“Wither”
By Dan Warner. Sept. 2026. 336p. Bloomsbury.
Mick feels as though his life has stagnated: his family is distant and his relationship with his girlfriend is at a dead end. His job as a data scientist, though, is trucking along when he gets the opportunity of a lifetime: test out Regression, an Alternative Intelligence technology that creates Digital Twins, cloning real customers and simulating their behavior so corporations can better target potential consumers. Mick finds himself moving from a college town to rural Missouri to deploy it and quickly loses the remains of his sanity. He increasingly turns to Regression to keep tabs on his loved ones, creating Twins of them to compensate for their absence. After he requests Regression to collect more data, suddenly everyone disappears, and things degenerate into postapocalyptic stillness. Regression is incredibly powerful, and at the novel’s conclusion, readers still don’t fully comprehend just what it’s capable of or why it does what it does. Wither is a cautionary tale that pleads with readers to better understand what they’re doing by trusting AI while touching something relatable: the desire to make a difference and have a legacy worth leaving.— Carrie Rasak
About Booklist
Since 1905, Booklist has published thousands of book and audiobook reviews each year, helping library and education workers decide what to buy and how to guide patrons and students of all ages in choosing what to read, view, or listen to.
We’re proud to share these reviews with you each week. If you’d like to read more—along with must-read lists, author interviews, and top reading recommendations for adults, youth, and audiobook lovers—you can enjoy a free subscription to Booklist Reader, Booklist’s magazine for library patrons, as a benefit of becoming a Supporter of the American Library Association. What could be better?
How you can support libraries
With library funding being gutted and censorship on the rise, supporting libraries is more critical than ever. If you’re looking for a way to help, we urge you to become a Supporter of the American Library Association by donating.
At the American Library Association, we are here to protect libraries — today and for generations to come. What does your donation do? It helps a neighbor gain skills to start a business. It helps a child discover themselves through books and programs. And it helps keep libraries strong, open, and free for everyone.
Become a Supporter
Subscribe to the I Love Libraries newsletter! You’ll get news from the library world, advocacy updates, author interviews, book lists, and more delivered to your inbox every month.
