This book is without a doubt a keeper! Susan Squires has written a true classic with Body Electric.

Victoria "Vic" Bernhardt is an extraordinary programmer, jailed for hacking early in her career, she was released into the dubious supervision of Bob McIntrye CEO Visimorph whose consuming passion was making money and controlling others.

Vic is a lost soul, while she is confident in her work, her personal life suffers from severe self destructive self esteem problems. In her effort to recreate a better female, she has been working on an AI project secretly. When something totally unexplainable happens and "Jodie" becomes sentient, she is elated. Now she can try and keep all the insecurities that plague her out of Jodie's programming, perhaps, Jodie can be the whole person Vic feels she is not.

Jodie, however, is not female but male, and with sentience that is growing exponentially, will soon require more storage capacity than Vic can provide. The resulting fracturing and the impending discovery and bastardization of her AI program by McIntyre, who views AI as a convenient, money making way to basically enslave an intelligent program, will drive both Jodie and Vic to extreme measures.

Jodie wants to be human and when the programming begins to fragment, he goes in search of a brain dead, but physically alive body. He finds just what he's looking for in the body of Peace Activist and arch enemy of Visimorph, John Reston, who was badly injured in a car accident.

Vic is faced with a life altering decision, to help Jodie live or watch him die as he slowly goes mad.

Will McIntyre find out what has happened and stop Jodie before he can "live"? Will Vic be able to sort through her demons enough to believe in the power of love and in Jodie's devotion to her? Can they thwart McIntyres truly self -serving, uncaring, manipulating ideas of AI sentience and prevent him from corrupting something as beautiful as another life, even if it did begin as a computer program?

This is a real classic Frankenstein, complete with action packed twists and smoldering love scenes. Truly a winner. When you pick it up, be prepared to be glued your seat as you rediscover what being human really means.

Synopsis
Victoria Barnhardt set out to create something brilliant. She succeeded beyond her wildest fantasies. With one keystroke her program spiraled out of control...and something was born that defied possibility: a being who called to her.