The Dispatcher

by John Scalzi

Vincent Chong

One day, not long from now, it becomes almost impossible to murder anyone 999 times out of a thousand, anyone who is intentionally killed comes back. How? We don't know. But it changes everything: war, crime, daily life. Tony Valdez is a Dispatchera licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those whose circumstances put them in death's crosshairs, so they can have a second chance to avoid the reaper. But when a fellow Dispatcher and former friend is apparently kidnapped, Tony learns that there are some things that are worse than death, and that some people are ready to do almost anything to avenge what they see as a wrong. It's a race against time for Valdez to find his friend before it's too late-- before not even a Dispatcher can save him.--Jacket flap.

• ISBN10: 1596067861
• ISBN13: 9781596067868
• Publish Date: 31 May 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 31 October 2024
• Imprint: Subterranean Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Ehhhhh.

So conceptually, this sounded really interesting. This is a world where people don’t have to die. If you’re murdered, you get to come back in a place that feels comfortable and safe, reverted to a few hours before your death. Our protagonist is a Dispatcher, meaning that he’s on call for things like medical emergencies, tidily “dispatching” the patient so they don’t die from the procedure.

I expected to learn more about this world, but honestly, this is more like… an episode of NCIS. Someone is missing, so a law official connects with another dispatcher to understand how the system works. Most of the story is conversation between Officer Langdon and Tony Valdez. There’s a lot of bouncing back and forth of ideas, and explaining. It’s really more like a science-fiction crime episode than an exciting story. I’m not sure if it’s because of Zachary Quinto’s narration or just me being generally disinterested in style of the writing… but I was bored.

There’s not enough time for the characters to develop, because this is a novella. The world is well-developed in about a half-hour conversation between Langdon and Valdez. Everyone is flat, so it’s difficult to dig my fingers in and really care about the characters. Additionally, this appears to be a one-off, so there’s no gradual development over a series of short stories.

As far as plot goes, I feel like there’s not really enough information to make it predictable, but the end result isn’t really a surprise, either. Again, this is all to do with the emotional investment of the story. I didn’t know enough about Jimmy to really care about where he’d gone, and I didn’t know enough about the various players to be able to dig in and guess. So much of the short time we had was spent explaining the concept of dispatching that there wasn’t enough space to flesh out things and create an emotional connection.

The one thing The Dispacher had going for it was the length. I don’t think I could have dealt with the story for more than two and a half hours of listening. The pacing was slow. And, in this case, Zachary Quinto’s narration was flat. Using celebrities to read books can go either way – sometimes they’re wonderful, sometimes they’re horrible. In this case, I really feel like with a different narration, some inflection would have added to the suspense of a story that otherwise seemed to go on forever.

I guess this book would be fine for those who like crime podcasts and have an interest in science fiction. It never felt like a full and interesting story to me, but this is just slightly further off the edge of crime fiction than what I enjoy. If you’re into crime fiction, check it out. For me, I got this as a free bonus from Audible one month, so I’m not complaining too much. But I don’t think I would buy it, and if it was any longer, I’d’ve probably DNF’d it.

[Melanie]

Review originally posted at RabidReads.ca.

This was an Audible Freebie. I’ve see John Scalzi around Twitter, but haven’t read anything by him. I remember when it first came out and saw several reviews for it, but I forgot about it until I was texting with Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About. She was looking for a short listen between books. She really enjoyed it and reminded me about it, so I gave it a try. I’m really glad I did.

I can say that I didn’t remember much about this book when I started this book. However, everything was very clearly explained by the author. Tony Valdez is a Dispatcher. He basically murders people as a job, but with the intent that come back to life. In this world that Scalzi has created, people can die of natural causes, but not by murder. They will just wake up back in their home, in their bed, naked. Tony works mostly at a hospital during surgeries and if it looks like the patient might die, he kills them so that they come back. There are private jobs that people will also do, say if someone wants to try a experimental treatment or something a little more illegal, like for people fighting in particularly brutal cage matches or duels.

Anyway, a cop convinces Tony to help her investigate the disappearance of another Dispatcher. He helps with the expertise of the job, knowing some questions to ask and to help understand some of the details. They have some pretty interesting conversations about if what he was doing was right, killing people for the right reasons. See, there’s no guarantee that if you’re dispatched, that you will come back, just more likely than if you just die.

This a very short, but mysterious story. I loved listening to it. It isn’t often that an author can write a standalone story that is only about two hours in length. I was very impressed with how he had to go into character development, worldbuilding and mystery in so few words. I know that I’m definitely very interested in reading more that this author has written.

Narration
The narration for this short story was spot on. I thought he did a great job with the attitude of the main character, the grief of one man’s wife who was a failed dispatch, the mobster type guys and the female cop. There aren’t very many women in this story, but I thought he did a great job with what was there.

[kimbacaffeinate]

While this falls into the science fiction genre, fans of mystery and suspense will love how this tale unfolds and should find themselves quite at home. What if it was impossible to murder someone? What if anyone who is intentionally killed came back? Not as a zombie, but back. It would change everything. In the futuristic world of The Dispatcher, Scalzi tackles the afterlife and introduces us to Tony Valdez. Tony is a Dispatcher - a licensed, bonded professional whose job is to humanely dispatch those whose circumstances put them in death's crosshairs. He is hired by the government, insurance companies, and private businesses to ensure death allows them to get a restart.

Scalzi gives us a fully developed world sharing how this new development regarding death alters human society, philosophy, and religious beliefs. The story reads like an exciting suspense mystery thriller when a fellow Dispatcher goes missing. Entirely paved with twists, and newly discovered tidbits I consumed this in almost a single listen. Due to the length, we did get some info dumps, but I shrugged them off because as is typical with this author I found the dumps fascinating.

Tony Valdez is the perfect anti-hero who reluctantly gets involved. The tale is more story driven, but Scalzi presented solid characters I could connect with on some level.

This was my first time listening to Zachary Quinto, but I felt he nailed the characters and tone of the story. He has an excellent flow and his clear tone, making it pleasurable to listen.

Fans of science fiction, suspense and mysteries will enjoy The Dispatcher. I wouldn't mind revisiting this world in the future. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[Beth C.]

This is, believe it or not, the first audio book I have ever listened to. And it was *awesome*. I was left with a complete story, but there is an opening in case Scalzi chooses to continue with the character. I hope he does - while I got this for free, I would happily pay for a sequel. It was just that good. And Zachary Quinto does a wonderful job. Most of the reason I've never gotten into audio books is because it can be so hit or miss with the narrator - but I was truly impressed (and engaged). I would definitely recommend it!