Lock In (Narrated by Amber Benson)

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Amber Benson

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Two editions. Two narrators. One thrilling story. You can also choose to download Wil Wheaton's narration.

"I love working with Audible, in no small part because they’re committed to doing what’s right, both for my books, and the people who listen to those books. There's a really excellent reason for Lock In to have two entirely different versions, so when it came time to make the audiobook, Audible did an ingenious thing: they asked both Wil Wheaton and Amber Benson to record entire versions of the book. As the author, I’m impressed with Audible’s commitment to my narrative - and I’m geeking out that both Wil and Amber are reading my book. This is fantastic." (John Scalzi)

A blazingly inventive near-future thriller from the best-selling, Hugo Award-winning John Scalzi.

Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever, and headaches. 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. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.

A 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 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. If the Integrator was carrying a Haden client, then naming the suspect for the murder becomes that much more complicated.

But "complicated" doesn't begin to describe it. 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.

BONUS AUDIO: Audible's audio edition of Lock In contains the bonus novella, Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome, written by John Scalzi and narrated by a full cast.

©2014 John Scalzi (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"Hugo-winner Scalzi successfully shifts away from space opera with this smart, thoughtful near-future thriller resonant with the themes of freedom, ethics, and corporate greed….This powerful novel will intrigue and entertain both fans and newcomers." ( Publishers Weekly)

"The novel--which contains plenty of action, great character development, vivid and believable worldbuilding and a thought-provoking examination of disability culture and politics--is definitely worth the ride." ( Kirkus)

"Another brilliant novel from a writer who has quickly become one of the genre’s most successful and intriguing practitioners." ( Booklist)

investigation into transferable consciousness

Lock In is sort of a prequel to Old Man's War. It continues Scalzi's fascination with the mind, identity and how humans will begin to physically interface with technology. It is interesting to see how an idea germinates within an author and manifests throughout his career with a multitude of facets. Like all true SciFi Scalzi probes the implications of dislocated/transferable consciousness from many angles. What separates this from The Surrogates or the Matrix is the implication of race, sexuality, gender, and self when a significant portion of the population is disembodied from birth or at least early development. The audio book is sold in two versions. One read by Wil Wheaton and another by Amber Benson. This is possible because the story is told in first person and the gender of the narrator is never revealed in the text. It's a little bit of a magic trick, but not a gimmick. The gender of the character is never pertinent to us or the other characters. The race of our character is not even approached or implied until the final third of the book, and in general race itself is not character trait. This is science fiction done well. They are always telling us gender and race are not important in the societies of the future, but it is in the telling that undermines the point. The omission is powerful and successful.

this book has everything a good science fiction bo

John scalzi creates a real world ‏think about all the small details and makes a compelling story

Fantastic story, good narration. Excellent bonus

The story was one of Mr Scalzi's typically excellent premises and superbly executed.

Ms. Benson's narration was good but I didn't feel she portrayed the range of characterization that some of the expert narrators bring to a production.

What really got me was the bonus Novella appended to the main title. Excellent addition to flesh out the story and narrated by some of Audible's top talent. Definitely a title that delivers!

performance was awesome

wow, everything from the writing to the performance great! A must read! looking forward to book two!

“She said”

Super interesting concept and even a good story line. I loved the novella at the end, which feels especially relevant in 2020. However, the author used “said” every other sentence instead of even attempting to use a synonym. The frequency plus the narration made it feel rhythmic in an obnoxious way. If you can get past that, it’s a decent book.

Excellent story concept.

Concept of story was fantastic. I will be reading more of this author. Good easy read wished the plot was a little thicker towards the end but I would still suggest this read/listen.

A solid listen

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend it. I really like how they handled victims of the illness and the laws that had been put in place around their needs.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I particularly liked her partner. A hard woman with a story as to why.

What about Amber Benson’s performance did you like?

Good all around performance

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Locked in, but not out

entertaining

enjoyed the book. well performed. interesting concept. sorta like a murder mystery meets Scifi. would recommend to friends.

Liked this much better than I expected

I had seen this book and considered it a few times, but didn't pick it up because it sounded too depressing, but then it was on sale as an editor's choice, so I thought I would give it a try. Turns out it was pretty darn interesting and despite the illness angle, not depressing. The narration by Will Wheaton was also much better than I expected. I wound up doing an extra loop on my run in 80 degree weather just to finish the last few chapters.

Good story and narration

I really liked the concept of this book. There were some weak points, of course, but the overall effect of the story was very good. The whole premise was excellent and was well executed, I think some of the legal and law enforcement aspects of the story were not well handled and if you can overlook those you'll find the story to be very enjoyable. It even does a good job of pulling on heartstrings from time to time, especially the bonus Hayden's history at the end.

The narrator did a very good job, there were some areas where she was weak and occasionally it required the text of the story to tell me who was speaking but those were few and often far between. I would definitely consider listening to another book she narrates.