Lock In

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.

I mean, replace "not too long from today" with "last month" and "Lock In" with death, and this is the world that we're currently living in. Aside from the robots that those with Lock In syndrome use to interface with the world, this isn't science-fiction so much as science-fact. There was a chance that reading this now would hit a little too close to home, but I was also hoping that it might prove cathartic.

Thankfully it worked out. The book actually takes place twenty-five years after the virus. Take away the genre-trappings and it's a standard-issue thriller. It was a nice reminder that this too shall pass. The world won't be the same, but it will be recognizable.

Beyond the timeliness of this particular read, it was a fun, fast-paced, engaging story. Chris is a brand-new FBI agent who suffers from Lock In syndrome. Having contracted the disease as a young child, Chris has no real memories of living in a body, having always had access to the latest robot technology. One consequence of this is that Chris' identity is completely divorced from gender. Chris is never referred to as "he" or "she" and even the audio book was recorded by both a male and female artist (Wil Wheaton and Amber Benson, for those who care).

This is never really mentioned in the book, and it's actually pretty easy to read the whole thing without even noticing that Chris is never gendered. But if you do pick up on it (or have already read several reviews and interviews about the book) it adds an interesting layer. Does Chris come across as more masculine or more feminine? Does it depend on the situation? It allows for agender representation, though it also allows the reader to gloss right by that agender representation.

For what seems like a standard-issue sci-fi thriller, this book builds up some interesting layers. It makes it easy to read, but provides for a lot of food for thought after the fact. Scalzi is fast becoming a go-to author for me when I want the kind of book that can be read as either a lighthearted romp or a a more piercing work of societal critique.