RJ - Slayer of Trolls's Reviews > Head On

In this sequel to Lock In, a Hilketa player dies during a match, and FBI Agents Chris Shane and partner find themselves drawn into a complicated globe-spanning conspiracy. Haden's Syndrome was more fully explained in the first book as well as in the novella Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome*, but there's an info dump summary in the first couple chapters to bring new readers up to date, along with an explanation of the violent Haden-dominated sport of Hilketa. As before, Chris Shane is gender-neutral so you can impose a "him" or "her" onto the character, whichever you prefer, including two different audiobook versions. Scalzi's prose has matured a bit in the last few years, with a noticeable reduction (but not complete elimination) of "snark" and also, thankfully, a sharp reduction in the irritating use of italics in character dialogue that suggests that each and every one of Scalzi's characters speaks like Chandler Bing from Friends. But there's still a chatty feel to character dialogue, including that of the internal variety, that often feels awkward to read, along with enough "fluff" to get the book to the magic 300-page mark. The mystery plot is somewhat fun and easy to read, and is no more unrealistic than most bestseller mysteries although that is probably damning with faint praise. Bottom line: if you liked the first one, or you're a fan of Scalzi, you'll enjoy this one too.

* available for free here: https://www.tor.com/2014/05/13/unlock...