Five genre-bending science-fictional crime novels

Amanda Bridgeman is an Aurealis Award finalist and author of seven science fiction novels, including the best-selling space opera Aurora series and apocalyptic drama The Time of the Stripes. One of five genre-bending science-fictional crime novels she tagged at the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog:

Lock In, by John Scalzi

Set in the near future, the world has been shaped by what’s known as “Haden’s syndrome,” a disease that causes “Lock In”: Victims are fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. Rookie FBI agent Chris Shane is paired with veteran agent Leslie Vann, and the two are assigned what appears to be a Haden-related murder. The suspect is an “integrator” – someone who can let the ‘locked in’ borrow their bodies for a time. But if the Integrator was carrying a Haden client at the time of the murder, then naming the suspect suddenly becomes much more complicated. Lock In was followed this year by a sequel, Head On, that presents Shane and Vann’s next case.

Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue