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.
Review of 'Lock In: A Novel of the Near Future' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I got sucked into this book hard. The concept of lock-in is equal parts fascinating and terrifying, and the book does a good job of exploring psychological/societal/political implications of lock-in on a large scale. The bonus novella Unlocked is not essential listening, but I enjoyed the extra backstory.
I've seen some recommendations to read Unlocked first, but I disagree. I know that I wouldn't have appreciated the extra backstory up front, and it probably would have been a bit too dry or slow if I wasn't already invested. So for what it's worth, I'd suggest reading Lock In and then digging into Unlocked if you still want more.
If you're unsure whether to check this book out, go get the prelude novella "Unlocked: An oral history of Haden's Syndrome" which is available free online from Tor books. This establishes the setting, a slightly-in-the-future world in which an epidemic has swept the world, leaving huge numbers dead and many more victims of "lock in" syndrome, in which they remain fully conscious but are completely unable to interact with their own bodies in any way.
Since no cure for Haden's Syndrom has been found, the best solution so far has been to create neural network links that allow those "locked in" to control android bodies that allow them to move around the world and interact with people through second hand. "Lock In" itself is set in this environment and is the story of a new FBI agent who is also a Lock In patient using an android body, investigating a …
If you're unsure whether to check this book out, go get the prelude novella "Unlocked: An oral history of Haden's Syndrome" which is available free online from Tor books. This establishes the setting, a slightly-in-the-future world in which an epidemic has swept the world, leaving huge numbers dead and many more victims of "lock in" syndrome, in which they remain fully conscious but are completely unable to interact with their own bodies in any way.
Since no cure for Haden's Syndrom has been found, the best solution so far has been to create neural network links that allow those "locked in" to control android bodies that allow them to move around the world and interact with people through second hand. "Lock In" itself is set in this environment and is the story of a new FBI agent who is also a Lock In patient using an android body, investigating a murder that may have an impact on the world of the lock in victims and their freedom itself.
It's an interesting world setting, well described, and the characters are likeable and detailed. One interesting thing Scalzi does is to be (I assume) deliberately ambiguous about some aspects of some of the characters, allowing you to make your own assumptions. For example, the race of one character isn't mentioned at all until very late in the book and only in a passing comment, and the gender of another character is never clear at all. Unsure if this is an intentional choice to emphasize the android world that Haden's Syndrome has created, or just a deliberate ambiguity on Scalzi's part to make us check our assumptions, but it made me double take at least once. Overall I think I liked Old Man's War better, but this was still an entertaining story and I'd likely pick up a sequel if there ever is one.
Review of 'Lock In: A Novel of the Near Future' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Amazing sci fi book. Scalzi is great at telling action-filled stories that still manage to get at the heart of humanity.
In Lock In, Scalzi lays out a murder mystery that happens 25 years after a disease hit the world that caused victims to be trapped in their heads. The story touches on the effects of bias and profit on what people are willing to do. It is one of the best books I've read in a while.
Review of 'Lock In: A Novel of the Near Future' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Readable, if leaning a bit too heavily on police procedural. But.. There's some egrerously wrong stuff about computer security in here. I wouldn't care if it didn't turn out to be a lynchpin of the plot.
That left me at 3 stars, but then there's the reason I didn't get around to reading this book until now. The premise is pretty horrifying, and I don't much like horror. Turns out though, that the book avoids the existential horror angle entirely. Which made it readable for me, and is sort of nice, but in retrospect, the book needed at least one scene that acknowledged that, and without one, it's weak sauce. 2 stars.
(There was one scene in a scary interior space occupied by a very weird character that came almost close, and so was the most interesting scene in the book.)
I'm still hoping to find good humor in Scalzi's books.
The Android's Dream is still ome of my favorit books.
Lock In isn't what I had hoped for. It has a good idea behind it, but apart from that it's a very mediocre police procedural.
There are no twists in the investigation, just one linear story with clues coming in one after the other. There is not even a grand reveal, we know who the bad guy is long in advance and we are just treated to a confession sequence more suitable to a 19th or early 20th century novel.
The only thing Lock In has going for it is a bit of action and danger to keep you interested.
Review of 'Lock In: A Novel of the Near Future' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
As with everything Scalzi, this was well-written and well-put-together, and I had a very hard time putting it down. It lacked something, though - I just can't say what. Almost formulaic, maybe? Again, a perfectly executed formula - strong characters, plausible/well-written technical details, good pacing, interesting plot twists, etc., etc., just ... didn't really take me away like the books I enjoy most do.
Review of 'Lock In: A Novel of the Near Future' on 'LibraryThing'
No rating
SF/crime. After an epidemic leaves millions "locked in," conscious but unable to move, scientists develop a way to link their brains to "threeps" (androids); others affected are "integrators," able to host locked in people who want to borrow a human body. Our locked-in hero joins the FBI (getting around with a threep) and is quickly involved in strange murder case in which it appears a murderer was hosting someone else when committing the murder. Sounds preposterous but it worked for me - the scene-setting was handled so efficiently it had a great pace.
Review of 'Lock In: A Novel of the Near Future' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Genius SF murder mystery about people being locked in their bodies, but really a comment on bigotry. The story flows and the ideas about our bodies and how we would live in a prosthetic world are fascinating.
