Sci Fic + Mystery = Yes please!

The best part of this book is something that if I talk about, its ruined. Dammit, you guys.
This is a good fun Science Fiction mystery story. My beloved Isaac Asimov, who wrote both SF and mysteries, said that it was possible to write a mystery set in the future, and invent all kinds of new gadgets and technology but still have challenges to solve, as long as you don’t rely on some kind of techno-magic device to save the day. This book is a great example of this. There are all kinds of new devices but there is still a mystery.
So, a terrible pandemic called Haden’s Syndrome has created a new class of people that have lost all power over their bodies and only function in their minds. They are “locked-in” to their brains while their bodies are kept in medical pods that maintain bodily functions. They can however, interact through the use of androids (called Threeps- after C-3PO, you guys. Scalzi is a total nerd) that they control mentally, or through people called Integrators, who can be trained to allow Hadens to temporarily control their bodies. Hadens also have a shared web-space where they can interact together.
The mystery in the book revolves around a murder possibly committed by an Integrated Haden and trying to determine who was controlling the body at the time. There are political and societal implications to investigating the crime since the world is still adjusting to what it means to be human in the face of the Hadens, many of whom barely need to even interact in the “Real World”.
The detective and main character in the book is Chris Shane, who is a Haden. The book does a terrific job of exploring what it means to be completely disassociated from your body, while also being tied to its incredible fragility. Scalzi is a terrific and inventive writer, always pushing boundaries.  I really enjoyed this book.