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)

Omg what GENIUS!

I absolutely love Scalzi as a writer (though, not really a fan of his sequels… first in a series and short sorties - mind blowing / mind opening!)

His humor is vibrant, his words spring off the page and always a fun sci fi mystery

This book has awesome narrators and boy does the plot keep you hooked. Talk about predicting COVID before it happens ! No more spoilers - just get it and listen ;)

I want my Threep!

As a chronic pain sufferer, I have often felt locked in to my own body and desired nothing more than to have a robocop body to carry my mind around and let me fight corporate crimes against humanity, while simultaneously letting me live on the Internet, so this book was pretty much an instant winner for me.

Iconic!

Knew from the reviews that this was a departure for Scalzi. What a departure! In my most humble opinion, this tome is an instant classic of the genre! A most novel concept and treatment of universal truths that will stay with readers long after they finish the book.

Think Michael Valentine Smith meets 'I Robot'! I do believe that his predecessors would approve!

Reading other reviews, I only wish that I'd purchased different narrator. Ms Benson wasn't bad, she wasn't quite up to the material.

Interesting story line, writing fell short

The story had a good plot but I couldn't get over the "he said, she said" style of writing. It was very hard to try to listen when every conversation between the characters started or ended with he said, Van said, she said, I said, etc. the story line was interesting. I do wish I had purchased the book narrated by Wil Wheaton.

Great world creation

Great story with really impressive invented underlying story supporting the novel- I also enjoyed the narrators amazing and consistent variety of voices that made keeping track of the characters a lot easier for me.

Interesting world, problem, and solution.

Any additional comments?

If you're unsure whether to check this book out, go get the prelude novella "Unlocked: An oral history of Haden's Syndrome" which is available free online from Tor books. This establishes the setting, a slightly-in-the-future world in which an epidemic has swept the world, leaving huge numbers dead and many more victims of "lock in" syndrome, in which they remain fully conscious but are completely unable to interact with their own bodies in any way.

Since no cure for Haden's Syndrome has been found, the best solution so far has been to create neural network links that allow those "locked in" to control android bodies that allow them to move around the world and interact with people through second hand. "Lock In" itself is set in this environment and is the story of a new FBI agent who is also a Lock In patient using an android body, investigating a murder that may have an impact on the world of the lock in victims and their freedom itself.

It's an interesting world setting, well described, and the characters are likeable and detailed. One interesting thing Scalzi does is to be (I assume) deliberately ambiguous about some aspects of some of the characters, allowing you to make your own assumptions. For example, the race of one character isn't mentioned at all until very late in the book and only in a passing comment, and the gender of another character is never clear at all. Unsure if this is an intentional choice to emphasize the android world that Haden's Syndrome has created, or just a deliberate ambiguity on Scalzi's part to make us check our assumptions, but it made me double take at least once. Overall I think I liked Old Man's War better, but this was still an entertaining story and I'd likely pick up a sequel if there ever is one.

Solid Detective Story in Scifi Universe.

I really enjoyed the universe this book was set in. Lots of cool details about Hayden Syndrome and how everything worked. Great narrator with Amber Benson.

Short story at end better than novel.

Bonus short story interesting history of the premise of the novel. The novel rather unengaging thriller. I'd say murder mystery but not at all mysterious.

Dialogue not great but plot was really interesting

This novel was a really good mix of present and future. The plot seemed like it could be set in the not so distant future (within my life time). I thought there was a great play on the discussion of artificial intelligence as well as discrimination and class structure. Interesting read. Kept my attention throughout.

Great book and narrator hits it out of the park

I I loved this book the characters are so believable. I think story is ripe for many sequels. Also the narration was outstanding. Usually I don't care about narrators a lot but this time I cared because I really liked it.