Lock In: A Novel of the Near Future

· The Lock In Series Book 1 · Sold by Macmillan
4.3
265 reviews
Ebook
336
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

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. The world of the locked in is changing, and with the change comes opportunities that the ambitious will seize at any cost. The investigation that began as a murder case takes Shane and Vann from the halls of corporate power to the virtual spaces of the locked in, and to the very heart of an emerging, surprising new human culture. It's nothing you could have expected.

Other Tor Books
Lock In: Lock In / Head On
Old Man's War: Old Man's War / The Ghost Brigades / The Last Colony / Zoe's Tale / The Human Division / The End of All Things
The Interdpendency: The Collapsing Empire / The Consuming Fire / The Last Emperox
The Android’s Dream
Agent to the Stars
Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded
Fuzzy Nation
Redshirts

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

4.3
265 reviews
David Nguyen
February 17, 2015
At first like many Sci-fi stuff, there's the whole learning curve to understand their world. Once the terminology roots, you're given a pretty interesting case to read. As more mystery and confusion is added to the case, I realized I'm over halfway through the book. It was a quick way to sort all the clues together and find the answer, but it didn't stop the action. Hoping to see more cases from this character, but also hoping for something thicker too. The length of this read reminds me of a light novel.
2 people found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
Kevin Galbraith
October 10, 2014
I really like this book, but I got the sense while reading that it was originally planned to be much longer but due to some reason or another the author quickly brought it to a close. That isn't to say it is bad, rather that there is a really long lead up of investigative work and whatnot done in the story that all of the sudden concludes with the turn of a page. I really enjoyed it and would read another novel with the same characters but it seemed like the author could have gone deeper with it and made a 600 -800 pg novel instead. But that could just be a testament to how much I enjoyed the story and characters, that I didn't want it over so fast.
11 people found this review helpful
Did you find this helpful?
Mo Gosh
August 25, 2020
The sci-fi parts: transposing consciousness concept not new, but reliable and believable parameters to this world make it interesting to explore abuses and extremes along with the detective. The murder mystery parts: Ho-hum. Not enough skin in the game for lead detective; interest waned in plot action. Partner (female) detective mostly relegated to sidelines, felt like untapped potential.
Did you find this helpful?

About the author

JOHN SCALZI is one of the most popular and acclaimed SF authors to emerge in the last decade. His massively successful debut Old Man's War won him science fiction's John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His New York Times bestsellers include The Last Colony, Fuzzy Nation, and Redshirts; which won 2013's Hugo Award for Best Novel. Material from his widely read blog The Whatever (whatever.scalzi.com) has also earned him two other Hugo Awards. He lives in Ohio with his wife and daughter.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.