FREE! Nothing is sweeter than free, and this was absolutely free to me on Audible. I liked John Scalzi, so it seemed a no-brainer to pick it up. Which I did. Duh. 
 I am a fan of Detective novels (or short stories, in this case) but it's one where, unlike sci-fi, if it's not done extremely well, it can be tough for me to read. Detective stories, I think moreso than a lot of other genres, is formulaic. And it can really feel like a paint-by-numbers endeavor. I've read many that I felt like I was going over it for the fifth time as I thumbed through the pages. Some people might enjoy each trope as it's trotted out, but I don't. It's too much like listening to the same joke told over and over. Sometimes it's a priest that usually walks into a bar, but maybe sometimes it's a Rabbi. Doesn't matter, the punchline is the same. 
 That's a detective novel for me (which is why I don't read them as often as I would like, an average one bores me so much I can't get through them). There have been a few that have made long lasting impressions on me. The Keeper of Lost Causes which I read a few years ago was pretty great and the characters felt like real people, not puppets reciting lines. That's the sort of story I love. 
 Mixing spec fic into the narrative is a spice I like (at this point I'd add that some writers will still tell a spec fic story, and only add elements of the detective novel (or a mystery) while others will stick closely to the detective format and add the spec fic - so in one, the spec fic is the spice, and in the other, the spec fic is the meal, with the mystery/detective elements are the spice). 
 So, Depth (reviewed last year, I think) is clearly a detective novel with SF trappings. It stuck pretty close to formula throughout. A lot of my beloved Alastair Reynolds catalog is more sci-fi, with mystery elements. Or maybe some of his are too hard to call, like Century Rain or The Prefect which are 50/50. 
 Whatever, Scalzi is blending the two, this time it's more or less the modern world, except one where (view spoiler)[ people that are murdered usually pop back up, alive and well, shortly after their murder. Our hero is a Dispatcher, someone who, well, is used in case of imminent accidental death. No one wants to die via accident, or natural causes, you can see why. Having someone standing by that has no compunction about murdering the shit out of someone fixes the worries about what happens if you accidently get stabbed in the gut while ninja fighting for fun (hide spoiler)]. 
 It's a million dollar idea, the ways in which organized crime, kids, the terminally ill, or whoever, work in this world is something really worth exploring. It's in this universe Scalzi told a very short detective story. The story itself is pretty bland, the main character is pretty cool, and I was intrigued. I'm glad I listened and would possibly be interested if this thing was carrier over into a longer work. 
 But I don't know. I love John Scalzi, he's come up with some very interesting premises for his stories in the past, I mean, Old Man's War? Genius. Redshirts? Genius. The Dispatcher? Genius. 
 But that being said, it was Redshirts that was the first real chink in the armor for me as a fan reading Scalzi. I don't believe the book delivered was the book promised to me, based on the title of the novel, or even by the opening chapters of the story. It's like he has a premise so good that he can't believe it. Then he sits down to write it and realizes there wasn't enough to put into a novel form. Redshirts ended up being a very enjoyable book, but it took a turn that I think lessened the overall impact. Maybe this one is him playing with this premise a bit without committing a whole novel to it. Smart. 
 So, it's well done, a bit formulaic, but also so intriguing of a world to play in that it's worth checking out.