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)

Recommended to those who enjoyed the Dispatcher.

Loved the story.
Loved the narrator, much better than Wil Wheaton as her voice is much more enjoyable to listen to and her range is simply impressive.

Love the Humor

Do not normally like this type of book but Scalzi does a great job with characters and descriptions. Highly recommend

Great Fast-Paced Story

I enjoyed both the main book and the short story included as a bonus chapter at the end. The narrator did a pretty good job at conveying the various emotions that the characters were going through. Overall a good pick for fans of Scalzi.

Fun and interesting

I love that John answers a heap of what-ifs in a bonus novella at the end. Amazing how closely this correlates to Covid times and what an incredible world of moral grey area

What a great imagination!

Would you consider the audio edition of Lock In to be better than the print version?

Yes.

What other book might you compare Lock In to and why?

This book isn't like anything I've read before.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I couldn't put it down. I looked like I had Hayden's while I listened to the book, I was so engrossed in the book I didn't move for long periods of time.

Any additional comments?

This is the best Scalzi so far and I loved Redshirts and Agent to the Stars. The idea of Hayden syndrome is so believable in this day of global viruses. I was fascinated with the description of how the Hayden's experienced the world. The plot was good but for me it was just a vehicle to carry the story of Hayden syndrome and how it was addressed.

Great storyline with one exception!

The story is great. The characters development is interesting, albeit a little hard to follow at times.

There was one very annoying part of this book. It was the word "said" at the end of each characters statement. It was SAID so many times I lost track of the story at times.

Fun premise

It's a fun premise and an entertaining whodoneit BUT. One, there are TWO versions of this; the Wil Wheaton recording is the SAME book as this one. Audible did NOT make that clear when they were running the sale.
Two: Amber's reading is LITTERED with "she said" "He said" "I said" after nearly EVERY line of dialog to the point that it goes beyond distracting and well into the realm of the irritating. Also, the character voices she comes up with all make everyone sound stoned. She slows everyone's speech patterns down and it's just...weird. So this was probably the worst performance I've heard so far.
BUT the story was entertaining enough, and anyone with a kid with disabilities will enjoy the places their imagination takes them with this. Good enough to try one more by this author but NOT the reader. Bleh.

Very timely virus story

it took a few chapters before I was hooked. the characters seemed unreal and banal. but then I got into the story and started to enjoy the plot. I hope our world never come to this point.

Thought provoking

Although this was fictional it all turns out to be surprising predictions of how things could turn out with future SARS/Corona type viral contagions. Imagine a world of artificial intelligence being used (Hey ALEXA, go do my job)

When I understood what was happening .... WOW!

It took me a minute to understand exactly what was happening but once I did (about 1/4 way into the book) ..... I was hooked. John Scaalzi books are engaging and fantastically narrated. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.