Reviewed by Ray Hosler for Readers' Favorite

Imagine if, upon death, you could continue in a digital world. Author Karen A. Wyle develops this existential plot in her novel Who, which takes place in the not-too-distant future. The story centers on a young woman named Thea, her husband Max, and a cast of supporting characters, including a sharp attorney. Thea and Max have a warm, loving relationship. They compose music and sketch ideas for ad agencies. Out of the blue, Thea dies. Unbeknownst to Max, she signed up to be stored. Everything goes well at first between the couple. They communicate by phone and computer and share their hopes and dreams while expressing their undying love for one another. They continue to create music together. The company enabling Thea’s digital life comes under suspicion when stored people are given the right to vote in elections along with the living. Max notices personality changes, some welcome, some not so much. The storage company maintains that changes are necessary to improve the digital environment, and denies anything beyond these agreed-upon enhancements. An attorney who knows one of the digitized people — a fellow lawyer — thinks otherwise and decides to pursue legal action against the company. She enlists Thea and Max as witnesses.

Karen Wyle maintains perfect focus throughout the novel’s ambitious undertaking — to raise moral and practical issues surrounding the tantalizing possibility of “eternal” life in the digital realm. We see the human consequences of maintaining a relationship between the living and digitized lovers, family, and friends. The story concentrates less on the technology to enable such a remarkable achievement and more on the main characters’ relationships, how they adapt to the situation, and the legal ramifications of digital life. As a veteran attorney, author Wyle is well qualified to deal with the possibilities. Throughout the legal sparring between the attorney and the storage company, Thea and Max grapple with their emotions and the consequences of the litigation. Some of the key points raised by Wyle regard legal protection, privacy, and government oversight. How are coding changes to digital lives regulated and who oversees these changes? The possibilities raised by Who kept me turning the pages to fully understand this abstract reality and what becomes of Thea and Max. Who will leave you asking for more from the author on a topic that might one day be headline news.