This introduces us (me) to Haden, a disease caused by a virus that permanently shuts down a person's body but leaves their mind intact. This sounds absolutely horrifying but Haden's made it work. They have neural networks implanted in their brains that allow them to visit a digital world, where they create their own personal homes. They also walk around in threeps, robotic suits they can use just like regular bodies, while their physical body remains elsewhere.
We meet Chris Shane, a Haden who is also an FBI Agent and his partner, Agent Leslie Vann, a non-Haden. They get immediately thrown into a case of a Haden who dies while playing Hilketa. Threeps are on the playing field while the Haden controls their movements. One threep is the Goat in each play and the goal is to rip the head of the goat and get it across the line. Sounds....violent. It's unheard of for a Haden to die during a game since it's really the threep out there being pummeled, but die Duane Chapman does. Even more fishy? His vital data is pulled the instant he dies and scrubbed from the data feed.
I'm somewhat new to sci-fi and Scalzi is just pulling me in, kicking and not-screaming. While the premise sounds a little out there, this still had the makings of a big-body-count-buildings-destroyed-with-a-cat-named-Donut action book. I was personally rooting for Donut.
You, too, can read these books out of order like I did. It won't dampen your enjoyment of the story at all!
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