The Echo Wife

Written by Sarah Gailey

Narrated by Xe Sands

Sarah Gailey's The Echo Wife is “a trippy domestic thriller which takes the extramarital affair trope in some intriguingly weird new directions.”--Entertainment Weekly

I’m embarrassed, still, by how long it took me to notice. Everything was right there in the open, right there in front of me, but it still took me so long to see the person I had married.

It took me so long to hate him.

Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be.

And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband.

Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up.

Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Feb 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781250755131

Sarah Gailey

Sarah Gailey is an internationally published writer of fiction and nonfiction and a winner of the Hugo Award. Their nonfiction has been published by Mashable and The Boston Globe, and they are a regular contributor for Tor. Their most recent fiction credits include Fireside Fiction and Uncanny Magazine. Find out more at SarahGailey.com and find them on Twitter @GaileyFrey.

Reviews for The Echo Wife

[andrew · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good story line however there are parts where things are explained or detailed over and over and I found myself impatient with the descriptions.

[PyraPoison · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Extremely engaging and well-written, this story feels like a sci-fi stepford wives. While I personally felt like the last few pages of the book felt like they'd negated character growth I still loved this read.

[Becca Freeling · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing! Had my jaw on the floor with every new chapter. So engaging and beautifully written. I would suggest 100%!

[Julia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This story weaves itself around topics like 'nature or nurture', being (humanly) flawed, transgenerational trauma and the very timely question of ethical science. So good! Thank you!!

[Elizabeth Mellen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved this! Sci-fi thrillers tend to be some of my favorite thrillers because I love the what if of it all - what if we could clone people? What if there were parallel universes? What if we could time travel? and this gave us and answered a what if and it was chilling. It jumped right into the action, another thing I love from my thrillers, which is especially good given that it’s kind of short, I wouldn’t have wanted to wait on the action. The way that the women chose to deal with their problem had me shook, but I loved all of it, it was intense and pulled me right in.

[Evie Seo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Quite fascinating and thought provoking study of human psyche and what makes us who we are.

[Angel White · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This wasn't exactly what I expected and was slower than I wanted, but oddly enough I really enjoyed it anyway.

The narrator with this one is fantastic. I loved the cadence and flow of the voice, and it definitely made for an easy listen.

I also love the premise of this one. There is so much to the moral ambiguity of cloning. Is it ethical? Are they "people" despite being created for a certain purpose? Should they have rights or are they just propety? I could go on and on...

If you're looking for an interesting, but also thoughtful read this is a great one for that. It would also make an excellent book club or buddy read as there is so much here to unpack.

[Jenna Vaughn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow, excellent book. I loved the science and the characters. So many ethical dilemmas! I really liked that both Martika and Evelyn grow as individuals and are able to find a balance.

[Emma Kester · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The middle was incredibly boring, but the ending did bump it up a bit.

[Maria Silveria Grassi · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

After decent twists but the book throughout felt pointless. Specially the ending. And the characters are too unlikable. They made me mad. There was no retribution at all...

[Sylvia Brueckert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very enjoyable listen! The story was entertaining and fascinating. It’s the kind of sci fi that is more focused on human relationships and big picture concepts than technical/scientific realism. Would definitely recommend for anyone who would enjoy a domestic thriller with sci-fi ethical questions and a morally complex narrator.

[Meagan P Von Reuter · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Interesting premise and seemingly well researched which is the only reason for the extra star. Generally though, this book plods along mind-numbingly boring, nothing really happens, plot holes through which you can drive a big rig. Don’t bother with this book. It SUCKS.

[Thorn Hill · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting characters and the story rised some interesting questions on topics such as identity, patriarchy in academia, abuse, what make us humans, cloning. The main issue for me was that some parts (like Evelyn's inner thoughts) felt repetitive , borderline boring sometimes. The narrator did a fantastic job though. She brought the characters to life brilliantly and is one of the reasons I kept listening.

[Ventura Dennis · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Contemporary dressed as scifi a lot of build up that led nowhere