Lock In by John Scalzi

John Scalzi doesn’t need people licking his boots.  So if you came here for sycophantic nonsense, I am sorry to disappoint you.  What this book demonstrates, and what Scalzi continues to show as an author, is that he has mastered the art of pacing.  

What, exactly, do I mean by pacing?  It means each plot point resolves itself, and leads to the next point, with precise timing.  Each scene in Lock In is tightly packed, never devolving into pointless exposition (we don’t find out a defining characteristic of one of the main characters till the last fourth of the book!).  Instead, Scalzi lets the interaction between the characters define his world, define how things function within the universe he’s created, and uses that inertia to draw the reader from one part of the story to the next with inexorable strength.

Lock in paints a world asked to deal with an enormous burden, finding a way through, then dealing with the aftermath.  It’s easy to do the first two, and many, many stories would find that the focus of their story.  Scalzi takes a big risk, and runs past those two aspects right smack dab into the aftermath. In the end, the bold maneuver pays off. There is wit and witticisms aplenty, along with taut action scenes, and a very rewarding payoff.  

Now, to the few downsides I saw with this book.  Part of the pickle presented within the novel is solved by a slightly unbelievable introduction of a new character.  In one instance, this out of the blue introduction works splendidly.  However, in the end, the new character above ends up trivializing the main pressure of the book.  I understand that it was realistically the only way to have that issue resolved, but it still felt very Deus Ex Machina.  

The second part is a very, very minor thing.  Make no mistake, this is a book well worth reading, a great story paced with a masters touch.  However, in the end, it ends with startling abruptness.  Yes, a resolution is reached, but it feels like more could’ve been done with the first installment.  Maybe that’s just a reflection of how much I enjoyed it, but it did feel too short.  

On the flip side, it does mean I have yet another fantastic series to mark on my calendar.  Not really a bad problem to have, when you get right down to it.