'The Echo Wife' Layers Sci-Fi And Murder Mystery For A Twisty Treat

Sarah Gailey knows how to build the heck out of a world. In two of their recent books — 2019's and 2000's — the author created a school of wizardry and a dystopian Wild West, respectively, that enticed lovers of these fantasy/science-fiction tropes while yanking them both on their ear. I was enchanted by both, and I went into Gailey's new novel, , with a big expectation for yet another immersive, wonderfully detailed, fictional setting. I was not catered to. There isn't any real because, well, there's no world to build. It already exists. It's our own. The book takes place, more or less, in the here and now, and even the rich concept behind its science-fictional premise — namely cloning — keeps a fuzzy distance. Once I got over my initial bout of pouting, though, I gave myself over to Gailey's latest exercise in character-driven speculation. And I was happy I did.