The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney was a surprise and so very unexpected! I definitely do not want to give too much away but can say I was engrossed from start to end! Abbie has no idea where she is and how she got there. Except there is a man that says he is her husband and she is his perfect wife. When memories start come back that make her question things, who can she trust? Full of surprises and the unexpected, The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney is a great summer page-turner!

Happy reading!

So, I've heard that JP Delaney is quite the author in thriller books! I decided to try a book and was hesitant because I tend to be very picky with thrillers!!

Ugh.. it makes me sad but this book just didn't do it for me. The first 10 percent I thought I was going to love and then it just got SUPER slow. Finally towards the last 10 percent something started to actually happen.

Delaney touches on a lot of themes in this one but just didn't do it for me? His characters are also extremely flat... my god I was bored with this! Yikes... from all the 5 star reviews for this? I was thinking umm.. really am I missing something here?

Ugh.. I'm not sure I would read another book by this author to be honest.

Overall, 2.5 stars for me on this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Publication date: 8/6/19
Pubished to GR: 8/11/19

Abbie wakes in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. The man by her side explains that he’s her husband. He’s a titan of the tech world, the founder of one of Silicon Valley’s most innovative startups. He tells Abbie she’s a gifted artist, a doting mother to their young son, and the perfect wife. 

Five years ago, she suffered a terrible accident. Her return from the abyss is a miracle of science, a breakthrough in artificial intelligence that has taken him half a decade to achieve. 

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

Wow, what a ride! There is a reason why JP Delaney is my auto buy / must read author. His books are the ones that shock you and leave you quite speechless, in an amazing way! I have a new born baby but I raced through this book in 2 days (what?!). I just couldn’t put this book down!

The Perfect Wife is gripping, intense and also creepy in a way. It is such a page turner. You think you know the plot twist but that will be too easy! I thought I knew what’s going on but no, I guessed it wrong! The storylines and theme in The Perfect Wife is a bit more complex and controversial than JP Delaney’s previous books, which is so engrossing to the readers

Many thanks to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads Synopsis:

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

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 questioning 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 Abbie half a decade ago?

How far would you go to bring back the one you love?

My Mini

Abbie Cullen-Scott has been missing and presumed dead for five years. One day she wakes up in a hospital like setting feeling like she’s been in a car accident. Except she is not in a hospital nor has seen been in a car accident. Abbie is in a room at Scott Robotics, her husband Tims company.

This is not the missing Abbie, this is Artificial Intelligence version of Abbie also known as Cobot. This is short for companion robot.

Once devastated and heartbroken after his wife’s disappearance, Tim worked tirelessly to bring a robotic version of Abbie back to life. He even went so far as to giving the AI version his former wife’s memories.

While adjusting to life as a wife of a tech billionaire and a mother to Danny, a child with autism, Abbie quickly learns the former Mrs. Cullen-Scott was keeping her own secrets. Although Tim was acquitted of murder charges, Abbie feels something is not right. She starts her own secret investigation to uncover the truth as to what really happened to the former Mrs. Cullen-Scott.

The chapters alternate between the former Abbie’s life with Tim and Scott Robotics to the AI version of Abbie trying to uncover the truth about her disappearance.

This is my first J.P. Delaney book, and in all honesty I wish I would have started with The Perfect Wife. I was looking for the perfect blend of sci fi and thriller, and I didn’t find it. I would classify this book as being more suspenseful than a thriller.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books #partner for the digital ARC of The Perfect Wife!

I very rarely give a 5 star to a book, but this one I feel is such a high 4, IMO, it just seems natural to go with the 5 star! This book is more than a mystery/thriller. It makes us think about Artificial Intelligence(AI) and its anticipated role in our world, how over-bearing love can affect a relationship, and the affect of a life-challenging diagnosis for a child. I believe the book gives some insight into having an autistic child that we might not otherwise understand, and by reading the author's Acknowledgments at the end of the book, the reader will understand why that is. The author keeps us informed of the tech-stuff of what is happening to the characters without becoming so geeky that it is difficult to keep track of....which should be appreciated. The main gist of the story is the development of a female cobot (companion robot) to take the place of a missing wife/mother. Just how far does AI go with replicating a person......can that cobot replace someone physically, mentally, emotionally? I loved that the book was told in a 2nd person narrative.....it kept me wondering just who was telling the story...and kept me wondering until the surprise ending! The twists and turns kept me reading longer than I wanted to in order to find out what was happening to everyone! And the reader will be kept guessing, right up through the last words of the book. Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Ballentine Books for the opportunity to receive an ARC in return for an honest review, which this has been. #NetGalley, #BallentineBooks, #ThePerfectWife

I've read other novels by JP Delaney, but I think this one takes the place for my favorite by this author. Sometimes when I see a title like The Perfect Wife, I get a little off put. Don't let that be you. Don't be swayed away based on the title, dive in, you won't expect what is to come. It was a page turner for sure, with twists that seem to come out of no where. Pick it up, give it a try, you won't regret it.

I had never heard of this author and was very pleasantly surprised!. The Perfect Wife is about marriage and many problems but in the same time this novel is different than other typical thrillers. The character weren't very relatable, but I enjoyed reading about this. Definitely a one day read with twists and turns till the end. I was engaged throughout the book and found the author and a strong understanding of autism.

I somehow missed the archive date on this one-what a bummer! I love JP Delaney and will be purchasing this book in the future.

Artificial intelligence. It’s fascinating, scary, and a little creepy. JP Delaney’s newest book, The Perfect Wife, has all of these elements. It is a suspenseful and twisty book that deals, AI as well as autism, harassment in the workplace, parenting, and relationships.

Tim Scott is a major force in Silicon Valley. His company is on the cutting edge of robotics and artificial intelligence. When his wife disappears (and is eventually presumed dead), he decides to create a substitute – a robot (called a cobot) of his wife, Abby.

The story is told from several points of view: Abby (the cobot) and an unidentified voice from the staff of Scott Robotics. The story moves from the past, relating how Abby and Scott met, fell in love and started their family, and the present, dealing with Abby’s disappearance and the creation of her replacement.

Some may consider this science fiction, a genre that I usually don’t read. But, The Perfect Wife is not purely science fiction nor is it weighted down with technical terminology or explanations. Instead, the author has managed to weave the science of artificial intelligence into a suspenseful thriller that is difficult to explain but easy to enjoy. It will make you stop and think about the future of AI, which is already part of our world. Chilling, suspenseful, and thought-provoking, JP Delaney’s book will leave you with much to think about and how the world of AI is and will impact our quickly changing lives.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, J. P. Delaney, and Quercus, Ballantine Books, publishers. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.

What would you do if you could erase the memory of your spouse, add back only the parts of your relationship where you were cast in a good light, and control the way your future was presented to said spouse? Or what if you were on the other side of that equation - your brain was only exposed to those thoughts and memories approved by your spouse? How long would this take to make you a little crazy?

Tim is a Silicone Valley shining star. His wife Abbie has been missing for several years, leaving Tim - once he is cleared of murdering his missing wife - as the single parent of their autistic son, Danny. Tim and his crew of geeks have managed over those years to come close to perfecting a companion robot amidst their sales person robots, and Tim has carefully adding into the software of one that looks remarkably like Abbie only those memories from her past and their relationship that he wants her to have. Her software is the first trial run of a newly written program that allows the bot to develop compassion and empathy, make educated guesses, or research things mentally on-line when she doesn't know something about the subject. Within days Abbie has learned to pause when puzzled, knowing that wiki might just provide the information she needs to make an educated decision. It tales a little longer for her to see that Tim is up to something, and that he is much too controlling, but there is so much missing from her recollections of their personal lives that she is for a time lost. Surely she, an independent artist with a firm set of values and a healthy self worth, couldn't have lived like this. And the ABA techniques of praise and punishment practiced by Danny's specialized school, using electric shock as a deterrent for unsociable behavior for a boy diagnosed with childhood disintegrative disorder before his 4th birthday, is untenable. Unfortunately she apparently has no say in his care. Unless she choses to take the reins of their lives into her own hands... And somehow, it all feels very familiar...

I thoroughly enjoyed Annie and Danny, and found the details of both autism treatment choices and robot development interesting and at times entertaining. This was a fascinating read, one I am happy to recommend to family and friends.
pub date August 6, 2019

This book is terrific! It is a very well done thriller that kept me guessing. I can honestly say that every time I thought I had figured things out, I was surprised again. When you start the book, you are instantly drawn into the story and guessing about what has happened and who can be trusted. I can't say a lot without revealing too much about the story, and this is one book that shouldn't be ruined for anyone. In addition to the suspenseful plot, the issues about relationships, parenting, technology, and more had me thinking about these topics and I can't wait to discuss this with friends! This would make for an amazing book club selection, as there is a LOT to discuss. The author does a wonderful job of giving clues to what happened without giving too much away. Once you finish the story, the clues given all make sense and you find yourself thinking "Aha!". For the record, I didn't guess the end of the story, and that made me like this book even more.

JP Delaney has written another excellent creepy thriller. The Perfect Wife is not about a woman but a cobot. A cobot is a customized robot. Tim builds a cobot of his deceased wife Abbie and brings her into his home that he shares with his young son. The reader begins to think of Abbie as human and that is only the start of the control Delaney has over his reader. There are many twists and the cobot Abbie will find all the answers. A definite must read.

The Perfect Wife centers around AI without all the science-y stuff. Thankfully, the author gives us the gist of it without getting too technical. The story is told in second person point of view, which isn't a favorite for me, and that combined with an unknown narrator did create some confusion at times. According to the acknowledgments, the author's aim for this book was psychological suspense, and there is a speculative element. For me, it's a little more on the speculative side than I care for, and parts of it stretch the suspension of disbelief quite far. Some of my favorite parts of the book centered around Danny and Abbie's interactions, especially as the parent of an autistic child. Those parts had a ring of truth about them, and most times were incredibly sweet moments between parent and child. The conclusion does have a pretty good twist, and I certainly didn't see all that coming, but some of it was also part of the above mentioned confusion. In the end, I found The Perfect Wife to be a little bit strange but still compelling enough to keep me reading. JP Delaney does have an interesting writing style and I'll be interested to see what's next from this author.

I love JP Delaney so couldn’t wait to read his latest book. However, I think I would have enjoyed it more had I known what it was about. I don’t really enjoy science fiction or books about artificial intelligence. The book itself was well written I just didn’t love it because of the subject matter.

Many thoughts on this one! Certainly fascinating and thought-provoking.

“So what am I? A prototype?”

He shakes his head. “Much more than that. A quantum leap. A paradigm shift. And, most important, my wife.”

'The Perfect Wife' is much more disturbing than most psychological thrillers. The author challenges the reader to question what the meaning of being human really is. The book begins with a bang: Abbie suddenly awakens - from the dead! - but is a highly specialized robot with a very complex type of AI. Her husband, Tim, a tech millionaire, has designed her for "deep learning", so that she actually adapts and evolves based on her experiences.

Can AI really replace a loved one? Can a robot ever really become sentient? Abbie's husband Tim seems so grief-stricken at the loss of his beloved wife that he has created an exact replica to replace her. JP Delaney has written one of my favorite thrillers ('The Girl Before') which also touched on some feminist themes and he really adds to ideas of human flaws, control and autonomy here.

"Even Tim, you think, for all that he keeps saying he adores you—is it really you he loves? Or is it the idea of you—his creation, this amazing achievement? This extraordinary monument to his pure, enduring love? "

Tim is a workaholic and a very demanding boss. Abbie learns that they have a son named Danny who has a rare condition called Heller's Syndrome which caused him to completely regress as a toddler into a severe form of autism. Abbie and Tim struggled to come to terms with Danny's condition, and to find the best possible education and care for him.

The story is told in alternating chapters. One of the voices is a third person which was very disorienting but in the end made perfect sense. Abbie and Tim had the perfect marriage until something happened to cause a breakdown in their relationship. As the mystery surrounding Abbie's death unfolds, the book really picks up the pace as Abbie begins to "learn" more and more and adapt to her surroundings. I never thought of her as an "it" or a robot but always as a person. Abbie can't quite recall everything about her past...only what Tim decides to "upload" to her.

Tim is a brilliant and driven man and seems completely devoted to Abbie and their son. Tim does seem happy that Abbie is bonding with Danny, even if their household isn't quite a traditional one. I had the sense that Tim wasn't quite what he seemed to be on the surface, but yet he did seem genuinely glad to help Abbie recover all of her lost memories.

“Most people think death is inevitable,” Tim goes on. “But what if that’s just a failure of our collective imagination? What if death is just another problem to be hacked?"

There is an absolutely mind-blowing ending so this book is best enjoyed without reading too many reviews. Just go in blind and you will enjoy! The only reason I didn't give this book a higher rating was because the main characters all used British terms and phrases, even though the story is set in Silicon Valley. But 'The Perfect Wife' is definitely a thought-provoking thriller with a subject matter of great topical interest that should not be missed!

“You’re Abbie. And I love you. That’s all that matters.”

I read the first page and thought - "whoa! This isn't like his last book! This isn't my kind of book at all". But then I kept reading and thought 'hmm - - maybe it IS my kind of book'. The writing is excellent and I quickly stopped thinking of Abbie as a robot. She was a real, thinking, vulnerable person. As more and more was revealed, there were move and more questions. Until the stunning ending. I won't say more - I don't want to give spoilers - I'll only say that this book is definitely a page-turner and worth reading.

“Idealism is simply long-range realism!”

From the very first page I was blown away!?! Really? Abby wakes up and is told by her husband that she is a cobot (a.k.a. #AIAbby)!?!? #WTH...right??? Well, this is the premise behind the wonderfully intriguing story of The Perfect Wife! Abby seemed to have it all---being a successful artist, being a mother, and marrying a Silicon Valley tech genius, Tim Scott?!? Well...as the saying goes, “looks can be deceiving”! I was invested from page one! I wanted to know what happened to Abby? Was Tim the grieving and loving husband he was portraying? Was Tim able to erase the bad memories and only leave or create good memories for #AIAbby? And JP so brilliantly answered all my questions and added some twists and turns to the plot for good measure! Like Believe Me, one of his previous novels, the ending had me #Shook!!! I don’t know if JP’s intention was to write a sci-fi novel, but it became one! It put me in mind of a Hitchcock movie with a Twilight Zone twist!!!

The story is told with alternating chapters of #AIAbby (with human Abby flashbacks) and either employees of Scott Robotics or other cobots?!? Yes, this book is a “MindFudge” WINK WINK, but I was SO intrigued that I couldn’t put the novel down!!! The entire premise of creating a better version of yourself is strangely appealing! I was actually rooting for the #AIAbby! I know, weird, right?!? I promise if you like The Girl Before, Believe Me, or books by Blake Crouch then you will enjoy this one. I rated this book 5/5 stars because this book went “off the rails” but in a highly enjoyable way!!! Thank you Netgalley for providing me an ARC for my honest review.

J. P. Delaney has become one of my go-to authors when I’m in the mood for a suspenseful psychological thriller with a unique storyline. I really enjoyed his previous novels The Girl Before and Believe Me for this reason and he’s done it again with his latest effort, The Perfect Wife.

The Perfect Wife follows Abbie, who as the story opens, wakes up not knowing who she is or where she is. Tim, the man who is with her when she wakes up, says that he is her husband and begins to fill in some of the gaps in her memory, telling her that she is an artist and a mother. What he tells her next is rather unsettling. Tim, a giant in the Silicon Valley tech industry, informs Abbie that she was in a horrific accident five years ago that took her from him. Through the magic of a technological breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence, he has managed to bring her back from the dead. The Abbie we are following in the story is actually an AI robot that is basically a clone of Tim’s real wife.

The technology is such that even many of Abbie’s memories were able to be uploaded into the AI unit. What starts to happen, however, is that the more AI Abbie pieces together about the real life relationship between her alter ego and Tim, the more she questions what Tim’s motives really are and his version of the accident that took Abbie from him. Is he really just a sad guy who misses his wife and wants to preserve her memory (in a slightly creepy way) or is there more to it?

I really enjoyed the many twists and turns of the story as AI Abbie gets closer and closer to unraveling the mystery of what happened to the real Abbie and what Tim’s role in it was. There’s plenty of suspense and I just loved the sci fi twist, especially having the story told from the perspective of the AI so that we can see her piecing together all of the key details needed to solve the mystery. The AI tech speak was interesting too, even if I didn’t necessarily understand all of it or wholly buy into the idea of being able to upload memories into an AI unit. It was still fascinating to even consider the possibility. I also liked the exploration of the moral implications – would such a thing even be considered ethical since you’re basically artificially cloning a person without his or her consent?

I also liked that in addition to the science fiction angle and the mystery/psychological thriller angle, the story has even more layers that deal with marriage and family. The author does an especially nice job of realistically depicting all of the challenges that come with raising a child who is on the autism spectrum.

The only real downside for me with The Perfect Wife is that I didn’t really connect much with any of the characters. I felt like an outsider observing them in a clinical way. My preference is always for characters that I find relatable or that I feel something for, so in that sense, the read was a little off for me. Even so, it was still a very solid read for me.

If a psychological thriller with a sci fi twist and a wholly original plot sounds like something you would enjoy, J. P. Delaney’s The Perfect Wife should be on your must-read list.

I have read a lot of thrillers lately and I wanted to read something a bit different. This was a perfect choice. The imagination of the author is well evident as he brings Artificial Intelligence to the forefront. Imagine an emotionally intelligent machine who can mimic the cognitive functions of a dearly departed wife who is re-created with similar strengths, thoughts and resourcefulness by an ‘unlimited resource’ rich tech titan and visionary husband. Dear Lord, a frightening evolutionary perspective and maybe not so far-fetched? Lots of food for thought.

The author’s development of Abbie and Tim as the tiny cracks appear, the bubbling sinister twists of the story and Delaney’s inclusion of some anonymous narrator chapters were brilliant.

Tim Scott is the head of Scott Robotics. His wife, Abbie, had died in a surfing accident 5 years earlier, but her body was never found. They have a son, Danny, with a complex form of autism. He has a nanny/teacher, Sian, who is with him all the time.

Now, Tim has developed a companion robot which is just like Abbie. However, she does not need to eat and has no genitalia, just like a Barbie doll. Abbie “woke up” in room where Tim had created her and now she lives at home. But, she wants to know what happened to her and why/how she died.

I applaud the author’s creativity, but I found myself rolling my eyes at a lot of this tale. Yes, robots are fine as an aide in industry, but to replace humans in a personal capacity is not something I support. Not much different from a blow-up doll.

If you are a huge techie, you will absolutely love this story! I don’t think it belongs in the thriller genre, but more in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. However, technology is changing and growing every day, so maybe not too many years from now you will be able to duplicate a loved one you have lost. A bit creepy, but to each his own.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.