Unlocked shows just how invested John Scalzi is into the world of his book Lock In, and perhaps he rightly recognized that readers will want to know more about it. Several of the characters also made themselves stand out with distinct “voices” as they related stories of their experience with Haden’s. Nonetheless, I was completely fascinated by the way this book went through the different stages of the whole Haden’s Syndrome saga. There’s not a lot of plot or character development, which is okay because that’s not its goal. Just in keep in mind that this novella is meant to inform, so it wouldn’t be fair to go into this with the usual expectations for a story. As someone who read Lock In first before checking this out, I knew that President Haden had a major role in galvanizing the country and uniting everyone’s efforts in finding a way to help victims of the condition, and I was so happy that I got to have the whole story of how it happened here, in all its glory. The most relevant part, of course, is what happens afterwards, when Haden’s Syndrome rears its ugly head. Through the various perspectives, we get to find out what the devastating flu was like, how it was spread, as well as the response when everyone realized that the illness was unlike anything the world has ever seen. It’s meant to give you more information about the condition, as well some history on how the world struggled with and recovered from the epidemic only to end up trying to find a way to help the millions that experienced “lock in”. Show More epistolary format in the form of collected interviews, Unlocked features narratives from many different people, all in one way or another intimately involved in the history of Haden’s Syndrome and the Great Flu that precipitated it all.

Haden's syndrome