Audiobook: The Dispatcher and Tell Me Something Tuesday : Picks for Summer 2017

One day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone - 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life.

Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher - a licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those whose circumstances put them in death's crosshairs, so they can have a second chance to avoid the reaper. But when a fellow Dispatcher and former friend is apparently kidnapped, Tony learns that there are some things that are worse than death and that some people are ready to do almost anything to avenge a supposed wrong.

It's a race against time for Valdez to find his friend before it's too late...before not even a Dispatcher can save him.

My thoughts:

Since this one was free I was all yes please. Oh and narrated by Quinto! Nice. He did well, and I do like his voice.

The story was interesting and weird. It seems that you can bring people back from the dead. How? Nobody knows. Strange but yes like I said interesting. The book follows Tony who helps a cop find a fellow dispatcher that has gone missing. We learn more about crime, how to get around the dispatcher issue and the darker side of dispatching.

It was short, but hey it still takes a long time for me to listen so I was all for that.

Good and short

Audible Audio, Unabridged, 2 hours 9 min
Published October 4th 2016 by Audible Studios
Mystery
Own

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post on Rainy Day Ramblings where Rainy discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog.

This week's conversation starter:

June 6th: Picks for Summer 2017

I had to go check my wishlist, but you know that might change before summer has come as I am writing this in March, but here are a few picks.

Grave witch Alex Craft is no stranger to the dead talking. She raises shades, works with ghosts, and is dating Death himself. But the dead walking? That’s not supposed to happen. And yet reanimated corpses are committing crimes across Nekros City.

Kate Harker is a girl who isn’t afraid of the dark. She’s a girl who hunts monsters. And she’s good at it. August Flynn is a monster who can never be human, no matter how much he once yearned for it. He’s a monster with a part to play. And he will play it, no matter the cost.

Book 2! I can't wait

With her brother Thomas injured on the battlefront in the Colonies, orphaned Cecilia Harcourt has two unbearable choices: move in with a maiden aunt or marry a scheming cousin. Instead, she chooses option three and travels across the Atlantic

Because it's Quinn

Lock in - John Scalzi

Fifteen years from now, a new virus sweeps the globe. 95% of those afflicted experience nothing

1% doesn't seem like a lot. But in the US that's 1.7 million people 'locked in' - including the President's wife and daughter.

Spurred by grief and the sheer magnitude of the suffering, America undertakes a massive scientific initiative. Nothing can fully restore the locked in. But then two new technologies emerge. One is a virtual-reality environment, 'The Agora', where the locked-in can interact with other humans, whether locked-in or not. The other is the discovery that a few rare individuals have brains that are receptive to being controlled by others, allowing those who are locked in to occasionally 'ride' these people and use their bodies as if they were their own.

This skill is quickly regulated, licensed, bonded, and controlled. Nothing can go wrong. Certainly nobody would be tempted to misuse it, for murder, for political power, or worse...

worse than fever and headaches. 4% suffer acute meningitis, creating the largest medical crisis in history. And 1% find themselves 'locked in' - fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus.

　

My thoughts:

A plague of any kind is always a good start. Here people get the flu, some do not get sick at all, some get meningitis and some, some get it bad. Lock in, trapped in their body, but knowing what's happening. And no cure around. But there are always companies willing to make a profit. Because many many years later there is still no cure. Just a better life for those locked in.

I was a bit confused at first. Why when he is lying in a bed and can't move is he moving around and is a Fed? Oh, he is a robot. I wish I had known that from the start. There is also this virtual world where the lock in can move around in.

Our main characters are Chris, who is a Haden. That is he is a Lock in. He moves around with a robot while his body is somewhere else. And then there is agent Vann his new partner. During his first day he will experience a lot and the whole book takes place in just a week. A crime mystery. Strange things happening.

A murder has to be solved and this leads to more questions. And it all has to do with Hadens and those who can play host to a Haden. More murders, more questions and a Haden community in uproar as a new law is being passed.

After my initial confusion I was ok, and I wanted to know who the killer was, why the killer did anything, hell, why anything happened at all. It's a nice story he has spun here. It's an interesting world, and I for once would love to see it on the screen too. It's the whole robot thing you know.

Conclusion:

A future that does not seem to far away.

Cover

Works in a way

Paperback, 336 pages
Published August 28th 2014 by Gollancz (first published August 14th 2014)
Lock In #1
Science fiction / Fiction
For Review