Recently on twitter, John Scalzi shared a one-star review of one of his books he found. In the review, the writer was upset that Scalzi wrote easily readable sci-fi “romps”. Like me, Scalzi had a hard time finding why writing something that could be described as a romp would be bad. Romps are usually fun, right? Anyway, all of this is to say that Scalzi’s second foray into the world he established in Lock-in is fun, slick and dare I say another romp.
Head On, like the first book in this series, takes place in a world where a flu-like virus has incapacitated 1% of the world’s population leaving them with a condition called Haden’s Syndrome. Hadens, as they are called, are “locked in” their own heads because while they are mentally alert and healthy, their bodies are physically unresponsive. To avoid the horror of being mentally aware but unable to interact with the world, Hadens are all wired into a neural network that let them interact with each other in a private separate internet-based universe, the “Agora”, as well as publicly via robotic “threeps” they control via their neural networks.
All of above background world building is covered again in this book, in fact, I think Head-On could be read as a stand-alone novel if someone didn’t want to go back and read Lock In first (though you totally should!). That said, Head-on, starts with a bang and drops the reader in moments after a shocking death that takes place during a preseason Hilketa game (think about a game where rugby and robot wars had a baby and that baby had hammers, swords, robots and liked decapitation). Everyone’s favorite Haden FBI agent, Chris Shane, is back along with his non-Haden partner Leslie Vann trying to figure out if this death was an accident or murder. Shady sports deals, possible doping, sex bots and lots of fun snark are uncovered as Chris and Vann try to untangle what’s going on.
This was a quick read, I devoured it, as I do all Scalzi books, in the space of a day or two. Scalzi’s background as a former journeyman writer for news sites is on full display here. Every page is pithy and fun but not a word is wasted in propelling the story forward. The mystery did what all good mysteries do which is not to get ahead of itself and not get too complicated. Everyone’s competing motivations in the book are tied to easily understood reasons that make sense in the world Scalzi’s built. Most importantly, for as much as a “romp” this was, what I really love about this series is how effortlessly Scalzi builds in the more serious social ramifications of Hadens. These are people who are disabled and who no longer have a government safety net to help subsidize necessary medical and mental support. Each Haden’s access to money or wealth has tangible impacts on their quality of life and the family members that care for them. The book never forgets this and plays out the ramifications of this in many different ways.
What the book does “forget” to do is reveal what gender Chris is though I have my guess. It’s not important and honestly not even something I picked up on in the first book until it was pointed out. But now that I am aware, I can’t stop thinking about it! Stupid made up societal constructs, get out of my head!