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  • Head On (Narrated by Wil Wheaton)

  • Written by: John Scalzi
  • Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
  • Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (413 ratings)

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Head On (Narrated by Wil Wheaton)

Written by: John Scalzi
Narrated by: Wil Wheaton
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Publisher's Summary

"As much as Scalzi has the scientific creativity of a Michael Crichton, he also has the procedural chops of a Stephen J. Cannell 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.

What listeners say about Head On (Narrated by Wil Wheaton)

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good followup, not as great as the original

I enjoyed the book, though not as much as I did the original. If you enjoyed the first book and the world it built, then this is a nice return, however it fails to build on the premise in any profound way. it's ultimately more of the same, which isn't a bad thing.

#Audible1

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good book, mediocre narration

The book itself was pretty good. Good world building, characters were a little one note. The mystery itself was fun and entertaining.

The one thing I didn't like about the book itself was the dialogue. Every character talked the same. They all spoke in snarky, clever Joss Whedon-esque witticisms that felt disingenuous and hollow.

Wil Wheaton's narration was boring and all of the characters sounded the same.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good Story - First was better

I enjoyed this book but I preferred the first in the series much more. Will Wheaton is one of my favorite narrators for audiobooks and is why I got this one as well. will look for more from him but not sure if I will from John Scalzi. unless it's another in this series because I always read a full series. Haha

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Narrator concern

Sometimes it can be hard to tell who is talking when Will Wheaton narrates things. I have found this on several of his narrations. Overall I don't mind him but I prefer a narrator who provides more consistent variation between character voices. In this book, ask characters sound like Will Wheaton, and that gets confusing.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Film noir vibes with near future sci fi flair

This is basically a high tech near future film noir whodunit, and it's very well executed. The plot is excellent, the narration is fantastic as usual from Mr Wheaton, and overall its just a lot of fun. Yes, the style can be very narrative, replete with he said and she said and he said and she said over and over. However, once you tune out the style itself, the plot is great. Highly recommended as a follow-up to the previous novel!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The future will be experienced remotely

Okay. I have to admit, I almost snorted my drink while listening to this. The combination of John Scalzi's wit and Wil Wheaton's narration is priceless.

The story is classic mystery - corruption in sports, mismatched cop partners, the detectives' superiors ordering them NOT to investigate, murders to cover up murders - with the added twist of the Lock In syndrome's remote bodies meaning increasing the suspect pool exponentially. All very noir.

And there's a cat.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Love This Series!

I loved this one. It was such a good mix of Science Fiction and police procedural. I also liked that as much as it was a sequel, it can be read as a standalone too. There is enough information in this one that you don't need to have read the first to read this one. I highly recommend John Scalzi's work and love the audiobooks for them as well!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A rollicking good time.

Great read. Smart tech, solid world building. Surprisingly this is becoming my favorite Scalziworld to visit.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great story

Not as good as Lock In but still amazing! Wil Wheaton continue to bring Chris to life in their post pandemic world. I love how John Scalzi created a a world so different from our own, but makes it seem so real that when I put down the book I’m surprised that Haden’s dosent exist, or that threps aren’t among us. I hope he writes more books with Chris

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story. Well done. I would like to hear mor

I very much enjoyed the story and the performance. I hope to hear more

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