
(499)
John Scalzi
A blazingly inventive near-future thriller from the best-selling, Hugo Award-winning John Scalzi.Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.A quarter of a century later, in a world shaped by what's now known as "Haden's syndrome," rookie FBI agent Chris Shane is paired with veteran agent Leslie Vann. The two of them are assigned what appears to be a Haden-related murder at the Watergate Hotel, with a suspect who is an "integrator" - someone who can let the locked in borrow their bodies for a time. If the Integrator was carrying a Haden client, then naming the suspect for the murder becomes that much more complicated.But "complicated" doesn't begin to describe it. As Shane and Vann began to unravel the threads of the murder, it becomes clear that the real mystery - and the real crime - is bigger than anyone could have imagined. The world of the locked in is changing, and with the change comes opportunities that the ambitious will seize at any cost. The investigation that began as a murder case takes Shane and Vann from the halls of corporate power to the virtual spaces of the locked in, and to the very heart of an emerging, surprising new human culture. It's nothing you could have expected. Other Tor Books Lock In: Lock In / Head On Old Man's War: Old Man's War / The Ghost Brigades / The Last Colony / Zoe's Tale / The Human Division / The End of All ThingsThe Interdpendency: The Collapsing Empire / The Consuming Fire / The Last EmperoxThe Android’s DreamAgent to the StarsYour Hate Mail Will Be GradedFuzzy NationRedshirtsAt the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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Author
John Scalzi
Pages
336
Publisher
Macmillan
Published Date
2014-08-26
ISBN
1466849355 9781466849358
Community ReviewsSee all
"This was fantastic! So-Fi Murder Mystery!"
S K
Shaila Knoll
"Near-future sci-fi hidden in a murder mystery. "
Patrick Berry
"A bit like James Patterson with a Sci Fi twist"
mrssmith12051@yahoo.com
"Probably not a good book to read if all the Coronavirus news has you scared, but an excellent story. I won't regurgitate the back cover copy, you can read that yourself.<br/><br/>Several times I stopped reading and reminded myself that many of these characters were in metallic bodies, while their actual bodies were tucked away somewhere, paralyzed and unresponsive. Yet they lived full lives through robotics. It made me think of my great aunt, who spent her last few years in a rigid fetal position, "locked in" by Parkinson's Disease. Her brain was still intact, but her body was done. She hated her situation and wanted to die. What a blessing something like this would have been to her, and to all the other people whose bodies have quit working. <br/><br/>Sorry, back to the book. Scalzi does a terrific job of bringing his world alive. About a dozen pages in, I already understood the world and what was going on. The characters are fully-fleshed out and interesting. Several of them, I'd like to get to know better. I just discovered there is a second book, so I'm off to find it. <br/><br/>Well worth the read. Make sure you have time, because you won't want to put it down."
"Scalzi did it again! <br/>If you want a fun crime novel with Scalzi's token wit, this is it. Once more Scalzi set up a new take on the world as we know it. His characters are essentially the same we've come to expect in his novels, so don't expect any thing new there. You could substitute Chris Shane for John Perry and aside from a few cosmetic changes, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. <br/>But this book, like Scalzi's other books are not about the characters, as much as they are about what is happening around the characters.<br/>Without giving away too many spoilers, if you enjoy a good crime novel, this one will be a quick fun read."
Barbara K
"4.5. This was a fun read. Crime with some sci-fi. Concise writing and to the point; the author didn't add in extra chapters or words just to make the book longer, which I really liked. You could tell he was an experienced author. I'll definitely read his others."
Tawny George