336 pages
Published Aug. 25, 2014 by Tor Books.
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.
Quite entertaining. I'm a sucker for detective stories and this also is sci-fi. Great mix.
Not as great as I'd hoped. Okay story.
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.
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.
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.)
Historia de conspiraciones bien escrita, pero con un contexto muy original y bien pensado.
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.
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.
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.
Had trouble deciding between a 3 and a 4. The concept is awesome, but I've had my fill of crime and mystery stories. Still, engaging and interesting.
I wish I could give 1/2 stars. I would give this 3.5 stars. Rounded down.
Liked it a lot. Fun, quick who dunnit
Now that I've finished, I can read the reviews and cackle over whether or not the reviewer assigned a gender to Chris. I've already read one that did, but had to bail to avoid spoilers.
I listened to the Amber Benson narration and may queue up the Wil Wheaton version next.
Also, about 2/3 of the way through we find out Chris' dad is African-American.
Honestly? When you're interacting with the world through a robot that looks like C-3PO, race and gender just don't matter. Which is why not specifying works.
Zoom! I read this in record time. It's a thriller -- FBI agents tracking down a fiendishly clever criminal -- set in a future with a nifty twist.
It was okay. Not really sure how to explain it. I would call it a made for TV movie. With cops. From the future.
I don't think it was as good as his earlier books. Very interesting premise.
Every other scalzi book I've read in a day. This took 3. Just wasn't as exciting as some of the rest.
Not bad, I'd just recommend his other books more.
