John Scalzi

Hilketa is a frenetic and violent pastime where players attack each other with swords and hammers. All the players are "threeps," robot-like bodies controlled by people with Haden's Syndrome. No one gets hurt, but the brutality is real and the crowds love it until a star athlete drops dead on the playing field. FBI agents and Haden-related crime investigators, Chris Shane and Leslie Vann, are called in to uncover the truth - and in doing so travel to the darker side of the fast-growing sport of Hilketa, where fortunes are made or lost, and where players and owners do whatever it takes to win, on and off the field.

A Novel of the Near Future

Head On

Brandy

Really enjoyed, despite not realizing it was the second book in a series when I checked this out from the library. Nice, easy read. I enjoy procedurals and John Scalzi, so this was right up my alley.

Colleen

4 Stars
 
First, be careful what reviews you read about this series, because there are a lot of spoilers out there!
 
Head On is the sequel to the SciFi/Mystery story Lock In which created an in-depth, near-future world where technology allows those were paralyzed by a super virus to stream their consciousness online, into robotic suits, or even into the bodies of certain people.
 
One benefit about the sequel is that the world is already established, so the story doesn’t have to focus so much on explaining everything. That being said, this series should definitely be read in order.
 
Head On is fast-paced, thrilling, and easy to read. The writing was much smoother than the first book. It felt like Scalzi found a better rhythm. And he didn’t repeat the same information ad nauseam like he did in the first book. The mystery plot wasn’t as dizzying which made the story more enjoyable. On the other hand, I still wanted more out of the character development. You get to know the characters better, but I still never felt a deep, emotional connection to any of the characters. They were interesting. I was routing for them. But I wanted more emotional depth. There were times when the humor also impeded character depth, sacrificing emotional moments for snarky comebacks. Nevertheless, I did find it entertaining (though not laugh-out-loud funny).
 
Lock In had more social commentary and a stronger message orientation. Head On certainly still had those themes, but they were subtler. There was still plenty of food for thought, but the surface story was more mainstream. This is definitely an interesting and original series that I look forward to seeing more of.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 3 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

Ryan LaFerney

Mix Philip K. Dick's stories like (The Minority Report) , Isaac Assimov's detective Robot Series, and the pop thrillers of Michael Crichton, Lincoln Child and others and you'll get John Scalzi's Head On, the sequel to Scalzi's 2014’s Lock In. 

It's a quirky, violent, often funny and complex sequel to 2014’s Lock In, centering around the character Chris Shane, who has Haden’s Syndrome, a disease where the infected is “locked in” their body. When the epidemic spread when Chris was a child, Hadens switched to living in a newly developed virtual space called the Agora. To interact with the physical world they use threeps ( nicknamed for C-3PO from Star Wars), basically robots they can wifi into. Over the years, the game Hilketa was developed, wherein Hadens try to rip the heads of each other’s threep’s off in a violent sport that’s sort of a cross between soccer, rugby, and Robot Wars. No joke. It's a brilliant concept and an interesting commentary on the often violent nature of sports. 

In Lock In, Scalzi introduced readers to Chris, a Haden FBI agent who is partnered with senior Leslie Vann. The pair investigates the murder of an Integrator, which led to a larger conspiracy. In Head On, the pair is once again tasked with investigating the death of a Haden athlete named Duane Chapman. Chapman is a player of Hilketa. His death is a blow to the rising sport, which is attempting to become a worldwide entity. As Shane and Vann dig into the athlete’s death, they find a variety of suspects and are ultimately led to a full-blown conspiracy involving shady organizations and the future of the Hilketa league itself.

Without giving too much of the plot away, Scalzi has a lot to say in this book about how athletes often participate in a corrupt system where their sport is often rigged either intentionally or unintentionally. Being a big baseball fan, I couldn't help but think about how baseball players and organizations have abused steroids or have even rigged games to win bets (just look at the The events of theThe 1919 World Series where the series are often associated with the Black Sox Scandal, when several members of the Chicago franchise conspired with gamblers, allegedly led by Arnold Rothstein, to throw the World Series games). Scalzi says a lot about sports culture in this book: It s violence, its greed, its elitism. And it is super fascinating.

The novel is a breezy, fast-paced, compelling mystery that was a bit more of traditional mystery thriller narrative than I was anticipating. However, I still loved it. I also think it is an intriguing addition to the world that Scalzi set up in Lock In, and it serves as a good parable for how the world deals with — and takes advantage of — marginalized communities (not all humans are fond of Hadens in Scalzi's future world). If you're a fan of Scalzi's work and the Lock In series., you'll dig this too.

Maggie Gordon

I don't remember adoring Lock In, so I was quite surprised when I picked up Head On and it was just so compulsively readable! This is a specialty of Scalzi, but he managed to make me super interested in a story about sports! And murder. The murder part always helps :) The Lock In world is a fascinating place where a good chunk of the population is fully conscious, but unable to move their bodies at all. Consequently, a vibrant virtual life developed for these individuals, as well as the creation of robot bodies. This lets Scalzi play with a lot of interesting social issues (like gender... take heed that no one ever genders our protagonist!). You get murder mysteries with some thoughtful social commentary! Who doesn't want that? I mean, I want that and you should to!

Dani

Last book of the year, kind of rushed into it in the last days, but it’s so easily rushed once you’re hooked on the story, which happens really fast.

Adam

"Head on" is the 2nd book in Scalzi's Lock In series. The series features a world where about 1% of the population have Hadens syndrome, a disease which "locks people in" to their body, although their minds still work. People with Haydens have a oasis/mmorpg-style world to interest with others virtually, or can take control of a robot, called threeps, where they can interact in the real world.

This second book in the series builds on the world in a fun way. Similar to the first book, it plays more like a detective novel in a science fiction world. I mentioned it reminds me of Asimov's "Caves of Steel", which is true for this one as well.

The story follows the investigation into a death during a football-like game played by threeps (the robots). I'd put Head on fully in the "fun" category of books. It was immensely entertaining, great at world building and overall just a great ride. As a bonus, the audiobook is read by Wil Wheaton!

Head On A Novel of the Near Future

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