Lock In (Narrated by Wil Wheaton)

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Wil Wheaton

Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

AudioFile Best Voices - Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Audio Theater, 2014

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.

"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)

2 editions. 2 narrators. 1 thrilling story. You can enjoy Amber Benson's narration here.

©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)

"With narrator Wil Wheaton attacking Scalzi's text with both vigor and nuance, this story tells about a silent minority being given voice, then having that voice threatened.... Thanks to Wheaton's skillful efforts, this production is an enjoyable melding of narrator and material." ( AudioFile)

philosophy lives

authors are the philosophers of our time, expanding thought and reason into the future further than most can comprehend. their research into subjects makes them the perfect bringer of the future and its consequences.

Scalzi at his best!

Iriginal, compelling, great character development. I am looking forward to the second book in the series. I hope the same characters continue on....

enjoyed the book

some fun world building. good book. fun mystery without being super crazy. enjoy the book.

Very enjoyable read.

Scalzi never fails to come up with diverse and interesting concepts. Wrapping up Haden Syndrome and the resulting changes it causes to society into a murder mystery was pretty cool. I agree with others about the “He said/she said.” dialogue. I think this was done very intentionally to go with the mystery genre, but I think it detracted from the story, overall.

The original novel ended a lot sooner than I thought and I almost didn’t read the novella at the end of the book, but after I got into it a ways I realized is was extremely interesting and really contributed to the overall story. I enjoyed the interview format and it filled in a lot of the missing detail about Haden’s Syndrome and the development of threeps. Be sure to read it! I’m guessing it may have some additional relevance in the sequal, which I’m looking forward to reading. You may even want to read the novella first (others have.)

I couldn’t help thinking that the use of “Threeps” is a really interesting twist on R.A. Heinlein’s “Waldos”, introduced ages ago. I’m guessing threeps will play a role in future novels, particularly the idea of using them for non-Haden’s people.

Once again, Wil Wheaton delivers a great performance.

Great story, excellently narrated.

I absolutely loved the entire story that John Scalzi brings to life. I wasn't sure what to expect when I purchased the book. I've heard good things about the author and Wil Wheaton narrating sealed the deal for the purchase. Through the entire book I kept imagining that this would be a great to be adapted to a movie. I can't wait to dive into the sequel.

Great story, slightly repetitive writing style

Overall I really liked the topic and how he tells the story at a high level. I just dock it a star because of the “<name> said” after every bit of dialogue. It was a bit annoying. Otherwise really recommend the book and this performance by Wil was great as always.

My first Scalzi novel

Would you try another book from John Scalzi and/or Wil Wheaton?

Overall I enjoyed this novel. It was not as thrilling as I would have liked though. I will definitely would try another John Scalzi novel.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The characters were not as well developed as I would have liked. The lead character, Chris, had the most development but was still thinly developed.

Was Lock In (Narrated by Wil Wheaton) worth the listening time?

I actually enjoyed listening to this book, though there were some audio "oddities". There was multiple retakes that were obvious and a little distracting.

better than the description leads you to believe

I almost didn't read this because the book's description makes it sound very depressing, but it's actually quite an interesting and fast-paced read - classic Scalzi style. I recommend it

Good story/reader mediocre

I liked the futuristic crime novel but the reading was flat in that the various characters shared the same voice, as opposed to the reader giving each his or her own voice, resulting in a bit of confusion at times as to who was speaking. It was literally read to me.

Maybe not the best time to be reading this book, but…

I was never a big Wil Wheaton fan, even back in the Star Trek days, but I think that his narration style is a perfect match for John Scalzi’s writing style. This was an extremely well written and entertaining book which is, as they say, as relevant as today’s headlines.