The reader is meant to take comfort in the fact that Linda Lee lives on in the Matrix, saved from her harsh life and given rebirth in a peaceful beach in cyberspace. Case even gets touching closure with her. But near the end of the book, Case sees himself on the beach with her, implying that he too was "flatlined"... and obviously this construct of Case isn't the "real" Case. Unless Case's construct was created by different means than Linda's, this implies that the Linda living happily ever after on the beach isn't really Linda. Her mind wasn't downloaded from her brain into the Matrix; it was only copied. The "real" Linda is just as dead as she appeared at the end of "Chiba City Blues." She never got any happily ever after. Just a short, miserable life and a tragic death.
On the other hand, perhaps both versions of Case are equally real, and both Linda and Case have been granted a form of immortality.
