The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney is a science fiction thriller, which is a bit of a twist from this author. Normally J.P. Delaney is more known for the psychological thriller which really this one would still qualify but with just that little bit of crossover into science fiction.

So can money truly buy happiness? A billionaire founder of a robotics company tests that theory when he brings his wife back after an accident five years before. Abbie awakens with her loving husband by her side with no memory of what happened to her. As time progresses Abbie begins to question her husband’s version of events as he tells her of the woman she used to be.

Being someone that loves when genres cross I was pleasantly surprised to find that The Perfect Wife had a touch of that when I picked it up to read. The story still read mostly as a psychological thriller making you think and rethink on everyone and every action like one normally would. I think mostly the pacing of this one seemed a little slower which had it at three and a half stars for me. Perhaps that would have even been a tad higher if I weren’t comparing to others from the same author.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

This book was overall fine. It puts a very original spin on the idea of The Stepford Wives. The narrators were unreliable and interesting. I had been wanted to read this book for awhile so I was stoked when I finally got a chance to pick it up. It started a little slow for me, but once I got into it, I was really enjoying it! I was hanging on every word I was reading. Then, when I got to the I started struggling again. The ending while unexpected was a bit too confusing for me. I had to read it twice and still had a hard time understanding exactly what was happening. I know others have absolutely loved this book and if I wouldn't have struggled so much at the end, this would have been a five star read so it's definitely one to check out!

I am sorry for not reviewing fully but I don’t have the time to read this at the moment. I believe that it wouldn't benefit you as a publisher or your book if I only skimmed it and wrote a rushed review. Again, I am sorry for not fully reviewing!

Did not finish the book. I only gave it 3 stars, as I am not into science fiction. However, to be fair, it might appeal to many readers, just not for me.

I am rereading this. I read it a while back and never did this review so I reread it to make sure I could give a current thorough review. Abbey wakes with a memory of her wedding to find out that she is actually an AI robot created by her husband after being dead for the last five years.

He takes her from the lab/office to their home with their son who has a disability, where she is supposed to stay and not go out in public. She is not sure what is going on. She feels like she’s remembering things but they can’t be memories but instead her “brain” is filling in the gaps in her memory.

Abbey finds a locked tablet hidden that she knows had to be hers, right after she gets a messages about her phone not being secure. The messages continue and she is not sure who to trust. She takes the tablet to a shop and the police are called. She has been missing and the police suspected her husband but he went to trial but charges were dropped.

She later returns for the tablet but the tech guy wants her coding in exchange for his encryptions. He knows that there’s something wrong or she would have taken it to her husbands company. So begins the search for what happened to the real Abbey….

While I enjoyed this book, at times the timeline switch was confusing, taking me a moment to realize there had been a change in the timeline. This was not a major problem. I, also, had to re-listen the ending multiple times to understand what happened.

The story is split between what is happening now with Abbey, the AI and a look at Abbey’s past. I enjoyed listening to this Saskatoon Maarleveld, Graham Halstead, Evan Morton and JP Delaney’s narration of this book. I think it was done well.

This was generously given to me via NetGalley for my honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This book combines artificial intelligence and suspense. It is difficult to describe the story. It was also hard to keep going as I didn't like Tim and found it difficult to accept Abbie as a robot. I kept reading to see how it will tie together in the end..which was a disappointment.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from NetGalley for my unbiased review.

I missed something when I requested this book. It is 100% sci-fi/fantasy. It is about robots and AI. It was well written but not the book for me. I also just had a hard time caring about any of the characters and it was a little out in left field for me. There were too many questions and not enough answers and you ended up hating the husband so many times.

When Abbie wakes up, she has no memory of who she is. The man by her side claims to be her husband, Tim, a billionaire and the founder of a start-up in Silicon Valley. She’s told that, she has been brought back through a technological breakthrough.

But, as Abbie begins putting the pieces back together, she begins to question her husband’s motives…

In a unique twist on the domestic thriller, we don’t know how much we can trust the husband. Did he kill his wife? Did she disappear to escape him? I spent most of the book not knowing if I could trust him, and at times, I didn’t know if I could trust Abbie either.

The Perfect Wife is told in short chapters alternating between past and present. While most of the book is told from the moment Abbie wakes up, there are also flashbacks to when Abbie first started working for Tim’s company where we learn more about Tim, their relationship, and the people who worked for Tim.

The ending felt a bit rushed and anti-climatic for me. I was hoping for a bit more, but I still think the uniqueness of this one will make it memorable for me!

I always look forward to a new novel by JP Delaney. This novel was disturbing and definitely left you guessing as to what was going to happen next. The novel had a very unique storyline.

This was a new concept in reading!! The story is told through two perspectives between two people (and I use the term people lightly). One is an AI bot named Angie and the other is an employee at Tim (Angie’s husband)’s company. Their actual identity isn’t revealed until the end of the book.

The first perspective is a first-person account of a bot waking up and realizing that she had died somewhere in the past, but thankfully her smart husband who works on robots and sentience was able to create for her, a replica of her form and likeness so she could go on.

The second perspective is a third-person account from a fellow employee who witnesses and shares the perspective from those witnessing Tim’s insane obsession with Angie and her likeness.

From these two perspectives, we learn much. Angie and Tim have a son who is autistic. It presents to be a struggle for Angie at times, even with a school involved and a nanny who assists with him.

Angie has bits and pieces of her life that make sense, and then others that don’t. So when she finds a tablet with some sketchy information on it, she takes it to a professional to find out if it’s about her or Tim. She also learns there is a lot about her past that conflicts with what Tim tells her.

She comes to find out that she died and that her husband was tried for her murder, but wasn’t found guilty. And it’s left a lot of tension between him and her family. Her sister Lisa accuses her of having “Pangloss Syndrome” because Tim created such a great life for the two of them, but deep down, Lisa knew their life wasn’t that perfect.

And later in the story, when Megan Meyer, the matchmaker who came to Tim’s office to set him up with people (early on before he met Angie) explains that Tim had “Galatea Syndrome”, and she describes it as, “The men who start tech companies…they tend to be a particular type. First, they have impossibly high standards. Second, they have a vision. Which is to say, a view of the world. Often they like nothing better than to impart that view to some receptive, impressionable young person…” [until it fades…and the syndrome is] “from an ancient Greek myth. About a sculptor called Pygmalion, who rejected all the women of Cyprus as frivilous and wanton. Until one day, he carved a statue of a woman so beautiful and pure, he couldn’t help falling in love with it. At which point, the statue came to life and loved him right back.”

The relationship between Tim and Angie comes through her discovery of who she is (who Angie was) and the suspense is really well thought out. Little by little, people reveal things to her that helps her add up what is really going on. And if you love suspense, I suggest taking a ride on this book. I can see this book becoming a movie. And I’ve read “The Girl Before” by J. P. Delaney (pseudonum for Anthony Capella) and his suspense skills are on point.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine Books and NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 (http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html): “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I had such a hard time with this book. I had issues with all of the characters, and the treatment of the autistic son. This is a rare instance where I'm glad I didn't have to pay for the book.

I don’t want to spoil anything so I’m just going to say Read This Book!! If you enjoyed Delaney’s first two books you won’t be disappointed here!! Too often when I fall in love with an author’s debut the other books never quite measure up but that was not the case here!! 4.5 stars!!

This book was not what I expected. Although I enjoy Sci-Fi, I was expecting a thriller and this really wasn't that at all. I also didn't like that the ending was SO rushed, and wrapped up so fast that it was like whiplash. Would not recommend.

This one was... weird. I enjoy sci-fi and so that part didn't bother me, but the whole storyline was weird.

Abbie is a robot (co-bot, or companion robot) designed by her husband Tim after the real Abbie died/disappeared. Tim was accused of murdering her, but since there was no body, he was let off the hook. He built robot Abbie for companionship, sure, but also to help find the real Abbie.

Throw into the mix that Abbie and Tim have a son, Danny, who is autistic. He wasn't born autistic, he was normal and then developed autism in a rare childhood disease. Honestly, the parts of the book I enjoyed the most revolved around Danny and how they worked with him, his disease and the ABA. He communicated using Thomas the Train, which was fascinating.

The rest of the storyline? Weird. It kind of wraps up at the end but there are still unanswered questions... and to be honest, I didn't care that I didn't get the answers to. I know some loved this one, but it was a bit too strange for me.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I've enjoyed other books that I've read by Delaney and was intrigued to read this one too. It turned out to be not quite what I expected but was very interesting. The main narrator is an artificial intelligence robot and it was really compelling how human like her character and her voice was even though she was a robot. There was a weird ending though that I didn't expect and that I didn't quite follow how it came about. There were some good twists and turns along the way and the book took an interesting psychological look at Tim's obsession with women. Overall this was a really engaging read and I enjoyed it - I didn't want to put it down because I wanted to find out what happened. It was a good book but some of the ending didn't click for me so I wouldn't say I thought it was great. I still think it's worth a read though!

I really loved this book in a new to me author. The characters and location really and to the story. I can't wait to read the next one. This book keeps you guessing until the end.

This was weird. It also took me a long time to get through because I kept loosing interest and putting it down. I finally decided to just sit and finish it with mixed results. This was a little to crazy of a concept for me to enjoy. It was confusing and a muddled story. Overall, pass.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I feel like JP Delaney just exploded on the thriller scene a few years ago, with the terrific novel, The Girl Before. My esteem has only risen with each consecutive book. The Perfect Wife has a special ingredient: there is a good bit of science fiction sprinkled throughout. Sometimes that can be risky, and turn readers off, but it's so well done here, it only enhances the story. There is a sinister undercurrent running through this. I've noticed a common theme in Delaney's books is "evil technology". That's an oversimplification, but you get the point. Anyway, I am of two minds on that subject, but this author is tipping me to the other side! Another talent of Delaney's is the ability to expose a character's vulnerability in such a way that you can't help but emphasize with them. That's not something I expected from the characters in this particular book, but you know what they say about assumptions...... The Perfect Wife is a fascinating story, and I recommend it to all thriller lovers, even if you usually wrinkle your nose at sci-fi. JP Delaney may just make a convert out of you!
3.75 stars

*I received a review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Thank you to Ballantine Books and Netgalley.*

DNF I requested this based on author but I’ve tried a few times and I can’t get into the sci-if aspect. It’s just not for me

Tim Owens is the co founder of a robotic company trying to enhance AI. Tim meets the artist Abbie and hires her to work at his firm where they fall in love, marry and have their little boy Danny. Tim wants everything to be perfect but it turns out that Abbie nor Danny is what he would call perfect because they don’t fit into his ‘intelligent’ world the way he thinks they should. So Abbie wakes up wondering what has happened and where she is. Tim the Tech titan starts to explain.
JP Delaney writes a surprising twisted novel that keeps you in its grip until the last by page.
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