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Playback Effect
"O wad some Power the giftie gie us/To see oursels as ithers see us!" But what if we could see others as they see themselves?
New technology records the highlights of emotional experience for others to share. Buy a helmet and you can feel the exhilaration of an Olympic ski jumper, or the heat of a lucid dreamer's erotic imaginings. Commit a crime, and you may be sentenced to endure the suffering you inflicted on others.
But such recordings may carry more information than the public has realized. What will criminals learn about their victims? When a husband is wrongfully convicted of injuring his wife, how will their marriage change? And what uses will a sociopath find for recordings of the experience of death?
New technology records the highlights of emotional experience for others to share. Buy a helmet and you can feel the exhilaration of an Olympic ski jumper, or the heat of a lucid dreamer's erotic imaginings. Commit a crime, and you may be sentenced to endure the suffering you inflicted on others.
But such recordings may carry more information than the public has realized. What will criminals learn about their victims? When a husband is wrongfully convicted of injuring his wife, how will their marriage change? And what uses will a sociopath find for recordings of the experience of death?
- GenresScience Fiction
265 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 8, 2014
2 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Karen A. Wyle
26 books233 followersKaren A. Wyle is the author of multiple science fiction novels, including The Twin-Bred Series: Books 1-3; YA novel Water to Water; and near-future novels Division, Playback Effect, Who: a novel of the near future, and Donation. Her first novel outside the SF category was the afterlife fantasy/family drama Wander Home. She then turned to historical romance with her Cowbird Creek series, including What Heals the Heart, What Frees the Heart, What Shows the Heart, and What Wakes the Heart. She returned to fantasy with 2023's Far From Mortal Realms: A Novel of Humans and Fae. Her novel The Decision/A Novel of Germany is inspired by a crucial incident in her own family history. Her latest novel, That The Dead May Rest, comes out on October 17, 2025 -- a good month for a paranormal story!
Wyle has also published one nonfiction work, Closest to the Fire: A Writer's Guide to Law and Lawyers, a resource for authors or for anyone interested in understanding more about American law. An updated and slightly retitled edition came out at the end of July 2021.
Finally, Wyle has collaborated with illustrators on five picture books: You Can't Kiss A Bubble; When It's Winter; Wind, Ocean, Grass; Where Fireflies Sleep; and A Boy Who Made Music/The Extraordinary Life of Joaquin Rodrigo. There are more to come!
Wyle was born a Connecticut Yankee, but eventually settled in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University. She now considers herself a Hoosier. Wyle's childhood ambition was to be the youngest ever published novelist. While writing her first novel at age ten, she was mortified to learn that some British upstart had beaten her to the goal at age nine.
Wyle is a retired appellate attorney, dormant photographer, and mother of two wildly creative adult offspring. Her voice is the product of almost five decades of reading both literary and genre fiction. It is no doubt also influenced, although she hopes not fatally tainted, by her years of law practice. Wyle's near-future novels and her upcoming fantasy novel draw on her legal experience in various respects.
Wyle's personal history has led her to focus on often-intertwined themes of family, communication, the impossibility of controlling events, and the persistence of unfinished business.
Wyle has also published one nonfiction work, Closest to the Fire: A Writer's Guide to Law and Lawyers, a resource for authors or for anyone interested in understanding more about American law. An updated and slightly retitled edition came out at the end of July 2021.
Finally, Wyle has collaborated with illustrators on five picture books: You Can't Kiss A Bubble; When It's Winter; Wind, Ocean, Grass; Where Fireflies Sleep; and A Boy Who Made Music/The Extraordinary Life of Joaquin Rodrigo. There are more to come!
Wyle was born a Connecticut Yankee, but eventually settled in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University. She now considers herself a Hoosier. Wyle's childhood ambition was to be the youngest ever published novelist. While writing her first novel at age ten, she was mortified to learn that some British upstart had beaten her to the goal at age nine.
Wyle is a retired appellate attorney, dormant photographer, and mother of two wildly creative adult offspring. Her voice is the product of almost five decades of reading both literary and genre fiction. It is no doubt also influenced, although she hopes not fatally tainted, by her years of law practice. Wyle's near-future novels and her upcoming fantasy novel draw on her legal experience in various respects.
Wyle's personal history has led her to focus on often-intertwined themes of family, communication, the impossibility of controlling events, and the persistence of unfinished business.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 28, 2015
ETA: Karen has been in touch with me and we've worked through the formatting issues and addressed the typos. Upping the book rating to 4 stars.
Playback Effect is the fifth book I've read by Karen and it certainly didn't dissapoint. Like her other books, this one has a quite complex and intertwined plot. It also has a bit of legalese in it.
The concept of this story is very interesting. What if we could record our emotional reactions to things and share them with people in a form of personalised virtual reality, what would that mean for our friends, our family and even us? What if you could re-experience that amazing high you got when you won your childhood athletics carnival? Or what would it mean to those creatives who use emotion as inspiration? What if you could access someone's real reaction to something you're planning to write about?
The book, brings to light some answers for some of those questions, but it also poses some more serious ones. When felons are forced to experience their victims' emotional trauma as a way of punishment, what do you think would happen? Interesting and thought-provoking questions.
The characters are typical of Karen's work, three dimensional, flawed and felt very real. Almost as if she were drawing inspiration from people in her life. I didn't love Hal and Wynne, but I connected with them to some degree. I quite liked Arthur, even though I don't believe that was entirely intended. I think perhaps I was meant to feel a bit sorry for him, but there was something about him that struck me as a bit of a fighter, one to keep an eye on.
I was pleasantly surprised with Hannah's character. I would love to see a whole book written about her. She was brilliant!
Speaking of brilliant, but not in a good sense, the antagonist in this novel is decidedly creepy. The emotionally removed way in which they spoke and thought about things - chilling. How they maintained that detatched emotional control even throughout some of the most horrific events - terrifying.
Considering you get but brief glimpses of gruesome acts, the effect on the reader was quite intense because you get to experience the villain's POV. Great work Karen.
This only gets a 3 out of 5 for me because of a couple of points.
1. The scene changes in places are quite rough. I think this is because of formatting on the kindle - the paragraph breaks fall over the turn of a page so they look like one scene not two. The result was of confusion. "Who is saying what now?"
2. Occasionally the legalese got a bit much. Particularly at the end, I had to read a couple of the scenes multiple times to completely understand what was happening.
Overall, a fantastic plot, a great idea and a good cast of characters. This is teamed with an eye-catching cover. I'm not too sure about the blurb (particularly the opening sentence), but it still draws you in. If the two issues I've listed above were resolved it'd easily be a 4-5 star book.
A few things I noticed:
The typos I picked up have been rectified by the author.
**Note: I was provided an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review.**
Playback Effect is the fifth book I've read by Karen and it certainly didn't dissapoint. Like her other books, this one has a quite complex and intertwined plot. It also has a bit of legalese in it.
The concept of this story is very interesting. What if we could record our emotional reactions to things and share them with people in a form of personalised virtual reality, what would that mean for our friends, our family and even us? What if you could re-experience that amazing high you got when you won your childhood athletics carnival? Or what would it mean to those creatives who use emotion as inspiration? What if you could access someone's real reaction to something you're planning to write about?
The book, brings to light some answers for some of those questions, but it also poses some more serious ones. When felons are forced to experience their victims' emotional trauma as a way of punishment, what do you think would happen? Interesting and thought-provoking questions.
The characters are typical of Karen's work, three dimensional, flawed and felt very real. Almost as if she were drawing inspiration from people in her life. I didn't love Hal and Wynne, but I connected with them to some degree. I quite liked Arthur, even though I don't believe that was entirely intended. I think perhaps I was meant to feel a bit sorry for him, but there was something about him that struck me as a bit of a fighter, one to keep an eye on.
I was pleasantly surprised with Hannah's character. I would love to see a whole book written about her. She was brilliant!
Speaking of brilliant, but not in a good sense, the antagonist in this novel is decidedly creepy. The emotionally removed way in which they spoke and thought about things - chilling. How they maintained that detatched emotional control even throughout some of the most horrific events - terrifying.
Considering you get but brief glimpses of gruesome acts, the effect on the reader was quite intense because you get to experience the villain's POV. Great work Karen.
This only gets a 3 out of 5 for me because of a couple of points.
1. The scene changes in places are quite rough. I think this is because of formatting on the kindle - the paragraph breaks fall over the turn of a page so they look like one scene not two. The result was of confusion. "Who is saying what now?"
2. Occasionally the legalese got a bit much. Particularly at the end, I had to read a couple of the scenes multiple times to completely understand what was happening.
Overall, a fantastic plot, a great idea and a good cast of characters. This is teamed with an eye-catching cover. I'm not too sure about the blurb (particularly the opening sentence), but it still draws you in. If the two issues I've listed above were resolved it'd easily be a 4-5 star book.
A few things I noticed:
The typos I picked up have been rectified by the author.
**Note: I was provided an electronic copy of this book in return for an honest review.**
August 12, 2023
AIBA Book of the Week: 13 August, 2023: 191/42186
Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include PLAYBACK EFFECT by KAREN A. WYLE in the library of Awesome Indies' Seal of Excellence recipients.
Original Awesome Indies' Assessment (5 stars):
Wynne Cantrell sells dreams – not the kind you might think, but actual dreams. Wynne has the ability to record her dreams and then provide them to customers. Her husband Hal Wakeman is a noted sculptor, who unfortunately does not take what Wynne does as art, and often takes her for granted. Late as usual for appointments, when Wynne waits for him at lunch near a fountain he designed, he is not there when a bomb explodes, causing the loss of her hand and the deaths of several people.
At a loss for suspects, the police suspect Hal of the crime, either as some kind of over the top artistic protest, or as a way to get rid of his wife. Things go bad for Hal when Arthur Kellic, a rival for her affections, is assigned as the lead detective on the case. Hal is convicted and faces the punishment of the time, which is having to endure the final thoughts of the victims. He’s later cleared, but too late – he’s already punished – a punishment that the system will not undo.
Playback Effect by Karen A. Wyle is a riveting account that follows Wynne as she copes with her injury and recuperation, Hal and Arthur come to terms with their rivalry over Wynne and find themselves working together to find a vicious killer-kidnapper before the list of victims pile up, and Arthur’s boss, Tertius Shaw, an enigmatic figure who seems to be at the center of all that takes place.
This is a novel that’s impossible to pigeonhole into a genre. The presence of a technology that permits recording and playback of dreams is science fiction, but it’s also a legal/crime thriller. The author, who has an extensive legal background, weaves it seamlessly into the story from start to finish. This is also something of a dystopian novel, in its description of the various uses and, most importantly, the misuses of technology, by those seeking to make money, by government, and by criminal elements – and the disastrous impact all this can have on individuals within society.
Playback Effect has an astonishingly diverse cast of characters, and while Wynne is the main protagonist, the others play roles that are no less important. The author uses third person point of view, and moves from one character to another to keep the suspense level high and the tension as tight as a steel cable on a suspension bridge.
It really has two conclusions – befitting a book of this scope – the first when the mysterious killer is identified and brought to justice, and the second, quite satisfying resolution of Wynne’s personal life.
Dialogue, descriptions, and narrative are flawless – not a wasted word anywhere. This is a book that will linger in your thoughts long after you’ve stopped reading – and are likely to invade your dreams. I give it a resounding five stars.
Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include PLAYBACK EFFECT by KAREN A. WYLE in the library of Awesome Indies' Seal of Excellence recipients.
Original Awesome Indies' Assessment (5 stars):
Wynne Cantrell sells dreams – not the kind you might think, but actual dreams. Wynne has the ability to record her dreams and then provide them to customers. Her husband Hal Wakeman is a noted sculptor, who unfortunately does not take what Wynne does as art, and often takes her for granted. Late as usual for appointments, when Wynne waits for him at lunch near a fountain he designed, he is not there when a bomb explodes, causing the loss of her hand and the deaths of several people.
At a loss for suspects, the police suspect Hal of the crime, either as some kind of over the top artistic protest, or as a way to get rid of his wife. Things go bad for Hal when Arthur Kellic, a rival for her affections, is assigned as the lead detective on the case. Hal is convicted and faces the punishment of the time, which is having to endure the final thoughts of the victims. He’s later cleared, but too late – he’s already punished – a punishment that the system will not undo.
Playback Effect by Karen A. Wyle is a riveting account that follows Wynne as she copes with her injury and recuperation, Hal and Arthur come to terms with their rivalry over Wynne and find themselves working together to find a vicious killer-kidnapper before the list of victims pile up, and Arthur’s boss, Tertius Shaw, an enigmatic figure who seems to be at the center of all that takes place.
This is a novel that’s impossible to pigeonhole into a genre. The presence of a technology that permits recording and playback of dreams is science fiction, but it’s also a legal/crime thriller. The author, who has an extensive legal background, weaves it seamlessly into the story from start to finish. This is also something of a dystopian novel, in its description of the various uses and, most importantly, the misuses of technology, by those seeking to make money, by government, and by criminal elements – and the disastrous impact all this can have on individuals within society.
Playback Effect has an astonishingly diverse cast of characters, and while Wynne is the main protagonist, the others play roles that are no less important. The author uses third person point of view, and moves from one character to another to keep the suspense level high and the tension as tight as a steel cable on a suspension bridge.
It really has two conclusions – befitting a book of this scope – the first when the mysterious killer is identified and brought to justice, and the second, quite satisfying resolution of Wynne’s personal life.
Dialogue, descriptions, and narrative are flawless – not a wasted word anywhere. This is a book that will linger in your thoughts long after you’ve stopped reading – and are likely to invade your dreams. I give it a resounding five stars.
May 23, 2016
I was fascinated by the idea that the book presents -- that of people being punished by feeling the suffering of their victims. But the book doesn't stop there. Instead, it takes us into the life of a couple who are affected by a tragedy, one of whom is punished for something he didn't do. The idea of punishing innocents is riveting, since we (or at least I) wonder: how can we ever know? Unless the evidence is clear and unequivocal, we can't be sure. The author's works, several of which I've read before, live in that space.
March 4, 2015
Author Karen Wyle has the knack for taking something only slightly outside our experience and turning it into truly absorbing fiction. What if we could record whole events exactly as experienced by observers? What if we could punish evil by sharing what it did to its victims? What if we could teach through shared events? Or what if we could enjoy other people’s dreams, like viewing their art and reading the books they write?
It’s all very intriguing and convincingly portrayed as the author’s novel, Playback Effect, begins. But unintended consequences are the trademark of this author. And there’s something immensely compelling about watching those consequences play out, small-scale in the lives of her protagonists, and on a larger stage, set slightly in the wings.
“You kept me waiting, almost always... You were late!” Hal’s wife Wynne cries. Women around the world might sympathize, making this an almost perfect novel to share with their spouses. But husband Hal has his own voice too, authentically rendered. And both have much to learn as terrorism tears their well-ordered lives apart.
Playback Effect is an intriguing, compelling novel, set not so far from today, in a world not so different from ours, with deep-set moral questions, well-drawn to shed light on the present. I really enjoyed it.
Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy and I offer my honest review.
It’s all very intriguing and convincingly portrayed as the author’s novel, Playback Effect, begins. But unintended consequences are the trademark of this author. And there’s something immensely compelling about watching those consequences play out, small-scale in the lives of her protagonists, and on a larger stage, set slightly in the wings.
“You kept me waiting, almost always... You were late!” Hal’s wife Wynne cries. Women around the world might sympathize, making this an almost perfect novel to share with their spouses. But husband Hal has his own voice too, authentically rendered. And both have much to learn as terrorism tears their well-ordered lives apart.
Playback Effect is an intriguing, compelling novel, set not so far from today, in a world not so different from ours, with deep-set moral questions, well-drawn to shed light on the present. I really enjoyed it.
Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy and I offer my honest review.
October 26, 2016
Punishing the perpetrators of heinous crimes is an ethical struggle that continues to be controversial, even in our advanced social age. In this thrilling page-turner, the reader witnesses a method that uses special recording devices to collect the memories of those injured at the scene of the crime, and these recordings are played back in the mind of the convicted criminal.
But how will this method affect an innocent man accused of the terrorist crime in which his own wife is critically injured?
Probing into the depths of pleasure, pain, and empathy, Playback Effect pulls the reader into the heads of the main characters with an easy flow, connecting each scene to form and complete the mystery.
But how will this method affect an innocent man accused of the terrorist crime in which his own wife is critically injured?
Probing into the depths of pleasure, pain, and empathy, Playback Effect pulls the reader into the heads of the main characters with an easy flow, connecting each scene to form and complete the mystery.
January 31, 2019
What if you could record your dreams? What if you could experience someone else’s dreams? And what if stepping into those dreams was a complete emotional and sensory experience? Would you buy a dream? That is the the premise behind Playback Effect.
People purchase dreams in order to experience different aspects of human life. Want to know what it’s like to ski but are too uncoordinated? You can experience what’s it’s like without breaking your neck! There are also dreamers who can control their dreams to give their clients exactly what they want. But then something goes wrong and the way society and the government have been using dreams is called into question. Let’s get to the review!
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
New technology records the highlights of emotional experience for others to share. Buy a helmet and you can feel the exhilaration of an Olympic ski jumper, or the heat of a lucid dreamer’s erotic imaginings. Commit a crime, and you may be sentenced to endure the suffering you inflicted on others.
But such recordings may carry more information than the public has realized. What will criminals learn about their victims? When a husband is wrongfully convicted of injuring his wife, how will their marriage change? And what uses will a sociopath find for recordings of the experience of death?
Wynne and Hal’s marriage is not doing well but they are meeting for lunch nonetheless. They’re supposed to meet at the fountain in the square and it happens to be the same fountain her husband created a few years earlier. She is waiting for him when everything explodes. Someone put a bomb in the fountain and set it off, injuring or killing anyone who was close by, Wynne being one of the injured.
Hal is almost to the fountain when he sees the bomb go off and his first thoughts are for his wife. He soon finds out that she is still alive, but that doesn’t make the next days better for him. For Hal, they are a living hell. At first, he can’t get anywhere near Wynn because she is one of the victims, but in the days after that, he can’t get near her because he has been arrested for the bombing. It was his fountain after all.
He is eventually found guilty and his punishment is to put on a dream helmet and experience everything the victims went through, including his own wife. He picks her experience to go through first. It’s worse than he could have ever imagined but right before he is meant to move on to the next traumatic experience, he is saved. It is proven that he wasn’t the one involved and he is finally able to see Wynne.
Once she begins healing, Wynne and Hal are able to go home. But something is different. Yes, they are both experiencing nightmares from what they went through and what Hal saw Wynne experience, but that’s not it. Before, Hal was insensitive and barely listened to Wynne. Now, he seems to get her in a way he never did. But as it seems to have put a new spark into their relationship, they are not too worried about it.
While they are trying to get to life back to normal, Arthur Kellie, a police investigator, is looking into who is responsible for the bomb. At first, his sights were deadset on Hal. Hal was the man who “stole” Wynne away from him (or at least that’s how he sees it). But once that is disproved, Arthur searches everywhere he can for the culprit. Even after he is taken off the case, he still continues to work on it, even breaking the law to take down the villain despite how much he hates breaking the rules.
But even with how much he works, Arthur still needs the help of the last person he wants to go to: Hal. They don’t like each other AT ALL but it takes the both of them, along with Arthur’s assistant Hannah, to break open the case. One of the first things they find out is that there is a slight issue with the dreams everyone is watching. The dreamer and the one who watches the dream are connected in some way.
So, say the victim of a crime puts on a helmet after going through a traumatic event. If the perpetrator of that crime puts on a helmet and watches that dream, the two people become connected. This is actually something that happens in the story and results in numerous prison weddings as the victims feel connected to the person who hurt them in a way that ultimately leads them to believe they are in love. (yikes!)
While that doesn’t exactly help them find the bomber, it is an interesting side effect to this dreaming phenomenon. They have to work harder, get Wynn involved, and ultimately, a teenage hacker to finally find the man behind the fountain bomb.
You will be surprised who it ends up being despite that one of the POVs in the book is the bomber.
Playback Effect by Karen A. Wyle is a wild ride. From what the characters have to go through to the dreams they experience to the ways certain characters develop relationships with each other all make this a compelling story. I loved how Wynne and Hal’s relationship developed over the book as well as Hal and Arthur’s. Their reluctant friendship was possibly my favorite part in the book.
My only critique is that there are certain scenes I wanted more of. More specifically, I wanted the scene where they finally meet and arrest the killer to be expanded. It is arguably the most important scene in the book and it felt a little glossed over. I wanted a bit more dialogue with the killer and Arthur or Hal or just more emotion from the characters in that moment. It felt a little too quick of a resolution.
I also thought there were maybe one too many POVS covered. I liked getting the POV of the four main characters but I don’t think we necessarily needed the POV of some of the supporting characters.
That being said, I really enjoyed Playback Effect. I don’t read much sci-fi, so this was definitely a new concept to me but I found it really interesting and hard to put down. This was very much a book that I said I was just going to read one chapter and then I read four lol! I am giving Playback Effect by Karen A. Wyle 3 out of 5 stars. If you like sci-fi or just really interesting thrillers, you should definitely give this book a try!
Playback Effect is available now on Amazon.
Thank you to the author for the free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
People purchase dreams in order to experience different aspects of human life. Want to know what it’s like to ski but are too uncoordinated? You can experience what’s it’s like without breaking your neck! There are also dreamers who can control their dreams to give their clients exactly what they want. But then something goes wrong and the way society and the government have been using dreams is called into question. Let’s get to the review!
Synopsis (from Goodreads):
New technology records the highlights of emotional experience for others to share. Buy a helmet and you can feel the exhilaration of an Olympic ski jumper, or the heat of a lucid dreamer’s erotic imaginings. Commit a crime, and you may be sentenced to endure the suffering you inflicted on others.
But such recordings may carry more information than the public has realized. What will criminals learn about their victims? When a husband is wrongfully convicted of injuring his wife, how will their marriage change? And what uses will a sociopath find for recordings of the experience of death?
Wynne and Hal’s marriage is not doing well but they are meeting for lunch nonetheless. They’re supposed to meet at the fountain in the square and it happens to be the same fountain her husband created a few years earlier. She is waiting for him when everything explodes. Someone put a bomb in the fountain and set it off, injuring or killing anyone who was close by, Wynne being one of the injured.
Hal is almost to the fountain when he sees the bomb go off and his first thoughts are for his wife. He soon finds out that she is still alive, but that doesn’t make the next days better for him. For Hal, they are a living hell. At first, he can’t get anywhere near Wynn because she is one of the victims, but in the days after that, he can’t get near her because he has been arrested for the bombing. It was his fountain after all.
He is eventually found guilty and his punishment is to put on a dream helmet and experience everything the victims went through, including his own wife. He picks her experience to go through first. It’s worse than he could have ever imagined but right before he is meant to move on to the next traumatic experience, he is saved. It is proven that he wasn’t the one involved and he is finally able to see Wynne.
Once she begins healing, Wynne and Hal are able to go home. But something is different. Yes, they are both experiencing nightmares from what they went through and what Hal saw Wynne experience, but that’s not it. Before, Hal was insensitive and barely listened to Wynne. Now, he seems to get her in a way he never did. But as it seems to have put a new spark into their relationship, they are not too worried about it.
While they are trying to get to life back to normal, Arthur Kellie, a police investigator, is looking into who is responsible for the bomb. At first, his sights were deadset on Hal. Hal was the man who “stole” Wynne away from him (or at least that’s how he sees it). But once that is disproved, Arthur searches everywhere he can for the culprit. Even after he is taken off the case, he still continues to work on it, even breaking the law to take down the villain despite how much he hates breaking the rules.
But even with how much he works, Arthur still needs the help of the last person he wants to go to: Hal. They don’t like each other AT ALL but it takes the both of them, along with Arthur’s assistant Hannah, to break open the case. One of the first things they find out is that there is a slight issue with the dreams everyone is watching. The dreamer and the one who watches the dream are connected in some way.
So, say the victim of a crime puts on a helmet after going through a traumatic event. If the perpetrator of that crime puts on a helmet and watches that dream, the two people become connected. This is actually something that happens in the story and results in numerous prison weddings as the victims feel connected to the person who hurt them in a way that ultimately leads them to believe they are in love. (yikes!)
While that doesn’t exactly help them find the bomber, it is an interesting side effect to this dreaming phenomenon. They have to work harder, get Wynn involved, and ultimately, a teenage hacker to finally find the man behind the fountain bomb.
You will be surprised who it ends up being despite that one of the POVs in the book is the bomber.
Playback Effect by Karen A. Wyle is a wild ride. From what the characters have to go through to the dreams they experience to the ways certain characters develop relationships with each other all make this a compelling story. I loved how Wynne and Hal’s relationship developed over the book as well as Hal and Arthur’s. Their reluctant friendship was possibly my favorite part in the book.
My only critique is that there are certain scenes I wanted more of. More specifically, I wanted the scene where they finally meet and arrest the killer to be expanded. It is arguably the most important scene in the book and it felt a little glossed over. I wanted a bit more dialogue with the killer and Arthur or Hal or just more emotion from the characters in that moment. It felt a little too quick of a resolution.
I also thought there were maybe one too many POVS covered. I liked getting the POV of the four main characters but I don’t think we necessarily needed the POV of some of the supporting characters.
That being said, I really enjoyed Playback Effect. I don’t read much sci-fi, so this was definitely a new concept to me but I found it really interesting and hard to put down. This was very much a book that I said I was just going to read one chapter and then I read four lol! I am giving Playback Effect by Karen A. Wyle 3 out of 5 stars. If you like sci-fi or just really interesting thrillers, you should definitely give this book a try!
Playback Effect is available now on Amazon.
Thank you to the author for the free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
July 5, 2016
Playback Effect is near future, thoughtful SF about how technology affects humans and whole societies.
The setting is the near future where people have invented the technology to record what other people experience and then play it back and experience it themselves. Feelings can be recorded and one of the main characters is a professional dreamer who records her dreams for others to buy and experience. However, specifics and details aren’t yet recorded.
One of the most interesting ways that this technology has impacted the society is in the criminal justice system. When a crime happens, technicians try their best to record the victim’s experiences and when the criminal has been sentenced, their victims’ recordings are played back to the criminal so that he or she can truly experience the hurt they’ve done.
Wynne Cantrell is a professional dreamer; she records the feelings she has during her dreams and can then sell the products to other people. She’s also married to Hal Wakeman but their marriage is has become more and more unhappy because of Hal’s self-centered interest in only himself and his work. The book starts when Wynne is sitting in the Cardinem Square waiting for Hal who is once again late, a bomb blows up near her. The EMTs and also a recording team arrive. Wynne survives but is terribly wounded and even loses a hand. The police have only one serious suspect: Hal.
Hal is tried and convicted and he has to experience the memories of the bombing victims. The first memory he experiences is Wynne’s… and then his sentence is stopped. Hal’s father used his influence to get Hal off the hook and the investigation is opened up again. However, the case’s lead investigator is convinced that Hal is the perpetrator and continues to hound him. Meanwhile, Hal realizes that he almost lost Wynne and how much he really loves her.
Also, on the crime scene, a young man dies while wearing a recording helmet. Just who, if anyone, should be able to experience that recording?
Wynne’s and Hal’s marriage has been falling apart for a while before the explosion. After that, it changes dramatically because Hal realizes that he has been taking Wynne for granted and stops doing that. The whole court case is also very humbling experience for him, during which he isn’t allowed to even see his wife. Hal’s career has been the most important thing in his life and that’s pretty much over. So, Hal changes quite a lot and then struggles to come to grips with the change.
The book has a lot of point-of-view characters. In addition to Hal and Wynne, there’s Arthur Kellic, the lead detective who has no other suspects than Hal, various other characters, such as a young hacker and the real bomber who considers himself a scientist.
I really liked most of the characters and the new technology is intriguing. As we’ve seen, new tech can bring about quite a lot of change. The possibility of recording people’s emotions can be a huge change and it’s explored through various characters.
The pace isn’t particularily fast at first but starts to build up.
I recieved a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
The setting is the near future where people have invented the technology to record what other people experience and then play it back and experience it themselves. Feelings can be recorded and one of the main characters is a professional dreamer who records her dreams for others to buy and experience. However, specifics and details aren’t yet recorded.
One of the most interesting ways that this technology has impacted the society is in the criminal justice system. When a crime happens, technicians try their best to record the victim’s experiences and when the criminal has been sentenced, their victims’ recordings are played back to the criminal so that he or she can truly experience the hurt they’ve done.
Wynne Cantrell is a professional dreamer; she records the feelings she has during her dreams and can then sell the products to other people. She’s also married to Hal Wakeman but their marriage is has become more and more unhappy because of Hal’s self-centered interest in only himself and his work. The book starts when Wynne is sitting in the Cardinem Square waiting for Hal who is once again late, a bomb blows up near her. The EMTs and also a recording team arrive. Wynne survives but is terribly wounded and even loses a hand. The police have only one serious suspect: Hal.
Hal is tried and convicted and he has to experience the memories of the bombing victims. The first memory he experiences is Wynne’s… and then his sentence is stopped. Hal’s father used his influence to get Hal off the hook and the investigation is opened up again. However, the case’s lead investigator is convinced that Hal is the perpetrator and continues to hound him. Meanwhile, Hal realizes that he almost lost Wynne and how much he really loves her.
Also, on the crime scene, a young man dies while wearing a recording helmet. Just who, if anyone, should be able to experience that recording?
Wynne’s and Hal’s marriage has been falling apart for a while before the explosion. After that, it changes dramatically because Hal realizes that he has been taking Wynne for granted and stops doing that. The whole court case is also very humbling experience for him, during which he isn’t allowed to even see his wife. Hal’s career has been the most important thing in his life and that’s pretty much over. So, Hal changes quite a lot and then struggles to come to grips with the change.
The book has a lot of point-of-view characters. In addition to Hal and Wynne, there’s Arthur Kellic, the lead detective who has no other suspects than Hal, various other characters, such as a young hacker and the real bomber who considers himself a scientist.
I really liked most of the characters and the new technology is intriguing. As we’ve seen, new tech can bring about quite a lot of change. The possibility of recording people’s emotions can be a huge change and it’s explored through various characters.
The pace isn’t particularily fast at first but starts to build up.
I recieved a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
July 24, 2015
Social media can be called an exhibitionists greatest friend as it makes it so simple to share photos and videos of life. People can look and see what someone is up to and how many wish they could share in those emotions. You see someone posting about a trip of a lifetime, a risky pastime, or a great meal. Some wish they were there and engaging in those moments. If only there was a way.
Playback Effect by Karen Wyle takes the reader into a not too distant future where such a thing is possible. People are able to wear head gear that lets them relive moments of someone else’s life. They can also take their dreams, record them, and sell to others. The book does a great job of exploring the different possibilities of this technology from joy to its potential use in criminal justice.
The book opens with a horrific event on what seemed to be a rather mundane day for Wynne Cantrell and her husband Hal. She was waiting for him to join her at lunch and explosion rocks the area where she is waiting. She will survive, but is hurt in the blast with others hurt or killed around her. Hal is late, as usual, and misses the blast but a police officer, Author Kellic, will find a way to charge Hal for the attack. The reader will find out about Arthur’s connection to Wynne and how Hal will face a penalty that some could see as extremely cruel. The ruling he will face is that he will be implanted with the memories of those hurt during the explosion, and first is that of his wife.
Along with the police a crew of people come to get the eye witness recordings of what happened. A member of that crew is practically forced to record what a severely injured person remembers, and mistakenly records their death. This helps to show the dark side of this technology as people want to see and feel this recording. This becomes one of the minor plot points within the book.
The book also will explore what happens when those convicted of a crime witness the event through the eyes of those hurt. This is something Hal must live with as he gets implanted with his own wives feelings of the event, before things change for him. This will make him more understanding of who she is, but at same time other criminals start using the memories in another way.
What Playback Effect does is take several unique and complex minor, and major, plot points and threads them together so elegantly. The reader will follow the emotions that wrap around Wynne and Hal as well as the other events mentioned in the book. The key plot has a man using bombs as a way to kill a lot of people runs throughout the book.
The reader will get to find out what happens through all the threads that author Karen Wyle plants within the book. They will eventually tie together and give a great ending that will satisfy many readers in sci-fi and other genres. The fact of this book is that the plot lines are well serviced and none are left behind in this riveting, suspenseful and enjoyable book.
Playback Effect by Karen Wyle takes the reader into a not too distant future where such a thing is possible. People are able to wear head gear that lets them relive moments of someone else’s life. They can also take their dreams, record them, and sell to others. The book does a great job of exploring the different possibilities of this technology from joy to its potential use in criminal justice.
The book opens with a horrific event on what seemed to be a rather mundane day for Wynne Cantrell and her husband Hal. She was waiting for him to join her at lunch and explosion rocks the area where she is waiting. She will survive, but is hurt in the blast with others hurt or killed around her. Hal is late, as usual, and misses the blast but a police officer, Author Kellic, will find a way to charge Hal for the attack. The reader will find out about Arthur’s connection to Wynne and how Hal will face a penalty that some could see as extremely cruel. The ruling he will face is that he will be implanted with the memories of those hurt during the explosion, and first is that of his wife.
Along with the police a crew of people come to get the eye witness recordings of what happened. A member of that crew is practically forced to record what a severely injured person remembers, and mistakenly records their death. This helps to show the dark side of this technology as people want to see and feel this recording. This becomes one of the minor plot points within the book.
The book also will explore what happens when those convicted of a crime witness the event through the eyes of those hurt. This is something Hal must live with as he gets implanted with his own wives feelings of the event, before things change for him. This will make him more understanding of who she is, but at same time other criminals start using the memories in another way.
What Playback Effect does is take several unique and complex minor, and major, plot points and threads them together so elegantly. The reader will follow the emotions that wrap around Wynne and Hal as well as the other events mentioned in the book. The key plot has a man using bombs as a way to kill a lot of people runs throughout the book.
The reader will get to find out what happens through all the threads that author Karen Wyle plants within the book. They will eventually tie together and give a great ending that will satisfy many readers in sci-fi and other genres. The fact of this book is that the plot lines are well serviced and none are left behind in this riveting, suspenseful and enjoyable book.
June 3, 2016
In Playback Effect, Karen Wyle has created a not-very-distant future in which technology has taken virtual reality down a different path, allowing users to experience emotion – whether exhilaration, fear, pleasure or loss – recorded during actual events, through a special helmet. Protagonist Wynne Cantrell, a lucid dreamer, creates and records dreams for this market, allowing customers to experience her emotions and reactions from her purposeful dreams.
When Wynne is a victim of a bomb, planted in a fountain designed by her husband, Hal Wakeman, suspicion falls on Hal and quickly translates to conviction. The punishment in this future world is simple: the criminal is forced to experience, through helmet technology, the suffering of his or her victims, recorded at the crime scene by special technicians. Hal begins his punishment by experiencing Wynne's emotions, only to be reprieved by the governor.
Hal works to clear his name, reluctantly working with a detective who is not-so-secretly in love with Wynne. But as he does so, he notices his own world-view and reactions changing – or is it just him? Is there an unrevealed side effect to experiencing another's emotions?
All of could have been the premise for a nuanced and considered examination of how and what we can ever hope to understand of another human being, and what being privy to the true reactions and emotions of another could – for good or bad – mean for human relationships and self-knowledge. While competently written for the most part, I found Playback Effect basically bland. Characters seemed not to have any real difficulties, even in what should have been tense and emotion-ridden situations; too often I felt I was being told what Wynne or Hal – or other characters - were thinking or experiencing, rather than being shown.
After the resolution of the major conflict of the story, the novel becomes a bit disjointed as it attempts to clear up loose ends and create a happy and hopeful ending; the story may have benefited from more time explaining Wynne's new dream work and its uses. I would classify Playback Effect as a romance novel, using a technological twist and some legal wrangling as the catalysts forcing a reaction in Wynne and Hal's relationship, not a science fiction novel. Fans of Nicholas Sparks (I am not among that group) are likely to find Playback Effect satisfying. Three stars.
The author provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
When Wynne is a victim of a bomb, planted in a fountain designed by her husband, Hal Wakeman, suspicion falls on Hal and quickly translates to conviction. The punishment in this future world is simple: the criminal is forced to experience, through helmet technology, the suffering of his or her victims, recorded at the crime scene by special technicians. Hal begins his punishment by experiencing Wynne's emotions, only to be reprieved by the governor.
Hal works to clear his name, reluctantly working with a detective who is not-so-secretly in love with Wynne. But as he does so, he notices his own world-view and reactions changing – or is it just him? Is there an unrevealed side effect to experiencing another's emotions?
All of could have been the premise for a nuanced and considered examination of how and what we can ever hope to understand of another human being, and what being privy to the true reactions and emotions of another could – for good or bad – mean for human relationships and self-knowledge. While competently written for the most part, I found Playback Effect basically bland. Characters seemed not to have any real difficulties, even in what should have been tense and emotion-ridden situations; too often I felt I was being told what Wynne or Hal – or other characters - were thinking or experiencing, rather than being shown.
After the resolution of the major conflict of the story, the novel becomes a bit disjointed as it attempts to clear up loose ends and create a happy and hopeful ending; the story may have benefited from more time explaining Wynne's new dream work and its uses. I would classify Playback Effect as a romance novel, using a technological twist and some legal wrangling as the catalysts forcing a reaction in Wynne and Hal's relationship, not a science fiction novel. Fans of Nicholas Sparks (I am not among that group) are likely to find Playback Effect satisfying. Three stars.
The author provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 8, 2015
The sale of vivid dreams has become a reality in this high-test legal / sci-fi thriller from author Karen Wyle. Purchase a high-tech helmet and you can feel the carnal pleasures of someone's guilty liaison -- or experience an agonizing death. It's up to you.
Unless, of course, you've committed a crime, as Harold "Hal" Wakeman has been accused of doing. Authorities allege he planted a powerful bomb inside a fountain sculpture that he designed. The resulting explosion killed or injured dozens -- including his wife, Wynne.
When the couple discover a mental process that can make them forget their PTSD-like memories, they also discover that she can undergo the procedure - but he cannot. Intense recriminations ensue.
Wynne creates a wide spectrum of dreams and records them for sale, via the futuristic helmet technology that plays such a large part in this story. And the author is particularly good at describing the idyllic scenes Wynne conjures up:
'She was floating, floating in a golden, glowing place of perfect warmth, rocking, cradled.She had nothing to need, nothing to do; she could simply float, and wait, and be."
The supporting cast of characters complement the main protagonists very well, weaving texture into the book with their depth and complexity.
Arthur, Hannah, Tertius, Warden Heath, Dream Daemon -- all play their parts flawlessly as the mystery rolls inexorably toward its stunning conclusion.
In a world where vicarious gratification is bought and sold like apples in a supermarket, no experience seems out of bounds -- except, perhaps, the so-called "snuff product," in which a person's death is recorded and sold.
It's grim stuff to contemplate, but, like all good science fiction, it's uncomfortably close to plausibility -- and therefore all the more terrifying.
Five stars to Playback Effect. It's.excellent dystopian fare
Unless, of course, you've committed a crime, as Harold "Hal" Wakeman has been accused of doing. Authorities allege he planted a powerful bomb inside a fountain sculpture that he designed. The resulting explosion killed or injured dozens -- including his wife, Wynne.
When the couple discover a mental process that can make them forget their PTSD-like memories, they also discover that she can undergo the procedure - but he cannot. Intense recriminations ensue.
Wynne creates a wide spectrum of dreams and records them for sale, via the futuristic helmet technology that plays such a large part in this story. And the author is particularly good at describing the idyllic scenes Wynne conjures up:
'She was floating, floating in a golden, glowing place of perfect warmth, rocking, cradled.She had nothing to need, nothing to do; she could simply float, and wait, and be."
The supporting cast of characters complement the main protagonists very well, weaving texture into the book with their depth and complexity.
Arthur, Hannah, Tertius, Warden Heath, Dream Daemon -- all play their parts flawlessly as the mystery rolls inexorably toward its stunning conclusion.
In a world where vicarious gratification is bought and sold like apples in a supermarket, no experience seems out of bounds -- except, perhaps, the so-called "snuff product," in which a person's death is recorded and sold.
It's grim stuff to contemplate, but, like all good science fiction, it's uncomfortably close to plausibility -- and therefore all the more terrifying.
Five stars to Playback Effect. It's.excellent dystopian fare
October 18, 2015
Reviewed for Readers' Favorite.
Karen A. Wyle’s Playback Effect offers a new and unique slant on the world of virtual reality, one where a minority of lucid dreamers and a number of professional athletes, actors and stuntspeople record their experiences for others to buy and experience for themselves. Wynne Cantrell is one of the most successful lucid dreamers, offering a gamut of dream experiences from BDSM to butterfly gardens. Her husband, Hal Wakeman, a renowned sculptor, is frequently absent, heavily involved in his latest work and largely uninterested in Wynne’s pretensions to artistry. When Hal is late for another of their meetings, it seems unremarkable, but the consequences will have far-reaching effects on their relationship - and the virtual reality market as a whole.
Karen A. Wyle has written a fantastic blend of sci-fi, romance, and detective thriller in this book. In a world where dreams have power and the Pandora’s Box of the virtual reality world is the legal and ethical nightmare of a moment of death recording, Wynne and Hal have to work with an eclectic set of people to beat a murder charge and bring the real criminal to justice. The details of the legal and criminal procedure are thoroughly researched, and give the story a solid framework, while the characters’ personal stories weave the book into a brilliant whole. With convincing characters and a plot full of intriguing twists and turns, Playback Effect will create a vivid reading experience for a wide gamut of readers. I can’t over-recommend this story – a real page-turner.
Karen A. Wyle’s Playback Effect offers a new and unique slant on the world of virtual reality, one where a minority of lucid dreamers and a number of professional athletes, actors and stuntspeople record their experiences for others to buy and experience for themselves. Wynne Cantrell is one of the most successful lucid dreamers, offering a gamut of dream experiences from BDSM to butterfly gardens. Her husband, Hal Wakeman, a renowned sculptor, is frequently absent, heavily involved in his latest work and largely uninterested in Wynne’s pretensions to artistry. When Hal is late for another of their meetings, it seems unremarkable, but the consequences will have far-reaching effects on their relationship - and the virtual reality market as a whole.
Karen A. Wyle has written a fantastic blend of sci-fi, romance, and detective thriller in this book. In a world where dreams have power and the Pandora’s Box of the virtual reality world is the legal and ethical nightmare of a moment of death recording, Wynne and Hal have to work with an eclectic set of people to beat a murder charge and bring the real criminal to justice. The details of the legal and criminal procedure are thoroughly researched, and give the story a solid framework, while the characters’ personal stories weave the book into a brilliant whole. With convincing characters and a plot full of intriguing twists and turns, Playback Effect will create a vivid reading experience for a wide gamut of readers. I can’t over-recommend this story – a real page-turner.
March 3, 2015
**This copy was given to me for review only" I was astounded when I read this book. The premise is so different than any other book I have read. The author intertwines, love, deceit, and evil with a bit of a futuristic plot. Ms. Wyle kept me on the edge of my seat and I found it hard to stop reading. Her characters are very different and well thought-out. Her writing style is good as she transitions from one setting to another. The characters? You either love them or hate them, but you will definitely remember the protagonist. Whether you are into Sci-Fi type books or futuristic fiction you'll love this book. If you love to read ANY type of fiction you'll love this! Get it and read it. You won't be sorry!
December 27, 2015
Wyle presents us with a compelling imagining of the near-future, in which dreams and experiences can be recorded and replayed. Some, like Wynne, make a living by recording dreamscapes; in the criminal justice system, playback of a victim's experience is considered a fair punishment for a convicted criminal. Against this backdrop, a brutal killer is using the system for his own ends.
May 9, 2015
The interplay between technology and psychology makes this take on experience recording sci-fi feel fresh, with characters I can believe and a solid serial killer plot.
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