LOCK IN
Written by John Scalzi
Narrated by Wil Wheaton
I purchased the unabridged audiobook version of this novel at http://www.audible.com
I rate this as 4 out of 5 stars. This book is very well written. It is a Science Fiction/Dystopian novel. But, it is also a Mystery/Thriller.
The book is set in the near future. A virus has swept across the World, but it is unlike any virus in the history of mankind.
Even though the people who are the most adversely affected only make up one percent of the world’s population, that amounts to almost two million people on the United States alone.
The most severe sufferers of the disease have what is known as “Haden’s Syndrome. It was named this because President Haden’s wife was one of the first people to experience the worst symptoms.
What are those symptoms? And, why are they so horrific? Imagine being awake and aware of everything that is going on around you, but you are unable to speak or even move. Sufferers of Heydon’s Syndrome suffer from “LOCK IN” which means that the victims are essentially in a coma, but can’t move or communicate. They need to be kept alive with feeding tubes and IVs. Their bodies waste away and there is nothing they can do about it.
The horror of being “Locked In” can not be adequately described. That situation would make me want to kill myself. The problem would be that you wouldn’t even be able to kill yourself.
The President makes combating this disease a top priority and spends billions of dollars on research. When someone discovers a way for these patients to control specialized robots using their exceptional brains, threeps are born.
Haden sufferers were now able to interact with the world. Their bodies stayed in one place while their consciousnesses were inside their “threep” which could walk and talk and do most everything normal humans could do.
Chris Shane is a Haden sufferer and is extremely famous. His father is a millionaire tycoon who advocates for the Haden community. Chris has suffered from Haden’s since childhood.
Chris is now an adult and starts his new job as an FBI agent. His first week proves to be very eventful and he has to solve multiple murders, investigate billion dollar corporations and try to keep the peace between Hadens and humans. All in a week’s work for the new FBI agent.
The intricate plot is very well written and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
I rate this book as 4 out of 5 stars.
The reason it is not 5 out of 5 is because the concept of “threeps” reminds me of the 2009 movie, “Surrogates” starting Bruce Willis. However, this book is very different (and much better) than that movie.
I also liked the fact that the audiobook also included a short novella that detailed the history of the disease.
I will definitely read more books by John Scalzi. To find out about more books written by this author, visit http://whatever.scalzi.com/about/books-by-john-scalzi/
To read more book and audiobook reviews written by me, please visit my blog at:
https://amiesbookreviews.wordpress.com
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