Head On (Narrated by Amber Benson)

John Scalzi has done a great job creating and altiverse in which physically disabled persons are able to join the world of the mobile (kudos, there, too!) with remotely steered ... androids, for want of a better term (besides threeps, which belongs to Mr Scalzi). He has also done a great job - in both this and the previous novel “Lock In” - of creating a rapid-turn mystery ride that blends in the unique societal aspects of the technology with good old solid mystery writing and crime solving.
Intelligently written, plausible, and definitely captivating!

4.5 stars. Great sequel. Since I was more familiar with the world after reading Lock In, I was able to focus more on the mystery of this one. It was excellent, with new layers piling on, page after page, until the characters were able to start putting the clues together.

This is a cool premise and world with awesome characters. I hope there will be more books in this world in the future.

I think John Scalzi's audiobooks narrated by Wil Wheaton are some of my favorite listens of all time. That is saying a lot from someone who listens to an average of one audiobook every couple of weeks for the past several years. John's world building is phenomenal and Wil's delivery of the right amount of 'snark' is perfect for the various characters in the story. I hope there will be a next book in the Haden series.

This is a mystery novel (perhaps a police procedural) set in future world where some folks live in multiple mechanical bodies while their bodies lie in some safe place.
This novel follows an FBI partnership who are searching for the murderer of a Haden athlete who collapses and dies during a match when his head is torn off his body three times.

A Great Flu pandemic sweeps the globe killing more than 400 million people and named Hayden after the first lady who had the disease. The symptoms, which were slow to show up, caused people who had it to spread it without even knowing they had it. The first stage of the flu, causing up to 75 percent of the deaths, was followed by viral meningitis. Those who survived the second stage suffered no long-term problems, but at least 1percent suffered from "lock in" where they were aware of their surroundings, but could not communicate or move. An even smaller number, 100,000 had their brains rewired and were able to become Integrators or those who could hold the consciousness of a Hayden sufferer and allow them a body to walk in. Those suffering from lock in could use robots to get around in and be called "threeps" after C3PO. A virtual world called Agora, was created for those with this disease so that they could communicate with others. Trillions were initially spent on finding a cure and the treatment of those suffering from it. Then after decades of this, the Abrams-Kettering Bill was passed, cutting funding for those suffering from this disease, despite the fact that on average 30,000 people would suffer from lock in annually in the US alone.

Agent Chris Shane, a former poster child for Haydens and daughter of a famous ex-basketball player who has a trust fund of her own works with her superior, Agent Leslie Vann, a chain-smoking former Integrator. Shane is at a Hilketa league pre-season game that is meant to garner support for leagues in Europe and Asia. Right now it only exists in North America with most of the teams in the United States. Her father is being courted in investing in the league that is expanding in the United States including Washington D.C. where he lives.

The game is played by having threeps play the game, so those with Haydens have the advantage and make up the majority of the players. One player on one team is chosen to be the goat and the idea is for the opposite team to capture his head and toss it in the basket. The other players use weapons like bows, swords, hammers, and bats. The pain levels on the threeps are set at a certain level so you feel some pain.

After the Toronto Snowbirds rip off the head of the goat being played by Duane Chapman whose threep is being carried off of the field, they score with it and end the game, but Chapman is dead. Shane receives a phone call from one of her roommates who tells her about the data feed on Chapman having been cut and removed so she calls her FBI partner Vann and gets to work figuring out what happened.

Things get complicated when the man who ordered the feed to be cut is found dead of a suicide in his hotel room minutes after texting the agents that he would be ready to meet with them in a few minutes. Also, Chapman was cheating on his wife Marla with someone at his lovenest which goes up in smoke the same night that he dies. The league has something to hide as well, with their lawyer, Oliver, at the top of the list of suspicious people. And then there's Amelie Parker who is looking for investors in her company MobilOn a company that will make threeps available to timeshare to those with Haydens, but mostly those without who might want to use one for travel.

The body count in this book will grow and, yes, Agent Shane will go through more than one threep. She does have a reputation for destroying them. Agent Vann will threaten all those who get in her way, which is how she works. The storyline is complex enough to make it interesting, but not too much to make it not understandable. I really enjoyed Shane's roommates. The sardonic Tony does work for the FBI as a computer consultant and they had plenty of work for him to do and there's even work for Tanya the nurse with the kind heart and sharp tongue if crossed. I really love this series and this world Scalzi has created. It's completely fascinating and opens up so many questions. Those with Haydens get treated differently than others and with the passage of Abrams-Kettering, they are becoming even more marginalized. This is touched upon in this book a bit. The mystery is quite good and it is action-packed and a real page-turner. You don't have to read the first book, Lock In in order to read this one, though I highly suggest you do. I can't recommend this book enough.

Tuesday I went to his book signing, where I confirmed my impression that John Scalzi is a pretty funny guy who is grateful and happy that he gets to make a living being a writer. Wednesday I sat down and read Head On straight through. Once again, he does an amazing job mixing science fiction, mystery, and humor into a great book. Looking forward to more from this world.

John Scalzi has created a totally engrossing world that is so believable that I couldn't stop reading. There are so many levels of the book that Scalzi has mastered it amazed me. I loved his well developed characters that were real to me.

Another reliable Scalzi book. Sequel to Lock In, Head On takes established characters in a fascinating world on a whirlwind ride of an FBI procedural. But this time, the characters are a touch more polished and natural.

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This book, and the previous book Lock-In, provide insight and commentary on important social issues - the intersections of privilege and disability, the paradox of professional sports as engines of wealth and growth but also as drains on society. It deals with these issues directly and deftly.

This is also top-notch science fiction - imaginative, clever, unafraid to explore the implications of it's high concept.

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