#18 Head On by John Scalzi

Set about a year after Lock In, Head On continues with FBI agent Chris Marcus working a case of a Haden victim that died during a sports match. The sport is composed of threeps trying to rip a player’s head off and get it to the goal. Currently the league employs only uses players with Haden’s but says the door is always open to non-Haden players. The previous book is mentioned but the that case really has no bearing on this one and this book can be read without reading the previous one. You will not get as much background on Haden’s but you get enough to understand how it works for the plot. This is a straightforward SF thriller / mystery set in the near future and is a fun read as they build their case brick by brick and the bad guys try to cover all their tracks. I can’t wait to see more books in this setting since it is interesting all the little society changes that happen along the way with working to cope with this disease.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley