Head On (Narrated by Amber Benson)

By: John Scalzi

Narrated by: Amber Benson

"As much as Scalzi has the scientific creativity of a Michael Crichton, he also has the procedural chops of a Stephen J. Canell to craft a whodunit with buddy-cop charm and suspects aplenty - most of them in someone else's body." (USA Today)

John Scalzi returns with Head On, the stand-alone follow-up to the New York Times best-selling and critically acclaimed Lock In. Chilling near-future SF with the thrills of a gritty cop procedural, Head On brings Scalzi's trademark snappy dialogue and technological speculation to the future world of sports.

Hilketa is a frenetic and violent pastime where players attack each other with swords and hammers. The main goal of the game: obtain your opponent's head and carry it through the goalposts. With flesh and bone bodies, a sport like this would be impossible. But all the players are "threeps", robot-like bodies controlled by people with Haden's Syndrome, so anything goes. No one gets hurt, but the brutality is real, and the crowds love it.

Until a star athlete drops dead on the playing field.

Is it an accident or murder? FBI agents and Haden-related crime investigators Chris Shane and Leslie Vann are called in to uncover the truth - and in doing so travel to the darker side of the fast-growing sport of Hilketa, where fortunes are made or lost and where players and owners do whatever it takes to win, on and off the field.

©2018 John Scalzi (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

Not as good as the first, but definitely enjoyable

Love the Amber Benson version. Worth the listen, but not as good as the first book. I enjoy the banter between the two agents and definitely would enjoy reading more of their cases.

Love Scalzi

Glad I tried his books. Have not been disappointed by any of them yet, even the short stories.

When's the next book come out?

After enjoying the first book so much, I waited impatiently for this one, hoping all along that it would in fact, come. Now that it is here, I am not disappointed in the least. Well that’s not true; I’m disappointed that I have to wait for the next one again!

The setting for this book/series is a great, flavorful drawing point; it’d make a good TV show too, for that matter. I love the idea of 1% of the population going around in robot surrogates and the crimes and cases that can occur as a result.

The police procedural aspect is solidly done and kind of like a cozy blanket. The story starts with an odd death of a Haden athlete in the middle of a game. It’s something that shouldn’t happen considering it’s just a bunch of threeps (robots) on the field. Then the body count increases…. It doesn’t push the walls by any means, but honestly, that’s to its betterment, since the setting and characters are plenty.

While I love the setting, I adore the characters. Chris Shane is charming while Leslie Vann’s gruff attitude is endearing. The innocence of the former and coarseness of the latter clash and form humorous results that had me chuckling randomly as I recall them. They make an odd pairing of FBI partners, but it works.

Overall, I feel I can recommend this book and series to anyone. As I mentioned before, it’s like a good TV show, one that anyone can get into, whether they are a fan of scifi, mysteries, humor, or what have you.

Heading required

Engaging mystery set in a fascinating world. Great follow up to Locked In. I hope there will be another.

Good story, different narrator

I loved the follow up story with agents Shane and Van but the change in narrator really took away from the experience and continuity.

Captivating story

Good sequel story applied to the previous book Justin, half of the previous storyline to understand what was going on but enough new material to make a really fun to listen to

Love this Author!

John Scalzi was not on my radar until I started listening “him” on Audible. He never disappoints! Heads On is another of his books that I’ll listen to more than once. While it’s not essential, listening Locked In before Heads On will make the “series” an even more satisfying experience.

Boring Story, Great Narration

I've enjoyed the first book in the series and the short prequel but this one didn't quite catch my attention. I wasn't able to feel a connection to either the events or the characters. The narrator did a great job of bringing the characters to life though, and I enjoyed listening to the book.

Solid sequel

Very much hoping that Scalzi writes more stories in this universe. The dynamic between the two main characters is great!

It is not the same without Will Wheaton.

The story was pretty good if a little jumbled. Missed hearing WW as the voice as Chris but overall worth the spend and download