Lock In

John Scalzi writes quick reads that are thoughtful and have depth. I’m not sure how he does it.

His dialogue is fantastic and he includes just enough description. He never falls into the describing-stuff-because-I-know-lots-of-words trap.

He also comes up with fantastic ideas. Case in point: In Lock In, a virus that first emerged 20 years ago has left 1% of the population unable to use their bodies. These people still function and participate in society with the help of “threeps”–robots they can control with their minds. The book is just over 300 pages long, yet that’s plenty of space to build an excellent detective story that sits in a fully realized world.