John Scalzi

When a new virus causes one percent of the population to become completely paralyzed in body but not in mind, America pursues a scientific initiative to develop a virtual-reality world for victims, with unexpected consequences. By the Hugo Award-winning author of Redshirts.

Lock In

Aamna

Barely 3 stars. Such a strong start. Disappointed with how it turned out.

Briar's Reviews

I've been recommended John Scalzi by so many people, and of course I couldn't resist. I found Lock In recently and knew I had to read it immediately. 

This thriller/sci-fi crossover was a delightful read, even if it might not have been the topic I wanted to think about during a pandemic. Anywho - a high contagious virus is going across the world (yeah, that part). People are getting sick and then are getting locked in their bodies (a total nightmare). The disease doesn't discriminate, and of course this makes life hard for many people. Over two decades later, there is a solution to being locked in. You can borrow a body. It's complicated and definitely science fiction, but it's an incredible concept.

Now throw in the plot: an FBI rookie who is one of those locked in fellows (who had the horrible Haden's syndrome). He uses a special robot like body to do his job, and he's very good at it. As bodies keep not behaving and murders are happening left and right, it's time to unravel a mystery behind the solutions to the virus.

This book was super fast paced, so incredibly interesting, and I could hardly stop myself from binging. I absolutely loved this and it shows me that my dislike for sci-fi is purely on not reading the right books. Scalzi made this book so well, and I will definitely be reading the sequel.

Five out of five stars!

Fifteen years from now, a new virus sweeps the globe. 95% of those afflicted experience nothing worse than fever and headaches. 4% suffer acute meningitis, creating the largest medical crisis in history. And 1% find themselves 'locked in' - fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. 1% doesn't seem like a lot. But in the US that's 1.7 million people 'locked in' ... including the President's wife and daughter. Spurred by grief and the sheer magnitude of the suffering, America undertakes a massive scientific initiative. Nothing can fully restore the locked in. But then two new technologies emerge. One is a virtual-reality environment, 'The Agora', where the locked-in can interact with other humans, whether locked-in ornot. The other is the discovery that a few rare individuals have brains that are receptive to being controlled by others, allowing those who are locked in to occasionally 'ride' these people and use their bodies as if they were their own. This skill is quickly regulated, licensed, bonded, and controlled. Nothing can go wrong. Certainly nobody would be tempted to misuse it, for murder, for political power, or worse ...

Cheri Fuller

It took me two tries to get into the book - the first was several months ago - but this time around, it held my attention tightly. The story and sci-fi aspects were very interesting. Glad I tried it the second time. 

Now I'm going to listen to the version narrated by Amber Benson.

Colleen

3.5 Stars

**This review contains some spoilers. They do not relate to the plot, but don't read the spoilers if you have not read the book yet.** 

I did not read much about Lock In prior to reading it. On the one hand, this was good because it kept me from the many spoilers. But on the other hand, based on a quick glance over the synopsis, I developed expectations that were drastically different from what the book actually is. This was my first book by Scalzi so I was not familiar with his style. I just knew he writes SciFi. I was expecting Lock In to be a SciFi thriller with horror elements so I was surprised to instead find a cheeky police procedural with slight SciFi elements.

I would also recommend that people interested in this story not look up too much about it. There are a lot of people who gave away the twist, and if you read those, it's going to ruin the run.

Lock In is set in the not too distant future after a super virus that causes some people to go into a permanent state where their body is paralyzed but they remain conscious. These people are known as Hadens. There is no cure, but technology has advanced enough to make it possible for people to upload their consciousness to an online community, into android body, or into certain people known as Integrators. FBI agent Leslie Vann and her rookie partner Chris Shane are assigned a mysterious murder of a Haden and of course things quickly become more complicated. 

It was an interesting but complicated setting. It frequently felt like there were missing pieces from the world building. There is a prequel short story called Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome that was apparently released as a teaser for the book. I usually avoid series novellas, because my stance is that if it did not fit organically into the book, then it isn't necessary. They are like watching deleted scenes from movies: those scenes got cut for a reason. And like extended editions, they just exist to charge you more money. Now, in this case, Unlocked is available for free and genuinely seems to want to provide background information for the novel. But I still say the information should have been worked into the book. I did read the novella after the fact. Which brings me to the second problem: it's written as an oral history of the fake future from the novel. This is another personal hangup, but I HATE anything remotely like a mockumentary. They drive me bonkers! Make me believe in your world through organic storytelling, not a bunch of fake, dry commentaries taking themselves way too seriously. While Unlocked did give more background information, it was dry as the Sahara and an absolute chore to read. If I had read the novella first, it would have been a 100% guarantee that I would NEVER have read Lock In. Which would have been a shame, because despite some flaws Lock In was entertaining. 

Beneath the standard police procedural mystery was a subtle, thought-provoking look at society. One interesting theme throughout the book was the parallels to the deaf community. Some characters expect Hadens to make all the effort to integrate into the general populous. Some Hadens embrace their isolated society where they only interact with other Hadens. And there were plenty of people in between. But it isn't preachy about it. That was just an additional layer to ponder if you wanted to. The story was also nonchalantly progressive which I appreciated. It's so annoying when books are controversial just for the sake of it.

On the other hand, the writing was condescending at times. I don't think this was intentional, but by the fifth time (yes, literally the FIFTH TIME) Scalzi reminded readers that Haden's Syndrome was named after President Haden's wife I wanted to give Scalzi a vigorous shaking and peevishly ask him why he kept repeating the same basic information over and over and over. Especially something like the syndrome's namesake which had almost nothing to do with the overall story. It was filler for the background information. Give your readers a little credit, Scazi. Seriously.

The plot felt standard for a police procedural story even with the SciFi elements thrown in. It seemed like the SciFi ideas were underutilized. Despite people being able to send their consciousness into android shells and/or other people, parts of the story felt awfully humdrum. And then there was the time old gimmick where characters have a grand epiphany, figure everything out, and come up with a grand plan while not enlightening the readers at all. That always makes me want to grind my teeth. Find a way of building suspense without intentionally leaving readers in the dark. 

I also wanted more character development. The dialogue was snappy and fun (and much lighter than expected for a murder mystery), but there just was not enough character development. They were noteworthy characters, but they did not really change from beginning to end. (view spoiler)[Ok, here is the part that you should not read if you have not read Lock In yet. Seriously! What was fascinating was that the main character, Chris, does not have a specified gender. This is subtlety done. The reader will make an assumption about whether Chris is male or female and the story will work perfectly fine either way. Someone could read the book, enjoy it, and be none the wiser about Scalzi's little social experiment. Apparently he did not tell anyone that he had done that until after the book was published. It tells us a lot about how we make assumptions about gender. I'm glad that didn't find this tidbit out until after I finished the book. It was fun to look back at my own assumptions. And it makes sense given the world. Chris is a Haden and contracted the disease as a two-year-old. The book (subtly) discuses how people who were older when they contracted Haden's Syndrome were firmly ensconced in their gender identities. But the younger a person was when they became "locked in" to their coma states, the less they tended to identify strongly with a gender. And it makes sense that someone whose consciousness has always been in the digital world rather than their physical body would not be as cemented in the expected gender role of that body. It was definitely an interesting social experiment, and I appreciated that Scalzi was subtle about it rather than making a media splash over his own cleverness. (hide spoiler)]

So I still have mixed feelings about Lock In. There were definitely some interesting ideas and themes, but there was a lack of character development and a plot that felt generic at times. I went back and forth a lot about whether to round up or down with my rating. But overall, I had more positive thoughts about it than negative. I will definitely check out more of Scalzi's works in the future.


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

Ryan LaFerney

I can't believe it has taken me this long to read John Scalzi, one of the most popular sci-fi authors of the decade. Lock In is a fast paced mystery and police procedural set in the near future, steeped in speculative (and slightly plausible) science fiction. The story is reminiscent of work from Philip K. Dick and Micheal Crichton. It also reminded me a bit of Isaac Asimov's Robot novels. 

So yes, I am giving John Scalzi high praise. 

 The plot itself is pretty fascinating: In the near future (we don't exactly know when) a portion of the population is affected by Haden`s Syndrome, a disease that cuts the communication between a person`s brain and their body so that they experience `lock in` - they are conscious, but unable to move and interact with the physical world. `Threeps,` or advanced robot-like machines, allow `Hadens` a physical representation in the world. 'Threeps' are an avatar of sorts for Hadens. The story centers on a Haden named Chris Shane who has just started a job as an FBI agent. As government funding for Hadens is cut by new legislation, citizen protests and a rash of violent deaths may make Shane`s first week on the force an interesting one...

Crimes are being committed by people who are under the control of others! 

Sharp, thought-provoking, humorous, and quite accessible, this is a book worth picking up. The mystery was very intriguing and will have you turning the pages quickly. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

Reread September 2020 - in the middle of a terrifying pandemic. Great comfort food!

Belle

2.5 rounded up. Some interesting ideas but the story was a bit hard to follow and not super interesting. Might make a good movie.

Connor 

Holy freaking crap.

(I might come back and add to this review. For now, that stands.)

Alex Roland

Interesting premise and I was into the characters and the story until about 2/3 of the way through. Then it just felt rushed and lost its momentum.

Todd Luallen

A decent crime drama with a sci-fi bent. I had trouble following the character names in the book, and some of the beginning was a little technical, but not too bad. The main concept behind the "lock in" aspect of the book is fairly technical to understand, and at the same time somewhat novel. As a result, it took a couple chapters to really understand how "integrators" worked with "lock in" sufferers and what "threeps" were used for. But once you understand those things, the story is a basic who dunnit. I was not a fan of the dialogue, but I did find the interaction between the main character and his parents somewhat refreshing (it's rare to see a non-dysfunctional family). I do love that Audible chose to record two narrators for this story, a male and a female, but I would have preferred if the two voices were combined to create a more theatrical recording (Wil Wheaton doing the male voices, and Amber Benson doing the famales). Instead they just recorded two separate readings and you had to choose one or the other. I thought Wil reading for the character Van was jarring. It just seemed off for some reason. In addition, I'm rarely a fan of a lot of foul language in dialogue, and unfortunately this book had its fair share. 
The audio book is really just over 7 hours long (which is pretty short) because the last 2.5 hours are actually a novella about the Haden syndrome outbreak. I didn't listen to the novella as the content was very dry and because I don't plan on continuing the series. For those that love the story, it's probably well worth the effort, and the production seems fairly good (multiple readers).

Kelsey Lynn

2.5/5 

I kind of wish I hadn't read any of his other work before reading this. Cause honestly I feel I wasn't giving this book enough of a chance when I started it, judging it too harshly. But when I switched gears and tried to give it the benifit of the doubt and lowered the bar I still wasn't impressed.
 What bums me out about it is that it's a really cool concept. I love the idea. A post/on going disease causing people to be 'locked in' their bodies, the way society would adapt to it, there are a lot of possibilities. But I liked the concept for Redshirts  too and like that it was his writing ability that killed it for me.
 You know when you buy an album, or did in the 90s, and all the songs had different lyrics but sounded the same? That's Scalzi ' s books for me. The concepts are different but the delivery is still the same and lacking. Especially on characters, every character is the same, regardless of gender or age. The main characters in this book might as well have just been the main character from Redshirts. Every character is snarky and swears and regardless of their backgrounds drops the f bomb. When the main characters dad dropped it after all this 'developing' of his character it felt so weird and out of place. There is no relation development of characters, random quick back stories awkwardly forced in, people disliking each other nd then magically being super synced to have snarky playful banter.

 I don't know, this is turning into a rant. I almost wish these books didn't have good concepts. I read them cause he has good ideas but so far keep ending up annoyed at the high school writing. I'm not a writer and I don't claim to be, my spelling and grammer are atrocious, and when I'm writing on my cracked screen tablet I'm even worse. But you don't have to be good to know good. This isn't a case (or shouldn't be) a case of "well it's better than what I could've done". Hands down his concepts carry him.

Dweedle 

A detective fiction with a small twist in the world that introduces humans as machines for detectives. The dialogue is clunky and our protagonist is tough to love. A bit too easy to see where everything was headed. Saving grace was the Haden storyline, and it’s effect on society, but wouldn’t recommend.

Kaleb McClellan

For what it intended to be, it was aggressively okay

Kira L

a bit biased with the rating, but it was a good pick me up re-reading one of my favourite sci-fi action novel.

Luke Kanies

An interesting detective novel built around a world highly changed by the devastating effects of a disease. Not incredible, but a fun read.

Sally Salinas

Murder mystery with humanoid robots. Kinda of started slow however about 60-70% in it gets more entertaining.

Carla Aquino

The PageTurners book 4:

This book started off really slow and confusing. It took a while to understand what was really going on and who was who or what. About 3/4's of the way it started to make a little more sense and was easier to follow once I got the it down pack. It was definitely different than anything I have ever read before...Very Sci-Fi like iRobot type stuff.

Brandon Lee

Realistically a 3.5. Good fun read for the weekend, plus it does a very good job of not gendering the protagonist (you also only get a hint at their race late in the story). My image of who they were kept flipping from chapter to chapter; I kind of didn't want to decide if the author hadn't decided.

Jay Carter

Another fast read from Mr. Scalzi, and another story ripe for big-screen treatment... kind of like that Almost Human show with Karl Urban, except there's real people in them robots. Docked a star for too easy to guess plot points.

Adam

When I first heard about "Lock In", I thought it was just another pandemic book based on the descriptions. I was completely wrong! This book is much more of a combination of "Surrogates", "I, Robot" and "Caves of Steel" -- a detective novel with a sci-fi touch in a world facing a pandemic. The pandemic is different than the usual ones though. Instead of killing those affected, it locks them in, making them unable to communicate or move their bodies. This is where the 'Surrogates" comparison comes in. The government develops a way for those affected to control robots which act as proxies for these people in the real world.

I enjoyed the world building in this one, as well as the main characters. The dynamic reminded me a lot of Caves of Steel, but without quite as much "Ohhh, of course that's it!" to the story.

Jeremy Cote

I thought it was a good book. However, I found the plot did not tug at the emotional core of the reader enough.