Lock In

Fascinating Premise. Scalzi did a wonderful job of world building. I was very interested in how the "locked in" interacted with the general population. I don't see how society could pay such an enormous cost in wiring 4-5 million 'Hayden's' without bankrupting the economy. The murder mystery was solved too early. I scanned the last 50 -60 pages basically because I wasn't interested in the FBI story. Next book should be about Cassandra Bell. She was the most interesting character.

I was actually very impressed by this novel. There were a lot of familiar sci-fi themes but enough original ideas to keep the reader interested, and the mystery aspect was actually compelling and very well thought out. One of the few books that will stay on my shelf.

Scalzi is a skillful writer, this tale is well-told and inventive, but somehow I didn't feel I could get very close to the characters, particularly Shane's female FBI partner, whom I found rather crass and abrasive. I'm sure other readers will give the book a higher rating, though.

Fascinating story with several moving parts all woven together into a "can't put it down" book. The start is a bit confusing but then it starts to make sense as you are sucked into the storyline
Well done

In Lock In, Haden’s syndrome has created millions of people who are conscious and alert, but have no voluntary control of their bodies; they are, effectively, “locked in” to themselves. Government funded technology has developed ways to assist these, who are called “Hadens,” to function; both in a non-physical information-world called the Agora, and by using sophisticated Personal Transports or android bodies called “threeps.” (You might be able to figure out where that name comes from if you remember a certain gold-colored android from a popular trilogy of movies a few decades ago.) Chris Shane is a Haden, one of the two most famous Hadens in America, and a freshly-minted FBI agent. On the second day on the job, Chris and acerbic partner Leslie Vann take jurisdiction of a baffling case that involves a dead mystery man and an Integrator, a human who can let Hadens “ride” in his brain. This controversial murder comes on the eve of a week-long Haden protest against newly passed legislation that ends funding for services to Hadens. The Integrator, who is covered with the dead man’s blood, is the brother of a powerful and vocal Haden separatist, the coordinator of the protest demonstrations.

Terry read Lock In at the same time I did, so we decided to discuss it together. Kat just finished the audio version, so she’ll make some comments about that.

Terry: The police procedural style murder mystery plays out against a backdrop of dramatic political, social and technological changes. As in other books by John Scalzi, these rapid changes have brought humanity to a crossroads. The changes are sufficiently complex, however, that Scalzi is frequently pushed into dumping information by the bucketload on his readers. Most of the time, this works. The initial dump, which purports to be an article on a high school cheating website, reads well, just as do the conversations between experts we would expect FBI agents to utilize, or with witnesses. Sometimes the information is shoehorned in, as in an initial discussion between Chris and a Navajo police officer. I mostly appreciated the information, even when it was a bit awkward. As a mystery reader, though, I was alert to some of the stranger turns in the conversation, thinking that the odder information would serve as clues.

Kat: Infodumps usually bother me, and there were plenty of them in Lock In, but I actually welcomed them here. That’s probably because neuroscience and psychology are my areas of interest, so the parts of the book that I was most fascinated by were the parts explained in the infodumps. What happened in the brain to make these people lock in? How did scientists and engineers solve the problem? And, most importantly to me, is that even possible? (No, and probably never will be.) How did society react to locked in people walking around in robotic, or other people’s, bodies? The mystery was of less interest to me, except that it served to highlight the problems that would occur in a society where some of its participants are not physically in the bodies they’re using.

Marion: The info-dumps that bothered me came more, I think, from the roommate character, just because I thought the whole arrival of the roommates was a bit too convenient. That was my main plot-quibble with the whole book. On the other hand, watching Chris go house hunting gave me an idea of what many Hadens would be facing under the new laws. I’m a mystery reader too, and to me, this was a “how-dun-it” rather than a “who-dun-it.” I liked how Scalzi played fair with the clues, something even veteran mystery writers don’t always do. And the “how was it done?” question in this book was fascinating.

Terry: I liked that too, and it’s difficult to do with a science fiction mystery. There’s always the temptation to pull out a new gizmo and claim it fixes everything. Scalzi consistently avoids that temptation. The twists and turns of this particular law enforcement investigation are well-detailed, with no instances of Chris missing an issue because Leslie failed to point it out.

Marion: I liked the characters, too. Terry, you’re a more thorough reader than I am, and you noticed something important about one crucial character that leaves room for a lot of speculation. My favorite character was Leslie Vann, Agent Shane’s partner. I must just like humorously bitter cop characters! Chris Shane’s first-person narrative voice reads as youthful and sincere, funny without being overly snarky. Chris is a fully-realized character.

Kat: I thought that a few of the characters, including Chris and Leslie, sounded a little too much like the Scalzi persona, as many of his characters tend to do. They have that bantering, fast-paced, smart-and-snarky style that I associate with Scalzi online. If I didn’t know who wrote this book, I’d have guessed Scalzi right off. I listened to Wil Wheaton’s narration which was spot-on perfect but which, I’m sure, contributed to this feeling and to the fact that I didn’t notice what Terry did, either. By the way, there is another version of Lock In which is read by Amber Benson.

Terry: I thought Chris’s father, a wealthy former basketball player who is considering a run for the Senate from his home state of Virginia, is also nicely drawn. Other characters are little more than ciphers — we learn next to nothing about Chris’s mother, for instance, and not too much about the villains except that they’re people with no ethics or morals and a lot of greed.

Marion: And Dad’s a real estate mogul, don’t forget that.

Kat: Chris’s father was one of my favorite characters, too. I like that Scalzi didn’t portray him as I expected him to. (Though I think Scalzi’s playing with our expectations is getting a little gimmicky.)

Marion: I thought there was a bit of a gimmick with Chris’s father, too, but then I also think that we have a first-person narrator who’s a Haden, and this could be another example of how differently the Hadens view the world (certain things just don’t matter to them). And if you want an even more extreme example of that, there’s Cassandra.

Terry: Cassandra Bell! Even though we see very little of her, she intrigued me the most. She contracted Haden’s Syndrome in the womb, and has never known life as most humans do; in fact she spends most of her time in the non-physical world called the Agora. One gets the impression that Bell believes Hadens should not be cured, but should be treated as their own subculture, similar to the controversy in the Deaf community in our own world.

Kat: It made me think of the Deaf community, too, Terry. And, in fact, Scalzi makes that analogy in the prequel, Unlocked. I loved the Agora. I wish I could visit it.

Marion: Overall, Scalzi did an awesome job of “scaling” his Hadens, so we see a range on a continuum; some who got the syndrome as adults and are more closely identified to their physical bodies, and those like Cassandra. I want to say that it feels like Scalzi is creating a “post-appearance” culture among the Haden, where status and role will depend upon your Agora avatar and the quality of your “threep.”

Terry: Of rather more interest than plot or character to all of us, though, was Scalzi’s implicit — and sometimes explicit — commentary on various social and political issues, the sorts of “what if?” questions that really drive science fiction. Is a faction of humanity going to choose a life where all of the familiar markers, clothing, age, skin and hair color, height or weight don’t matter? How big will the divide be between the Hadens and the old-style humans? People who make snap assumptions in this book will face some surprises, making this book a nice comment on political correctness. But tolerance for the “other” has its most biting effect when considering the rights of the disabled, which seems to be Scalzi’s principal point. I found it rather unbelievable that threeps are so readily accepted in society as fully human, despite Scalzi’s backstory in the novella Unlocked. Chris never seems to run into anyone who wants to treat a threep as a machine instead of accepting that it’s a person. Have we really come that far, in a world that contains large numbers who still don’t even think of women or blacks as people worthy of being treated with respect? It would be nice to think so. Perhaps Scalzi had a few doubts on this score himself, given his inclusion of an episode with a wheelchair.

Marion: I don’t agree that there is complete acceptance. Chris seems to run into people who are willing to work with threeps, but he is mostly in large bureaucracies and mostly law enforcement. One of the Metro cops makes an ignorant remark about “clanks” versus “threeps,” and a Haden is mugged by a trio of Haden-haters. I agree with you that most of the time it seems remarkably idealistic. Part of the problem, I think, is that Scalzi thoroughly and carefully insulated Chris from any direct negativity growing up, by liberal applications of money and fame. Maybe that’s a weakness in the book.

Kat: Yes, there are some Haden-haters in the story, so society hasn’t completely accepted them, but remember that it’s been 25 years since the disorder started and almost everyone has a friend or family member affected. Most people would be very pleased about technology that lets their loved ones participate in the world, even if it does cause some Uncanny Valley discomfort.

Marion: I loved the wheelchair scene! When Chris shifts consciousness into a threep in Los Angeles, it is broken, because it belonged to a criminal and got damaged in a shoot-out. The threep can’t walk, so the L.A. field agent offers Chris a wheelchair for the damaged threep. I thought it said a lot about the gaps in acceptance of Hadens, without being preachy. It was in the Los Angeles FBI Field Office, so that seemed totally realistic to me. Plus, it was funny! I’m impressed with how many big societal changes he worked into this story; technology, social policy and just social changes, in a framework of a police procedural. It’s a solid 4.5 book for me. I think I read the book too quickly on the first go-round to catch all the subtleties, but I’m hoping (and betting) that there will be more books and stories in this world.

Terry: I agree, except that the house-hunting plot quibble didn’t bother me. Someone just starting a new job is likely to be house hunting! I found the book enthralling throughout. I’d rate it a 5.

Marion: I have no trouble with a 5.

Kat: Lock In was probably the most thought-provoking AND entertaining book I’ve read this year. (I’ve read many thought-provoking books and many entertaining books, but most didn’t manage to be both.) As I mentioned, I listened to the audio version which was produced by Audible Studios. I chose Wil Wheaton’s narration, but readers may also choose to listen to Amber Benson’s narration. Both are excellent (I listened to a sample of Benson) because both Wheaton and Benson “get” Scalzi’s characters. As a bonus, the audio version includes the prequel novella Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome which is narrated by a full cast of well-known and excellent narrators.

Originally published at Fantasy Literature website.

An interesting concept. Scalzi created a world in the near future in which people with Lock In syndrome have androids to go about the world for them. The characters and the story, however, are lacking. I lost interest in the last several dozen pages and could not tell you how this story ended. Happily, perhaps.

If you're not into cerebral thrillers and techie talk, run away. But I rather enjoyed this futuristic take on an outbreak and the aftermath of citizens coming to terms with the disease. Fun read & would make a good film!

John Scalzi has consistently developed new concepts and approaches to the near and far future. His ideas on the future are detailed enough to ring true, and to keep you thinking "This is the REAL future". The characters are fully rounded, the plots believable and the futurism compelling. Wow!

I really enjoy the connector of this book, and how adept Scalzi is at writing a believable near future incorporating something like the Hadens.

Have read it three times now, and it gets better each time.

Scalzi has created yet another universe that ... while I'm not sure I'd necessarily want to live in ... I feel optimistic about. That's really the talent I think Scalzi has as a writer: creating these worlds that have many morally gray areas and strange things happening, but the watching the characters navigate them ... even the "quieter" stories ... is always fun to do.

Really enjoyed the novella that explains the back story (it's online, highly recommend to understand what's going on).

Characters aren't that developed, but it didn't detract from the story. Fun read.

I voted it is "predictable," but, um, with a name like "Redshirts" isn't that the point?! :) And, yes, the red shirt characters are "one-dimensional." Again, that's the point.

Very funny story.

Meh. Interesting premise, with tons of potential, but the execution is lacking. This is as lightweight as sic-fi gets, with a page/word count that probably just made the deadline for a contract. This book is doable in an afternoon.

Which is unfortunate, because the premise is solid... and there are so many avenues that *could* be explored here, that would have given the story some teeth. The concept of being a Haden is interesting, but begs the question of why even leave the virtual world at all? The protagonist is extremely privileged - which really lessens the perceived impact of what is a terrible disease.

When I read the jacket cover, it seemed to bristle with possibility, and the concept of an underground of these "trapped" people being pitted against the physical world. But ultimately it's just a whodunit on par with any given hour-long procedural detective show on network TV.

I highly recommend you read Unlocked before you read this. That said, this book is a lot of fun. It's fast-paced and set in a world that could become the source of dozens of great stories. The characters are well-developed and a lot of fun.

Highly recommend.

Light and and easy reading lacking the usual dry humor John Scalzi is so well known for. The book starts with an interesting premise but never explores its full potential and devolves into not very original crime investigation with stereotypical characters and predictable plot.

Highly entertaining read of a sci fi murder mystery "who done it" that reveals the problems of remote operated "threeps" roboric human analogs and intogrators that allow people with "hadens" who have permanent paralysis to interact with the world through them

A competent SF murder mystery and police-procedural. The mystery was well-presented, the solution was neither obvious nor a trick, and the reader got the clues as the investigators did. And it was more-or-less accurate to police procedures, as far as I know. Unfortunately, as a science fiction novel it leaves something to be desired. The premise of "lock ins" who are mobile by means of robot bodies and/or 'Integrator' humans seemed to deserve something more. Overall, I'd say LOCK IN is a nice light read, but little more than that.

An interesting story. Similar to another book that was turned into a movie with Bruce Willis, but I like this version. Scalzi is a great writer, and I would give this book 5 stars if it didn't overlap with the other book.

Good science fiction which is not overwritten. The dialog was believable and the personal choices that the characters made were interesting and well crafted. The world that is created by the disease and the scientific advances makes for a good read. The plot is basically a buddy cop story which is not too original but the story is fast paced enough to keep you locked in until the end. I liked the technology that allows the detective's consciousness to pop up in different machines around the country. That made his investigation technique fun to follow.

I am actually reviewing an Audible Audiobook version of this book, and the one I chose is narrated by Amber Benson. The audiobook is also available narrated by Wil Wheaton, since the main character is carefully not identified by gender. That lack of identification is skillfully done and does not in any way affect the story.

And what a story it is! Imagine a world in which millions of people catch a version of the flu which leaves them 'locked in', awake and aware in their bodies but unable to access their own nervous system. They can think but they cannot speak, cannot move, in fact can do absolutely nothing but lie in their beds and be cared for.

Now imagine that research allows for these people to be implanted with a neural network that allows them to control an artificial, mobile body, known as a 'Threep' in honor of one of the most beloved robots in science fiction.

This world felt so real to me. It was one of those books that, when it finished, for a moment I felt completely disoriented myself...I had been that deeply immersed in the story...'locked in' myself, but in a good way.

The main character is an FBI agent who was stricken by the disease (known as 'Haden's syndrome' because one of the first victims was the wife of President Ben Haden). S/he (choose one) is investigating a strange series of deaths, apparent suicides, but are they really?

I don't want to give a lot of detail for fear of spoilers, but seriously, this was the best book I have read (or heard) in a very very long time.

Just finished the book. It's classic Scalzi, meaning that if you're a fan of his writing to start with, you won't be disappointed. If you haven't read any of his books, this is a good one to get acquainted with him. The story is original, though it does borrow some of the more futuristic technology from the Old Man's War series, with regard to in-brain computers. The story takes place in the near future, though it's not exactly clear how far in the near-future. The futuristic technology is very restrained for a sci-fi novel, basing all of it on natural progressions of today's technology. The same can be said for the state of culture and politics in the story (corporate greed, gay marriage, socialism and healthcare). I read another comment that mentioned how the gender of the main character, Chris, is intentionally ambiguous. I didn't give it a thought as I was reading the book, I just assumed Chris was male - but I suppose that's because I'm male and the main protagonist of almost all of the books I read is male. I'm trying to think now if there is anything in the book that would indicate male/female either way, but aside from the fact that most women spell the name Kris instead of Chris, I can't think of anything. I would say that FBI partners tend to pair either two males or a male & female, but Vann's former parter was a female, so that theory doesn't work in this setting. I guess the point is, it doesn't matter and doesn't diminish or distract from the book. Just interesting to think about in retrospect.

Done it again. Reasonable tech, good dialog and great characters roll into a near-future,
A little much on, "and here the magic happens" with the brain changes, but a good time.

And yes, John, you're THAT kind of author.

At his best, Scalzi writes stories that work on multiple levels. Lock In is no exception and, indeed, is perhaps the greatest example of that trait. On one level, this is a straight-forward mash-up of SF and mystery genres. It's a direct, linear plot marked by interesting characters and excellent dialog. On that level, the story works well and the pages just keep turning themselves. It's an amazingly easy story to read.

But on another level Scalzi is exploring deeper themes, philosophical questions and issues of social justice. You can read the novel quickly, but perhaps you might also pause once in awhile to reflect on some of the deeper layers. Scalzi doesn't provide any easy answers; his near-future world is drawn in many shades of gray.

And that's why this is an excellent novel well worth your time. Those who like science fiction will be drawn into the detailed world Scalzi has created. They will nod approvingly as Scalzi presents not only the technology but also the social ramifications of that technology. And those who like mysteries and procedurals will be drawn into the murder mystery whodunnit. They will nod approvingly as Scalzi presents different crime scenes and starts to link them. They will nod at the list of suspects and the clues and the alibis. When you put it all together, as Scalzi has done, you get a story that appeals on multiple levels. And then you add in the deeper questions, and there you go: instant classic.

I'm not rehashing the setting or plot here. You've already gotten those from the the store page or the other reviews. What I'm trying to communicate is that you should stop reading these reviews and go buy the book already.

Oh, dear, I read beaucoup sci fi books and purchased the book based on the reviews, however, apart from the intro and a few chapters in I could not finish this one! The story line is interesting but I just kept falling asleep.

Great concept, blah usage. This story gets entirely bogged down by its commitment to explaination and exposition. The actual plot is a short story or single TV episode stretched by long-winded details of the medical and technical aspects of an imaginary disease. Boring. Don't bother.

Fast paced, challenging, thought provoking. Couldn't put it down through most of the book.
Loved the beginning with the wiki-like entry.

One thing - the plot itself was a bit straight forward, lacking some surprise element. Unlike "Red shirts", it lacked some more narrative twists, as well as perhaps a deeper theological and philosophical perspective...

But - still highly recommended!

I read the novella Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome before Lock In was released. Unlocked is a good prequel and sets the stage for what happens in Lock In.

Perhaps more than any other form of fiction, science fiction is the fiction of "what if" ideas. In this case the "what if" is: what would happen if there was a highly contagious virus that paralyzed some of its victims, while leaving them with complete mental capacity. And what if the President's wife was one of the first victims of this disease. What could be done if a few trillion dollars was invested in helping people who were "locked in" (instead of, say, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan)?

The over all plot of Lock In is a murder mystery. At the start of the novel there is a terrorist event and some deaths that may be related. These are investigated by the FBI and, in particular, an agent who is a victim of Haden's syndrome, who is locked in, but can use an android to act as an autonomous person.

Scalzi does a workman like job in building character, particularly for Chris Shane, the FBI agent. What made the novel enjoyable to me was the world building that Scalzi does for this near future where the Haden virus runs rampant. Scalzi does a good job of speculating on how society would change. He is particularly good with politics and in the novel there is a backlash against the huge amounts of money that have been spent on Haden victims, especially as they become autonomous citizens through android remotes.

The Old Man's War books remind me of Heinlein (at his best). But Scalzi at his best is better than Heinlein and Lock In is a novel where Scalzi shines.

A minor aside: a "server farm" (a computer center) plays a minor role in the plot. One of the current trends that Scalzi has not noticed is the rise of global scale cloud computing, particularly the store's cloud. As far as I can see into the future, there will be demand for server farms.

The thought experiment: What happens if you can disconnect your mind and soul from your body? How does it change your perceptions, and people's perceptions of you? The premise and technology are believable and create a good backdrop to explore how society might react and evolve.

The mystery is clever, fun, and full of fun "Hayden" plot devices. Thought provoking and a fun read.

the near futuristic world that J.Scalzi created feels like it can happen and one start to think about very interesting scenarios, i would like to see more in depth story about the Hadens (those who are locked-in) and the Agora (Hadens virtual world/private internet) situation, also the relationships between Hadens and possible Factions together with the Integrator's (those who can host Hadens) can provide very interesting possibilities.