JP Delaney does it once again. No one does twists, turns, and constant second-guessing quite like JP Delaney - this one is possibly the best yet!
If you loved The Girl Before as much as I did, you will love this one!

(can't say too much as I don't want to give anything away!)

actual stars...4.75

I simply Loved this book !!! think X-Machina on steroids mixed with an episode of ‘Black Mirror’.
JP Delaney has created a new genre of stories, part thriller, part murder mystery, part futuristic, part science-fiction without ever drowning the reader into technological mazes nor courtroom drama.

The reader is following the life like robot of Abbie Cullen who disappeared five years prior in strange circumstances. Her devoted husband, Tim Scott, is the entrepreneur genius behind Scotts Robotics groundbreaking AI technology.
One ‘almost’ forget that Abbie is a robot, as the chapters go back and forth in time trying to find out what happened to the real Abbie.
Add Abbie and Scott autistic child to this disturbing and fascinating story and somehow you get a compulsory read.

The story is fast paced and keeps you on the edge to the last chapter.
The book questions what i means to be human, questions the treatments for autistic children, question the future of humanity.


I feel so privileged to have read all of JP Delaney books.

Thank you to JP Delaney and to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review
publishing date Aug 06, 2019. Perfect summer read.

This book was just not for me. I didn't read past 50%. I didn't like about being a robot. It had thriller parts but a bit too sci fi for me.

This book isn't even remotely close to what I thought it was going to be when I started reading it, and it's not what I would typically pick up to read, so it took me a little bit to get over my surprise and get into the book. But once I did, I found myself really enjoying it, far more than I expected to. Without giving too much away, it explores the idea of AI, and how far we as a society may be willing to go in our quest for advancement and "improvement" in our every day lives. While it explores what is clearly a futuristic look of society, I'm not willing to say that it's fantasy or science fiction. And that's frankly a bit scary to me. This is not my typical genre, so I'm actually glad I didn't realize the subject ahead of time. Otherwise, I might have skipped what turned out to be a super interesting read, and a real page-turner for me. Highly recommend!

I liked this book. It was an extremely unique point of view and not at all what I was expecting. What I liked about the book is that again, it was a super creative concept, focusing on artificial intelligence and "cobots" (companion robots) after the mysterious disappearance of Abbie Cullen-Scott, the wife of tech genius Tim Scott. Tim creates "Abbie" the cobot for what she initially thinks is to replace the human Abbie as the wife in the household to help Tim and their autistic son Danny move on from their grief. I also really enjoyed the portrayal of young Danny, his disease and his therapies. It was a very well written and realistic portrayal of autism (you learn in the author's note that Delaney as a son with autism) and was really the only full fledged character development in the story.

4.5 stars (I'm careful with giving out my 5-star ratings, so this is rounded down on my stars up above)

Wow! Totally intriguing!! I had absolutely no idea what this book was about before I began reading it, so I had no preconceived notions or expectations about anything. I was unprepared for finding out what Abbie is (early on in the book) and how that all factors into the story. I immediately thought of a connection to <i>The Stepford Wives</i>, and it's even directly referenced in the book. There are similarities to Stepford, but this book stands on its own without being a copycat/retelling in any way.

There are so many twists that I was unprepared for. Things I thought I had figured out, I hadn't, not even close. There are two sets of chapters for this book and there's a switch in perspective between those two sets, and the reason for all this comes together at the very end. I immediately saw the differences between the two Abbies, but yet there were similarities, so I was kept guessing at her "memories" and "feelings" and the connection between the real and the creation.

Readers cannot look at this book as "oh, that could never happen" or focus on the implausibility of the scenario Delaney has created and instead simply focus on the story-telling on its own, because it's quite brilliant. The scenario is close enough to what technology is trying to achieve on many levels but also hopefully serves as a warning for what humanity is also becoming, along with showing the narcissism and twisted "love" that Tim has and exhibits (which is also real with all the murders and criminals we hear about). It definitely brings up the moral and ethical issues of artificial intelligence and what could happen, in both positive and negative ways.

However, there is also a strong mother's love woven throughout the story, with Tim and Abbie's son having a form of autism. That connection between Abbie and Danny is executed beautifully, with the mother's love and struggles and depression and frustration displayed realistically, between both Abbies. (And in the acknowledgements the author mentions his own struggles with raising his autistic son, so that connection shows through in his writing.) I loved the Thomas the Tank Engine references, as my son also loved the Thomas stories/toys/show as a little boy. I loved how Abbie figures out how to interact with Danny using Thomas, extremely well done.

Excellent book. Extremely well-done, well-thought-out, and well-executed. Again, anyone reading this book needs to focus on it as its own world/reality/book and not compare it to anything else, even reality. This is my second book by this author, and I look forward to reading everything he writes to how well he executes his imagination and brings it to life for me.

Content: Strong language throughout, though not until about halfway through the book, but from there through the rest of the book. There are a few sexual references that are dark, when the investor meets with Tim and becomes pretty crude, as well as an encounter that's not overly graphically described and also scenarios of workplace sexual harassment against women.

Wow. Just wow. You won’t want to miss this amazing novel. I couldn’t put it down. The story, the ending... my mind is still reeling. I loved everything about it.

Another great psychological thriller from JP Delaney. We recently added this author to our automatically yours list, so we will be getting all future titles by this author! I could not put this down, from start to finish.

This book got me from page 1. I could not put it down, I was at 10% and then all of a sudden I was at 30%. I really enjoyed this book.

JP Delaney really surprised me with this one. I have read all of his books thus far and have loved every single one. This one I enjoyed just as much but perhaps have an even stronger appreciation for due to the unexpected sci-fi elements. Keep'em coming, JP!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. The sci-fi element of this book made me a little unsure if I would like it, but I had read the author’s two previous psychological suspense novels - The Girl Before I loved and Believe Me I had hated - so I figured it could go either way.

After reading a few chapters, I was hooked! The twists and turns kept my interest and it is clear that the author has personal experience with an autistic child - the writing draws you in and speaks from the heart. The story keeps you guessing until the end. Fast paced thriller.

Well that was a thought provoking and fun ride. Nicely done!

Abbie wakes up and wonders where she is and how she got there. A man in the room says he is her husband. He also happens to be the brilliant founder of a tech company in the Silicon Valley. Abbie is not only his wife, she is an avid surfer, an artist and the mother of his child -she is the perfect wife.

When Abbie comes home memories begin to come back to her. She begins to question things. She begins to seek the answers to her questions, and she begins to realize that although she is the perfect "wife" her husband may not be the perfect husband.

This book had quite a few twists and turns thrown in and asks some questions about advancements in science, artificial intelligence, power, marriage, and treatments for autism to name a few. This was another great book by Delaney. I was fully invested in the story and wondering what was going to happen in the end. WOWZA is all I can say. If I had the time, I would have read this in one sitting. I really didn't want to put this book down. High marks for creating a riveting plot with twists, turns and shocking reveals. You may never think about technology the same way again (or sale floor mannequins for that matter). This was a refreshing psychological thriller which did not disappoint.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Tim Scott is a tech genius. He builds an AI cobot identical to his missing wife. Abbie wakes up thinking she in a hospital and finds out she's just been activated. She doesn't know how to feel about herself but sson she's looking into the mystery of what happened to the real Abbie Scott.
This was a plot you may have read before with an artificial intelligence twist. I've read other books by this author and after this book I'll read more.

The Perfect Wife was an amazing book right up to the end. I thought I had it figured out before the end of the book but I was totally wrong. Great ending though although it made me sad a bit. Abbie was a sensational character and Tim truly showed his colors more and more throughout the book. Mike and Jenny really played a bigger part than originally expected. Great read and fantastic writing. #aperfectwife #netgalley

This book was just as good as I had hoped it would be! The main character Abbie is both a person and a robot, which makes for an interesting story. As the book progresses, the robot Abbie starts piecing together the real Abbie’s life, and starts on a quest to discover what happened to Abbie in life.

The end of the book felt a bit rushed, which was a shame considering all of the build up to get there. I definitely enjoyed this book and look forward to more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for this ARC.

Diehard JP Delaney fan here. I have avidly devoured two other books under this pseudonym in a number of hours but this one took me by surprise a bit. I thought, this author can do it. This author can swing my thriller driven tastes toward sci-fi and make me love it. Alas, this was not the case. The writing is solid, as always, but I truly could not sink my teeth into this the way I wanted to, the way I did with the previous two. Still, if you’re into robots, give this a try.

I found the book to be well-written and interesting. It's a novel that pursues the robotic scares in the vein of the movie "I Robot". So it wasn't my favorite storyline. Yet, quality writing and storytelling compelled me to finish it. For those who prefer sci-fi, I'd include this on my must-read list. For those interested in good story-telling, go for it.

Getting to the bottom of the problem by creating an algorithm robot to help solve the mystery behind Tim’s wife’s disappearance.
The mind is a terrible thing to waste, yet a wonderful thing to invest in. Tim owned and operated Scott Robotics. He has built a reputation for himself in the robotics world. Tim was a workaholic spending every waking moment behind his desk designing code for his inventions. When Abbie became a part of his life he adapted a new lifestyle one in which his employees noticed.
The perfect wife come in the form of a robotic replica of his own wife. Four years ago, his wife vanished. Meanwhile, the husband worked feverishly to rebuild his loving wife.
Trapped in a nightmare where memories were limited to what Tim deemed acceptable Abbie strives to become the perfect wife.

I can’t help picturing the characters in the show Humans where advanced humanoids were designed to help out at home with household chores.

Overall:
The delivery switched from the past to the present without notifying the reader which was confusing. Eventually referring to Abbie as Abbie made it difficult to distinguish which Abbie we were reading.

The concept was fantastic, but the execution was challenging at times. The terminology was intelligent and well researched.

Often times I thought the robot was given Abbie’s actual brain. This was a thought provoking story that had me running various scenarios through my mind. I also thought Danny might also be a robot.

The first thing I hope for in a psychological thriller is a fast pace and hard action style story, but this didn’t have those two qualities. It was still good in a slow and steady way. I found it thought-provoking and informative.

The unusual speculative element of the story was interesting but I kept waiting for something far more sinister. With Danny’s condition I kept envisioning a different outcome. I thought Tim with his robotics abilities had the means to cure Danny.
It wasn’t the outcome I was hoping for or expecting. Just the same it was a spectacular ending and one that I didn’t account for.

The Perfect Wife by J.P Delaney is a psychological thriller, but with a sci-fi vibe. The whole premise of this book is creepy and stalker-ish, and lord help us if it one day becomes reality.

Tim is a millionaire tech-guy, think Steve Jobs, who owns a software company that is researching the use of artificial intelligence that can be used in our every day life and functions. When his wife Abbie wakes up in a hospital bed, five years after a terrible accident, with no memory of those years, her husband Tim explains how she is his perfect wife, and mother of their son Danny, who is happens to be autistic. Even with Tim’s limited admissions of life before, Abbie soon realizes she’s not really the same person she was back then. She is a creation of Tim’s Silicon Valley company...as a cobot, a companion robot, using the software programs and Abbie’s previous memories. The creation of Abbie is largely due to Tim’s immense love for her, or is there more to his madness of this creation.

When Abbie starts remembering things Tim doesn’t want her to, or has programmed her for, she starts to question exactly what happened to her five years ago...did she commit suicide, run away, or was she murdered by her loving husband? As the pieces start to fall into place, and Danny seems to be a pawn in his parents emotional tug of war, the lines of the story become more blurry and you wonder if the truth will ever be told.

This is very different than anything I have ever read. I admit, I am not a fan of Sci-fi,a and I did find the tech talk a little difficult to follow, but all that aside, I did like this book. The story is very interesting, and the reader is forced to face the facts that this reality could be part of our future, but can we really ever clone the emotions of a real human into an artificial intelligence robot? It’s thought provoking. The author also does a good job of facing the reality of life of a child with a disability. It is exhausting, and terrifying, and you fear the unknown...yep, I have a child like this. I really did like the relationship of Danny with his cobot mother.

I would like to thank Netgalley, Ballantine Books and J.P. Delaney for an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something different and thought provoking, certainly makes you think outside the box!

Loved this book! It kept me guessing g and I did not see that ending coming. Loved the topic of AI as I had not read a book with that subject before.