The Perfect Wife: A Novel

Written by JP Delaney

Narrated by JP Delaney, Saskia Maarleveld, Graham Halstead and Euan Morton

The perfect life. The perfect love. The perfect lie. From the bestselling author of The Girl Before comes a gripping psychological thriller. . . .

“Mind-bending . . . Delaney takes domestic suspense beyond its comfort zone.”—The New York Times Book Review

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY • A COSMOPOLITAN NEW MUST-READ

Abbie awakens in a daze with no memory of who she is or how she landed in this unsettling condition. The man by her side claims to be her husband. He’s a titan of the tech world, the founder of one of Silicon Valley’s most innovative start-ups. He tells Abbie that she is a gifted artist, an avid surfer, a loving mother to their young son, and the perfect wife. He says she had a terrible accident five years ago and that, through a huge technological breakthrough, she has been brought back from the abyss.

She is a miracle of science. 

But as Abbie pieces together memories of her marriage, she begins to question her husband’s motives—and his version of events. Can she trust him when he says he wants them to be together forever? And what really happened to her, half a decade ago?

Beware the man who calls you . . .
 
THE PERFECT WIFE

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9780525522911

[trayceebee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don't typically read sci-fi, and I can't even remember what motivated me to pick this up in the first place. But this book hooked me right from the start and I couldn't get enough of it! I loved the concepts introduce here (likely not new to real sci-fi fans, but some of them were new to me). I also loved the way this story circled around Danny, the young boy with autism (son of two main characters-ish). IF there was anything I didn't like about this book was the fact that it was largely written in 2nd person. I got used to it, but I don't typically care for reading things written that way.

[linaswriting · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

For the moment, I'll leave it at 3 stars because I'm not sure what happened in the end.

At first, it felt a bit slow and introductory, like every time you read about a topic that isn't common knowledge (in this case, artificial intelligence), but ultimately the last pages were full of plot twists that left me stunned (? just kidding.

Yes, I found some flaws, or rather, I had unanswered questions; but that doesn't detract from the book's great potential to entertain.

Happy 2023, by the way. ? (Translated from Spanish)

[write5review · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Tale of Robotic Suspense

The Perfect Wife is one of those slow, very slow, reveal novels that exposes what first appears as a sort of perfection for something decidedly imperfect and, well, perverse.

A genius tech company founder who seems to exhibit all the worst features of Steve Jobs lost his wife five years ago. He claimed she had died in a surfing accident while alone at the couple’s super expensive beach house. The authorities thought otherwise, but never could prove he had murdered her. So, what does a techie with nearly unlimited resources who also happens to be in the business of creating human-like robots for commercial use and who was madly in love with his wife do? Yes, he builds a robotic duplicate of her (minus her sex organs, because, you know, he’d recreating a goddess), loads her with his wife’s memories garnered from texts, emails, video, all the stuff that establishes someone as human these days, and there you are, the wife once adored, now even more adorable, because, if you haven’t guessed it yet, he thinks he can more easily control her.

The recreated wife, Abbie, serves as the main narrator. (A second unidentified narrator fills in details about Abbie at Tim’s company and their relationship and Tim’s temperament.) Through her, we learn of Abbie’s past, of her relationship with Tim, the overbearing genius, and her growing concern about what happened to the original Abbie. We also witness her development into something approximating human, particularly in her love for Danny, the little boy of Abbie and Tim. Danny is autistic and it’s Abbie who establishes ways to communicate with him. She becomes so human, so enamored with her sentient life that she begins to hatch a plan to preserve it, as she serves as an investigator for Tim, who claims he created her to find the real Abbie, whom he says he believes still lives. Of course, all manner of questions get raised in the reader’s mind? Did Tim kill Abbie? If Abbie ran away, why? How could she run away if she loved Danny? If she still lived, what would that mean for the robotic Abbie? What will happen if Abbie finds the real Abbie? What will become of Danny? So many questions pop up as you work your way to the end, which is quite twisty in more ways than one. Really, it should have been a really compelling suspense novel.

Unfortunately, it goes on and on for too long. Some novels deserve to run more than 400 pages. Some novels that run more than 500 pages feel too short; you really don’t want to leave the world created by the author. This is one of those novels that would have been better with 100 fewer pages. Length is its biggest weakness. We certainly can appreciate all that Delaney crams into this: Tim’s self-absorption; Tim’s misogyny; Tim’s obsession with perfection; Tim’s Pygmalion complex; robotic Abby’s humanity; Danny’s autism and methods for engaging him. It all, however, gets to be too much and robs the book of what it is supposed to have, suspense.

[jen_bartels-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

My jury is still out on this book...parts were riveting and I was really intrigued and found it very interesting. Other parts were slow, lagging and didn't really seem to fit in with the story, like if they made it a movie those parts would definitely be left out. All in all, it was a decent read and I'd maybe recommend it to a few people and I will check out more from this author as I think they are full of really interesting ideas, I just hope they get an editor that helps them "trim the fat" a bit more.

[VeroB.N. · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Abbie wakes up from an accident after five years and doesn’t remember part of her past.

This novel blends domestic thriller and science fiction, due to a particular element that I found innovative. It kept me hooked until the middle of the book, then I feel it declines a bit, and I would split the ending into two parts: one part I saw coming, but the other part surprised me. (Translated from Spanish)

[LauritaIR · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A thriller with touches of science fiction, addictive and very original.
I don't want to reveal much about the plot because the fun is in discovering what it's about as you read.
It's entertaining as a good thriller and also raises very current and profound topics.
Highly recommended. (Translated from Spanish)

[Marta2211 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The idea of this book is very interesting but very complicated; nonetheless, it has been masterfully developed, making it an extremely addictive book. I was very surprised. (Translated from Spanish)

[Jemita · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

...I picked this book up blindly and I loved it.
Although these themes give me some chills (for me, this is no longer science fiction; it is probably closer than we think), the book has been addictive, well-connected, and wonderfully concluded. (Translated from Spanish)

[MCCK · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Despite the fact that in the acknowledgments the author recognizes that the original idea was not his own, it's important to give him credit for taking that idea, interesting yet challenging, and turning it into a very entertaining novel. The book oscillates between techno-thriller and domestic noir and captivates from the very first pages. Obviously, as with all innovative topics, there are some unclear facts that do not detract from the experience at all. The novel is a page-turner, and if you're looking to read something fresh, I especially recommend it. I loved the ending. (Translated from Spanish)

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Until I reached the final chapter, I was ready to heap praise on this novel, which is best described as Gone Girl meets Rebecca, if the second Mrs de Winter had been a robot. So clever, I thought! What a great concept! And Abbie - version 2.0 - is a brilliant character who actually grows, from a 'perfect wife' into a rogue AI with a deadly line in sarcasm. Better than Tim the Victorian gothic villain, anyhow.

'I made her better, I fixed her,' Tim told Mike in the same location, a couple of days later. 'Anyone would do the same for someone they really loved.'

I thought, from the blurb, that the twist in the tale would be the discovery that 'Abbie' was a machine, so I was somewhat taken aback when her situation was explained in the first chapter. Tim Scott, her husband and a modern day Dr Frankenstein, is creepy from the outset, however, and imagined that I knew exactly what was coming, expecting more of an unravelling than a revelation. Wrong again! Well, I was sort of right, but also satisfied by how Abbie took back her story, which is told in the second person. Even the subplot of the autistic son, taken from the author's own personal experience, was realistically and sympathetically told - I'm not in the slightest bit maternal, but loved how poor Danny's condition helped Abbie to form a human bond with one person in her fake family.

The ending was a disappointment, and the reason for a last minute drop from five stars to four. One minute I was thrown by Abbie's dark turn and eagerly awaiting her final battle for existence - only to be rewarded with evil bots and a distinctly Asimovian solution. I was left scratching my head, I must admit.

Overall, though, I hugely enjoyed this psychological thriller, racing through in a day, and will be reading more from the author.

[gpangel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney is a 2019 Ballantine publication.

Ingenious!

I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading this book. I did not realize it had a sci-fi element in it, but, I’m glad I chose it without picking up on that, because otherwise I might have passed on it.

The author has constructed a very clever premise in which Abbie, who suddenly awakes- unsure of herself or her surroundings, believes she must have been in an accident of some kind. However, she soon learns, from her husband, Tim, that she is a ‘companion robot’ made in the image of his dead wife. She begins to piece together memories and information from the 'real' Abbie as she attempts to connect with her autistic son and be the perfect wife to Tim.

What ensues is an intelligent and darkly imaginative look the consequences of technology, and the possibility of robotic feelings of empathy and maybe even accountability. Some of the characters are almost satirical, but the story is still wildly original. As the mystery deepens, so do the complexities, and the various, and often surprising, emotions that develop with the story.

The format is also unique with both first and second person narratives, which paves the way for an incredibly shocking revelation that made my jaw drop open.

Overall, I really liked this book. It was shocking, and gave my brain a nice workout, and was a nice change of pace for me.

4 stars

[lorikboyd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Part SciFi, part psychological thriller, part love story. Once into this book, I had my questions if it was for me. Science Fiction is not something I enjoy, or ever read. But, something kept me going. I’m glad I did. It was an enjoyable read, going back and forth from the Robot Abbie to Abbie in real life to Tim’s work environment seamlessly.

This book delves into AI (artificial intelligence) companion robots (cabots) made by a Tim a tech genius after his wife, Abbie disappears and is presumed dead. He is left with their small autistic son, Danny. The robot is eerily the exact replica of Abbie, with a few small tweaks. Memories have been downloaded. Was Tim’s love for Abbie so strong he couldn’t bear to lose her? Or is he a mad scientist?

I haven’t read this author’s previous best sellers, although I have them. I look forward to reading the. The writing style sucks you in immediately. I recommend this book if you want something to think about, out of your normal genre or just a quick thriller! Great vacation read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for this ARC of this book. Opinion is mine alone!

Sent from my iPhone

[ml923 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Decent page-turner, entertaining read.

[kbranfield-837433 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

4.5 stars.

The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney is a mesmerizing novel that is part science fiction,  part mystery and completely enthralling.  Confession time: I am not a sci fi fan but I ABSOLUTELY LOVED this domestic mystery.

Tim Scott is a Silicon Valley billionaire whose tech company works primarily with designing robots to interact with the public in various ways. He is socially awkward, works long hours and sets impossibly high standards for his employees.  His workers are taken aback and rather surprised when he announces Abbie Cullen is going to be an artist in residence for the next several months.  Abbie is a breath of fresh air who does not hesitate to challenge Tim's ideas and beliefs.  Despite their differences, Tim and Abbie eventually marry and have a son, Danny.  Their happiness is marred when four year old Danny is diagnosed with Heller's syndrome and  Abbie and Tim have very differing opinions on how to best help their son.

Fast forward five years and Abbie wakes up from an accident to discover she is a technological marvel. Although parts of her life are now confusing, she is still devoted to Danny and she wants to be an active part of his life.  Abbie is still in love with Tim but she is beginning to sense that there is much more to her husband than meets the eye. Can she completely trust his version of events about what happened to her five years ago? Abbie is becoming desperate for answers but what will she do once she uncovers the truth?

Unfolding from two distinct points of view, The Perfect Wife is a very clever mystery with a completely ingenious storyline.  Abbie's perspective is written in second person which is unique yet very effective. Other chapters flashback to the past and are narrated by anonymous employees who  provide very interesting information about Tim and Abbie.  With the suspense building as Abbie gets closer to the truth, JP Delaney  brings this brilliant novel to a breathtaking, twist-filled conclusion that is quite stunning.  An utterly fascinating read that I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend!!!

[alphawoman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Whoa! I read the first few pages and almost passed on the book. I'm glad I persevered. After the Sense of an Ending, a very meaty though provoking, memory probing book, this simple read was fascinating! I really enjoyed it and read it in record breaking time, or maybe I'm finally just reading faster.

I'm naturally reminded of Data from Star Trek: next generation and how he could not feel. This AI could feel and deeply.

If I think too deeply about the story it would fall apart, but still a riveting read

[atticusfinch1048 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Perfect Wife – Is there such a thing?

JP Delaney who had worldwide success with The Girl Before, has come back with a new suspense thriller, that once again pushes the envelope. I thought this was not as good as his previous book, but he is building a great writing style and has some ideas that may shock as well as entice. This time pushing the envelope with the interaction of Artificial Intelligence with robots and humans.

When Abbie wakes up in a hospital bed, she has no idea how she has got there and what has happened. Fortunately, the man at the side of her bed can explain everything to her, one that he is her husband, and that it will take time for her memory will come back. Her husband, Tim, the British born owner of an AI firm based in Silicon Valley.

When she is told she is a Cobot, a robot with AI that has taken the memories of Abbie, Tim’s wife and the mother to their child, Danny. As she slowly pieces together the memories, things seem at odds with what she is being told. When she finds hidden electronics, she investigates them, with help from a computer nerd.

What she finds makes her concerned, especially when there is a forthcoming court date as to whether Abbie should be destroyed or not. The more she learns about her disappearance, the more she wants to run herself and take Danny with her. Even though Danny has a set of mental health problems that may hinder her in that.

As Abbie decides to escape, little does she realise what she is doing or where it may lead. But there are some impulses a mother cannot just ignore and making sure Danny is safe from Tim is one of those things.

There are plenty of twists and turns in this thriller, that sometimes means that you need to go back and look at what has been written. The ending will make you stop, I am not sure that this can be bettered for this book.

Is this really the perfect wife?

[nyiper · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I found this book to be absolutely....CLEVER! With Abbie, the AI version speaking in the third person , and the twists and turns in the story, I was completely surprised with the ending. There are so many different ways to look at this and it is so up-to-date in terms of how people are thinking about potentials. Of course there were wonderful imaginative aspects to make AI Abbie really come "alive." The book is just plain fascinating and I am so impressed with how it was pulled together. I was even more impressed with Delaney work when I reached his acknowledgments where he describes his family and his autistic son.

[twink_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've read both of J.P. Delaney's previous suspense novels and quite enjoyed them. I easily put The Perfect Wife on the TBR list.

Abbie awakes in a hospital with no idea of who she really is or what happened to her. The man who says he is her husband begins to fill in the gaps in her memory. An accident five years ago took her from him. Now stop here if you plan to read the book.....

"She is a miracle of science." In fact she is an AI. Yes, an artificial intelligence one of a kind. Husband Tim runs a high tech company that has the capability to pull off this one of a kind..Project? Miracle?

And this reveal is where I stopped and thought do I really want to read this? I'm not much of a sci-fi reader. But I wanted to see where and how Delaney would inject his suspense and twists, so I kept reading.

Alternating timelines give the reader a look into the 'before' of this marriage. And it is unsettling. However, both the narrator and perspective alternates between second and third person and found this a bit confusing.

So yes, we learn that the marriage and family (they have a son) had/has issues. How is a co-bot (companion robot) going to cope with real life issues? I got more caught up in the story as AI Abbie becomes more sentient. But pragmatic me had a hard time buying into the premise (which is why I don't read a lot of sci-fi). I found the characters (including the human ones) fell all a bit flat for me. The exception to that is their son Danny who has autism. I thought the depiction of both boy and autism to be written really well. It was only on finishing the book, that I learned Delaney has a son with autism.

Delaney is a British author. I found The Perfect Wife reminded me of a British television show called Humans which imagines a world with sentient AI's.

The Perfect Wife was an interesting combo of domestic noir and sci-fi. I can't say I loved it, but I am glad I kept reading. And I will pick up Delaney's next book.

[niaomiya · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Abbie wakes up in what appears to be a hospital, but she has no memory of what happened to her. Her husband Tim -- extremely wealthy, an AI wunderkind, and owner of a Silicon Valley start-up -- explains that there was an accident, but now everything will be ok. As Abbie returns to her life with Tim and their young son Danny -- who suffers from Hiller's syndrome, a form of late-onset autism -- bits of memory continue to return to her, some of which confuse her. She starts to question Tim's version of what happened and wonders what really was the nature of the accident that put her where she is now.

This book was unexpected, which is to say that the book jacket's description gives nothing away and so the book catches you off guard from the third page. And thank goodness for that, because what the book jacket does not give away is what holds this entire book together. And so I cannot say what this big premise is, as I don't want to spoil the book for anyone else.

The book's chapters are told from two points of view: Abbie's (using 2nd person, not 1st person, a seemingly odd choice) and someone from Tim's company (using 1st person plural). The reader will find it obvious from the beginning why 1st person plural is used for the company voice, although the end gives a nice shocking reveal about that voice. But it isn't until the very end that the reader will finally comprehend why 2nd person is used for Abbie's voice, and that is a "wow" moment indeed. The chapters in Abbie's voice are the present; the chapters from the company voice provide the background, starting from the introduction of Abbie and arriving to the present.

As Abbie digs into her own past to find out the truth, she finds that things may not be what they seem. Who is telling her the truth? And when she thinks she finally has everything figured out, does she really have it figured out?

I enjoyed this book very much, but I can see mystery/thriller fans being offput by the unrevealed premise.

[susan.macura · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I was not sure that I would like this book as it involved a great deal of technology, including artificial intelligence and emotional intelligence combined in robot form. However, this was a wonderful tale of the "perfect" couple who had lots of flaws that ultimately led to the creation of the "perfect" female robot to take the place of the wife. I loved the twists in the tale, as well as the ethical questions raised in it. It was a fascinating and compelling read.

[prairieblossom · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Abbie wakes up, at first thinking she has been in an accident and then realising that she is the android copy of her husband's missing wife. This sounds like the start of a techno-thriller or science fiction adventure but the story is neither of these. It is a close and detailed look at the emotional relationship of a husband and wife.

What can, on the surface, appear to be pure, unconditional love may well be much more complicated. When a person is put on a pedestal and revered for their perfection it is hard to accept that they have their own mix of good and bad qualities that makes each person unique.

If the adored person is no longer around and you had the opportunity to create the perfect facsimile would you be tempted?

Abbie and Tim's son Danny appears to me to be the perfect metaphor for this broken relationship. For the first few years of his life, he is the perfect, beautiful, adored child but then a developmental disorder makes itself know and Danny begins to display a form of autism.

The story requires close attention. Different voices tell the story in different time periods. And if you, the reader, have an ah-ha moment part way through the story you have been fooled. Continue reading to find out what is actually going on, it is very different from what you assumed.

[miss.mesmerized · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Tim Scott, prodigy of Silicon Valley, has lost his wife and is since mourning. But he wouldn’t be one of the richest and most admired IT specialists if he wasn’t the one with visions. And now his dream has come true: a cobot, perfect replica of his wife Abbie, lookalike and fed with memories of former wife’s life. As soon as the public becomes aware of this technological milestone, strong opinions collide: how do you treat a robot who looks, speaks and behaves like a human? Who do Abbie’s memories belong to? And why would someone prefer to live with a machine if he could have any woman in the country? For Tim the last question is easy to answer, but this is something he would never tell the public or his new partner. He mission is far bigger than just building a perfect copy of Abbie.

“The Perfect Wife” is a stunning combination of science-fiction novel and thriller. I especially appreciated the perspective taken: together with recently awaken cobot Abbie, we learn our way around the world of Tim Scott and only bit by bit gain knowledge about the seemingly perfect marriage he and Abbie had. There is a second voice adding information somehow from the inside Tim’s company, yet it takes until the very end to understand where this voice comes from. Many unexpected twists and turns keep suspense high and the more the action advances, the more you ask yourself what your position is when it comes to artificial intelligence.

Creating the perfect partner has been mankind’s dream forever, already in the old Greek tales you find the example of Pygmalion and throughout our history, this has always been a vision. Now, our technical knowledge and the means seem at a point where this could be possible. I found JP Delaney’s idea quite realistic and not too far-fetched after all. Machine learning has been around for a couple of years now and more and more humanoid robots inhabit our world. We even talk to them as if they were humans and Siri, Alexa and the like have become a normal part of our life.

There is another aspect I found particularly interesting: Tim’s and Abbie’s son was diagnosed with autism and the cobot seems to be much more capable of understanding his ways of communication than human beings. They share some similarities in how their programming/brains work which leads me to wonder if with the help of machines, we could facilitate life for many people suffering from this or similar disorders.

All in all, a suspenseful thriller which raises the most relevant questions of our time and surely mirrors our human hubris. Something we definitely must reconsider.

[darcia_10 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I loved the concept for this book, but I didn't like the story's execution at all.

To start, the majority of the narration is from Abbie's perspective in the rarely used second person, as in: "You walk up the stairs," or "You take his hand..." It's as if the author is telling us to imagine if we were Abbie, and this is what we'd experience. The effect is weird, which is probably why so few books are written this way.

Then there is another POV, which I've never seen done before and hope to never see again. I can only describe it as second person omniscient. The narrator's pronouns are "we" and "our," and it's written from the group perspective of everyone who works for Tim and knows Abbie. This group collective tells us all about things they witness, and the most irritating part of this is the absolute worship of Abbie. I swear they reacted as if she was a goddess, falling at her feet and mesmerized by her very presence. Despite Abbie's character being central to this story, we never get to know her as more than a shadow figure or an ideal, making the goddess-like worship even more irritating.

The pacing is slow throughout the entire middle. We know early on what type of man Tim is, yet it's continually unveiled as if we should be shocked by each revelation. None of the twists surprised me. The ending raced to its conclusion, becoming almost comical in it's strangeness.

These complaints are all specific to me. If you don't mind the stylistic choices in narration, you might be one of the many who love this book.

*I received an advance copy from the publisher, via NetGalley.*

[amysan_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was much different than I thought it was going to be, but I didn't read the blurb and went in blind. I'm not usually a fan of sci-fi, but I enjoyed the storyline and the two voices that it was told in. The ending surprised me. Thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine for allowing me to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

[mookie86 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC.

4 stars. Another well-crafted, unique story by JP Delaney. The dual narrator structure kept me guessing throughout. The subject matter and character arcs were ones I had not seen yet in the thriller genre but was well done nonetheless. Enjoyable and a nice change. Looking forward to more from this author.

[mrsrj-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Perfect Wife is a cross between a good mystery and a sci-fi, techno-thriller. On the one hand, you have a wife that is missing and all the juicy unanswered questions that go along with that. On the other hand, you have a robotic-companion, created by a "distraught husband" that is the spitting image of the missing wife. What? Yep! The technological genius built an exact replica of his missing wife. Now everyone that has lost someone you love can relate to wanting them back - to missing them so much it is literally painful. But to go so far as to build a robotic resemblance - - -that is just plain creepy. Not to mention the ramifications of such a thing on the children. Morally, ethically, where do we draw the techno line? How far is too far?

But let's table that deep stuff and concentrate on the story. Delaney does a pretty good job of keeping the reader unsure and guessing. The technology is frightening and all too real. When robo-Abbie begins to question not only her programmed memories but the programmer, I literally felt my rate double. The unusual use of second person narration made the story read oddly to me. Maybe it's just me and other readers will be fine with it. I found it interrupted the flow and made it feel choppy and disjointed. While I understand the differentiation between the characters, I feel there was a better way to present this to the reader. I don't read science fiction very often, so you don't have to be a sci-fi lover to enjoy this novel. The science is interesting and scarrie but it doesn't dominate nor drive the story. At its' core, this is a suspense/thriller and it's a pretty-darned-good-one.

Happy Reading,

RJ

[robynelee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was just planning to peruse the first chapter, but found I could not put this suspenseful story down. It is an intriguing mix of a family drama, a glimpse into autism, and the high tech world of SiliconValley experimenting with Artificial Intelligence. This AI took the form of a bot with a human’s form along with memories and empathy. To switch between characters, the author used second person pronouns and present tense for one of the characters. I understood the use of this device, but it was a bit off-putting. On the whole it was a very interesting read. I especially appreciated the author’s notes that followed the novel. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of the book. #ThePerfectWife

[bonnie.franks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am not a big fan of sci-fi and did not consider this book to be sci-fi, but rather a domestic thriller.

This book touches on so many questions that we have in today's society. I am into reading psychological thrillers, but I have to say this one has a quite refreshing premise and kept me reading for sure. It delves into autism and has some sad parts, and it delves into AI, with some tender moments in that category, and it has the love story theme as well. If that sounds like too much, trust me, it isn't. It all keeps you loving the characters you love, hating the characters you hate, and eager to turn the pages. I am so impressed with this book.

I really can't get into detail, but I can tell you to mark your calendar for the day this one comes out.. Wow. You will love it.

My copy was provided to me by NetGalley.com and the publisher. A sincere thank you to them.