Many thanks to NetGalley, Ballantine Books, and JP Delaney for the opportunity to read his latest psychological suspense novel - loved it! 4.5 stars for such a unique read that I couldn't put down.

Abbie wakes up and doesn't know where she is. Tim, who says he's her husband, is there to tell her there was an accident 5 years ago and she's been brought back. He doesn't tell her that she's now a co-bot - a companion robot that has Abbie's memories uploaded. But Abbie starts remembering - and wondering what is real.

I don't want to give away any of the plot twists - because there are many! This is such an interesting book - it covers everything from autism, to technology, to what being human really is. Be sure to read the author's note on autism. Great read!

From the first section of this book to the last page, my interest was high in this suspenseful mystery. This is the third book I have read by JP Delaney and by far my favorite. At first I was a little skeptical about what direction the story was going to go in based on the premise carefully laid out by the author, but I actually devoured this book because I really had no idea what would happen next and who I could trust. I will say this story was must more in the sci-fi direction than I expected but definitely a good read! Thanks netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

What a wonderful read. Was a little hesitant but somehow the mix between sci-fi and mystery worked and worked perfectly well.
Not your typical mystery-thriller for sure, but definitely one worth the read.
JP Delaney delivers another great writing experience being this the one the best from the previous books for me. This was very intense, goes really deep into subjects like relationships and marriage and makes you think the now that is not far from what reality is.
The Perfect Wife, a definitely must read, not only if you liked the author's previous work but if you are looking for a unique read on this genre.
Thank you Ballantine Books and Netgalley for the free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this book! This story is about an IT man who invented a robot version of his wife who he was missing. Story is told from the robots perspective and also an outsider's perspective. Such an interesting storyline and so well written that I was so intrigued and hooked that I couldn't put this book down. I normally don't like stories about robots admittedly, but enjoyed this one immensely. I highly recommend this book!!!

First off, very hard to review this book without spoilers, so I'll choose my words carefully. It is a twisting tale that is a combination of a technological thriller and a suspenseful story of obsession that, in a sense, explores what it really means to love. As I was reading and trying to guess the next twist, I was usually wrong, led down one path only to be taken to another. It is a real page turner, I have some doubts about the narrator and the details of the recovered memories after she awakes from her accident, but not enough to ruin my enjoyment of this excellent book.

Sci-fi meets psychological thriller in this new book. It is very different than the author’s previous works. Lots of twists and turns and it keeps you guessing until the last page. Lots to think about in this book!

4 Real or Real 2.0 Stars
* * * * Spoiler Free
Every day we tumble almost blindly to the future...It was the future when the Machine Age happened and farming changed forever...We then had massive changes and improvements to science and how people were treated medically. These occurrences are only an infinitesimal, minuscule listing of changes we have experienced since the beginning of time.
Right now we are on the brink of something so big, it has captured the creativity of many...in practice and in storytelling.

The idea of AI has been around for quite a while. A well known, bestseller might be something which comes to mind, The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin. Well, people, we are almost there...and The Perfect Wife is exactly the next level of "Scare the Crap Out of You" level.

This was a story which captured the reader and made my mind explode. Enjoy.

A gifted copy was provided by author/publisher for an honest review

Reviews posted 8/3/19 on ScrappyMags.com, Goodreads.com, Litsy, Twitter. Amazon will be posted Tuesday.

ScrappyMags 3-word review:
Sci-chologically Chilling! 


Genre: Mystery/Psychological Thriller


Shortest summary ever:
Abbie Cullen-Scott wakes up. It’s 5 years after SOMETHING happened, but what? Who is she? Is she really Abbie? Then her husband tells her...


What’s good under the hood: 
First off - don’t read details about this book because soooo much will spoil it. It's one that the LESS you know, the better. With that said, I’m not into Sci-fi books so I outwardly groaned when a little ways in, things gets “sciency/techy".
DON'T STOP HERE. 
Stick with it, because it gets good. And I mean REALLY good. Strange. Weird. That kind of goooooood. It’s damn freaky to be blunt. And it’s trailblazing. I haven't read LOTS in this genre but I've never encountered anything like this. As I write this review I’m thinking how much I’d love to discuss this as a book club. It’s about a family, and what that means and what happens in that dynamic. And power. And greed. And humanity and big questions revolving around that sphere. All with murder (or is it kidnapping? Missing person?) Twisted psyches... You don't want to miss this.


What’s bad or made me mad: 
I’m supposed to hate certain characters, so well done in that department. But nope - nothing irritating - this novel is a friggin coup of ingenuity.


Recommend to:
The book clubs!! Allllll the bookclubs. Psychological fans will get into Delaney’s twisted plot. The gotta-read-the-it-book folks will swoon.


Not recommended to:
Those who truly HATE anything having to do with science and technology and won't budge.


Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine and “J.P” (pseudonym for Mr. Strong ) for an advanced copy (and making me watch The Terminator again but with much more 🤔🤔🤔)

Abbie Cullen-Scott awakens from with no memory of who she is or how she got to this point of her life. Abbie Cullen came to a high-tech Silicon Valley company headed by the brilliant Tim Scott as the resident artist. Tim is immediately taken with her and they wed and have a son, Danny, who at a young age develops a severe case of autism. When Abbie wakes up, Tim is at her side and explains that she had an accident five years earlier and, through the miracles of technology, she has returned. Through the miracle of AI (artificial intelligence), Abbie's memory is being restored, but as the recollections mount, she come to understand that Tim’s version of things is not quite reality. What really happened five years ago? What are Tim’s real motives? Has Tim really created the perfect wife? A very different story that will keep you guessing as to what is going on right to the very end. Delaney is an interesting author who deals in some interesting topics. Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to review the ARC of this book.

Sci-fi, psychological thriller that will keep you reading despite wondering if the 'voice' you are reading is an observer or main participant. Even when you are not sure,it is engaging and a great read. Without giving spoilers or a book report, suffice it to say you think the mystery is solved at the 50% mark of the book, but then there begins a series of more twists and turns and you will be wrong again.
The implications of the AI (artificial intelligence) beings are a thought provoking concept. The characters and AI characters are realistic and likeable. You just have to allow yourself to ''think outside the box". There is also extensive information regarding living with and caring for a child with a severe form of Autisum. {Interesting to note that the author describes personal experience in this realm and the methods of communication used in the book are real.}
Thanks to the author,publisher and NetGalley for the advanced cipy. I received this book as a complimentary copy for an unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own.

JP Delaney is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors of all time!

Every single one of his stories are just brilliant. They’re unique and out of the box, yet intriguing and addictive.

This story of Abbie and Tim in the tech world took me for a ride. I’m not a very tech savvy person, so I sometimes get lost in tech heavy books, but The Perfect Wife is just that- perfect!

I’m really just going to need to find a group of people to discuss with, because I can’t continue to review this book without spoiling all the goodness.

I’ll have to say, though, the ending caught me completely off guard. I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t see that coming! I don’t know how he managed to mess my mind up this way but I’m here for it.

There is so much I want to say about this book, but simply cannot for fear of spoilers. But please, take a ride on this crazy ship, departing from tech town!

This book started out really strong and then dragged near the middle and the end was just ok. I was very excited for this book and really loved the premise but it just wasn’t really enough to keep me interested the whole, time.

Abbie wakes up in a hospital bed with the man who claims to be her husband by her side. She has no immediate memory of what placed her in the hospital. Slowly her husband Tim begins to fill in the blanks. Abbie died 5 years ago and he has brought her back to life. He is a millionaire tech giant who owns a very successful company whose main focus for the past several years has been robots, or "cobots". Robot Abbie can do almost everything regular humans can do. She can cook, clean, drive, interact with others, etc. As Abbie is brought home and begins to acclimate to her life, she starts to learn more about the "other" Abbie. How did she die? Who was she a person? Was she truly happy? Did Tim have an ulterior motive in bringing her back? So many questions and she may be running out of time.

This was my third J.P. Delaney book and I consistently enjoy his writing. He is able to easily blend technology into his stories without completely losing me in the jargon and his ideas are so carefully thought out that they are almost realistic! I would have liked to have more of a connection to the human Abbie in this story, but other than that I thought the robot Abbie was very likable and will definitely read more from J.P. Delaney without hesitation.

Abbie awakens from a vivid dream of her husband Tim proposing to her, only to find herself in a hospital setting, sore and dazed. Worried that something had happened to Tim or their son, she is relieved to quickly find him by her side. But there is something wrong, very wrong. Just not what she would have ever guessed.

I could not put this book down. I gave me chills. It was creepy and thrilling and exciting whiplash-inducing. I know you are going to love it.

The Perfect Wife

What if you could bring your wife back to life and make her the perfect wife?

⭐️⭐️

SUMMARY
Abbie awakens 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 the founder of one of Silicon Valley’s most innovative start-up‘s. He tells Abbie that she is a gifted artist, an avid surfer, a loving mother to their 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 to life. But as Addie pieces together memories of her marriage, she begins questioning her husband‘s motives —and his version of events. Can she trust him?


REVIEW
I love technology and I love how artificial intelligence (AI) has already improved our society. And I thought I would love this book. But instead I struggled with it. The story, while a little intriguing just didn’t work for me. It seems to just fold back on itself.

Chapters alternate between Abbie before the accident and the Abbie after the accident. The narrator and perspective also alternates between second and third person. This was a bit frustrating and confusing. Who exactly was the narrator for Abbie after the accident? Was someone stalking her every move? How did they know where she had been and what she had said?

The writing was mediocre and the character development was limited It was difficult to get a good feel for either of the Abbie’s, and Tim’s character was simply odd, creepy and detestable. The highlight of the book was Danny, Tim and Abbie’s autistic son. He stole my heart with his Thomas The Tank Engine dialog.

J.P. Delaney is a pseudonym for the author of The Girl Before (2017) and Believe Me (2018). I have reviewed both of this previous books and found they had much more to offer than this one.

Thanks to Netgalley, Ballantine and J.P. Delaney for an advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Publisher Ballantine Books
Published August 6, 2019
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

Where to start? First off, this is really sci-fi but of a gentle sort for those who don't read the genre. Abbie died. Yes, she died. But now she's back, sort of, in the form of a robot who has Abbie uploaded into her. Abbie's husband Tim is a tech mogul and a genius and he loved Abbie deeply. Can artificial intelligence really work? Tim thinks so- or at least he hopes so. But is it all for good? Their son Danny is autistic and this brings an additional flavor to the story. This moves back and forth in time- you'll learn about Abbie and Tim's relationship slowly. Is Abbie the perfect wife now? This might make you think of an update to the Stepford Wives- it's well done and creepy. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Give it a chance- it crosses genres, asks you to think, and is kinda cool.

This book was too science fiction for me but I hope others enjoy it. Thank you to Netgalley and Random house Publishing for my honest review

The book was well written and interesting enough for me to continue, but the blurb leaves out a very significant item that you discover in the first few pages. The Abbie that is "brought back from the abyss" is a companion robot. Her tech husband build a robot and uploaded all of her social media and other info so that she can be empathetic and think. I was so thrown off that this is basically a sci-fi book that I almost stopped reading very early on, but I continued because I wanted to know what cobot Abbie ultimately decided to do. So many twists and turns up until the very end, and I just didn't enjoy the ending. If a reader is fascinated by robots and artificial intelligence, they would likely enjoy this book very much, but it just wasn't my style.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wow! What did I just read?!?!? I am not entirely certain how to classify what I just read, let alone describe it. JP Delaney blew me out of the water with this one! This thriller/sci-fi/family drama was so enthralling I could not put it down! It had plenty of plot twists to keep you guessing right up to the end. I found the perspectives from which it was narrated quite brilliant! Definitely thought-provoking, disturbing, and a bit creepy! RUN, do not walk, to the book store to get a copy of this!!! Thank you to Net Galley, Random House Publishing, and J.P. Delaney for the digital ARC!

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.