It's clever, thoughtful, funny, and had some good action to boot. Like all good speculative fiction it started with an interesting premise and followed that premise through to to reasonable but unexpected permutations. The truth is, I constantly *forgot* she was the one narrating it. That added a lot to the experience for me, and made me realize just how far I have to go as a narrator myself.Īnd I don't mean that I listened to it, thinking "Yay! I love Amber Benson!" (Though I do.) She's a much better narrator than that, her own voice doesn't intrude into the story. Instead I listened to the Audiobook narrated by Amber Benson. In a change of pace for me, I didn't read the texty print version of this book. Honestly, I'd hesitate to classify this book as one particular thing, which means it's sufficiently complex to be a story in its own right, and not just some generic genre knock-off. In other ways it's a mystery, but not the Victorian-style Sherlock sort of thing. In some ways it's sci-fi but not rocketships-and-lasers sci-fi. I just know he's going to take me somewhere, and I trust that he's going to make the ride a pleasant one.Įven so, I was a little surprised by this book. I've read pretty much everything John Scalzi has written at this point, so when I pick up one of his books, I don't expect anything in particular. 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. The world of the locked in is changing, and with the change comes opportunities that the ambitious will seize at any cost. 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. If the Integrator was carrying a Haden client, then naming the suspect for the murder becomes that much more complicated.īut "complicated" doesn't begin to describe it. 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. The world changes to meet the challenge.Ī 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 disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. 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. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever and headaches. Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe.
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