Scott Robotics’ CEO Tim Scott’s wife Abbie-Cullen Scott disappeared and was presumed dead in a surfing accident five years ago, leaving him and his young autistic son all alone. Tim worked tirelessly for five years to perfect an artificial intelligence (AI) doppelgänger to take Abbie’s place. In addition to looking and talking just like Abbie, Scott has pioneered the first AI to possess empathy, making the new Abbie less like a robot and more like an emotional human. As the new Abbie takes up residence with Tim and Danny, she soon begins to suspect foul play in the real Abbie’s disappearance and even wonders if Abbie could be alive. She secretly plots, combining her AI knowledge with her newfound empathy skills to investigate behind Tim’s back. In a tense “cat and mouse” scenario, we ride along in the new Abbie’s search for the truth, at all costs. The novel alternates between the present and the past to tell the story of Tim and his real wife Abbie’s relationship and to cast doubt on her disappearance.

Honestly, when I realized in the first pages that the book dealt with AI, I wanted to stop reading, since my reading tastes do not favor futuristic themes. However, I have liked other books by this author and curiosity led me to read a few more pages…and then I was hooked. Delaney has crafted a very unique techno-psychological thriller that keeps the reader’s interest. It offers a glimpse into an unconventional marriage and does raise some intriguing questions about the future of AI in modern society. Delaney also offers some interesting parallels and insights regarding humanism, autism, and love.

I admit - I gave this book 100 pages and gave up. However, to be fair, this genre is not my type. If the description had noted that within the first 3 pages that his wife came back from a horrible accident using AI, I would have passed. Robots, AI, fake people - not my thing. I gave it a valiant effort but put it down.

The preview of the book really hooked me. What isn't possible in the world of technology these days? A self-absorbed husband - who owns a tech company devises a "new" wife.

This book was good, yet it is confusing? Or it the book thought-provoking? A robot that thinks and is essentially immortal is probably not so far ahead as we may think. But the downsides are many - Tim doesn't seem to care he is going to do whatever he wants to, anyway.

Did Tim develop Abbie - the cobot - in order to show his utmost devotion to a dead wife? Or did Tim do this for his own, deceitful self?

I enjoyed some of the parts in this story - particularly when the detective and cell phone calls become involved.

The characters were not nice - Tim was what he was - a cheating, lying, piece of rubbish. I could never figure Mike out. And the old Abbie - no way would that have lasted. Throw in an autistic child whom Abbie and Tim don't agree on, and that's it.

An OK read - I did finish the book but was not happy with the characters.

Many Thanks to Ballantine Books - Random House and Netgalley for a chance to read and review!

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballatine, and Random House for an advance read in exchange for this review.
Abbie suddenly wakes up and has no recollection of who she is and what has happened to her. Her husband, Tim, explains that there was an unfortunate accident 5 years ago, and she has been brought back. He is a smart man with a start up, and he has created a robot out of Abbie’s memories. As Abbie pieces together the memories and events, she begins to wonder exactly what happened to the human Abbie five years ago.
Okay, this book is weird. I kept reading to see what ended up happening, so at least it had that going for it. It does struggle with the pace. It’s very slow, and at times, it is confusing. I was just waiting for Abbie to find another clue. I wanted a little bit more suspense and action. It kind of redeemed myself with the unexpected ending. However, it is certainly different and new and not a bad read overall.

Scifi meets thriller in this fascinating story. Abbie works with a team of high end techies and falls for the founder Tim. They get married, have a child and then Abbie goes missing! Tim is devastated and wants his wife back and will do anything to make that possible.
I am not a scifi fan, but this story kept me reading as it also had a mystery involved and was quite entertaining until the very end when it all got a bit confusing.
I do thank the author, publishersand Netgalley for allowing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review

Just couldn’t get into this read. Not sure if the robotic type of wife was the problem or the characters just didn’t excite me to get invested. Unfortunately, I gave up, and that dearly happens.

What if we could have a robot version of our spouses after they die? A way to have their memories, their appearance, even their personality live on forever. That’s precisely what tech entrepreneur, Tim Scott, did. 5-years after the death of his wife, Abbie, his masterpiece—an artificial intelligence version of his wife—is ready. And just like that, Abbie’s back in his life.

Abbie wakes up with no memory of where she is or what happened to her. She’s informed that she’s died and now is an AI version of herself. She’s pumped full of her memories of her past life. Abbie knows she’s a wife, a mother, an artist. But there are gaps in her memories, things she can’t remember. Starting with—how did she die?

It’s clear that her marriage to Tim isn’t as perfect as he makes it out to be. Abbie discovers that she had been keeping secrets from Tim before she died. And Tim doesn’t want Abbie to uncover the memories he claims he’s protecting her from.

Abbie isn’t so sure she can trust her husband, or even her programmed memories. And now she feels used and manipulated, but she has no way to escape this reality she has no control over. Abbie’s only a robot after all...

The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney is a sci-fi thriller—very reminiscent of the Netflix show, Black Mirror. I recently read The Girl Before and enjoyed Delaney’s weird, jarring writing style. And Delaney takes it to a whole new level with The Perfect Wife. Told in the second person, you feel heavily immersed in this story and in Abbie’s mind. The writing style held me back from fully emerging into the story at times, but I still enjoyed it. I found the plot dragged, especially around the middle. I appreciated the plot twists and the subject matter, but this definitely isn’t a new favorite thriller—3/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Ballantine Books and JP Delaney for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine for providing a copy of this book for an honest review. Copy provided on NetGalley.com

I’m intentionally going to try to be vague since this book hasn’t been published yet and I don’t want to spoil anything for other readers.

I believe that this book was missing a genre in the description. It’s definitely a suspense/thriller, but there’s also a hint of Sci-Fi. Now, I’m not a huge fan of Sci-Fi and I was drawn to this book because of the cover, the description, and the suspense aspect of it. If I had known ahead of time that this was also Sci-Fi I may not have started reading, but I’m glad I did.

The Sci-Fi part didn’t slap you in the face all the time. It was woven perfectly into the story. It did get a little preachy in the middle, but then it got quickly out of that and I was back to wondering what was going to happen next.

Towards the end I thought I knew how everything was going to play out and I was anxiously waiting to get to that part…then I got there and was completely wrong about my predictions. I do like when a book can surprise me at the end.

Overall, I was a bit skeptical about the Sci-Fi aspect, but I believe this is a very creative original story. I would definitely recommend to those who like Sci-Fi and suspense novels.

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN NEXT SECTION***

Just something I’m hoping some readers will get. While I was writing this review I thought about this character that Bill Hader played on SNL called Stefon.

This book has everything…possible murder, child autism, infatuation, and ROBOTS!

If you are a fan of SNL, check out "the best of Stefon" to give you and idea of how that sentence should be read.

While I found myself thinking about this book, while out doing errands, it definitely kept me intrigued. Not your typical thriller, but I felt that it was somehow lacking. Also, felt as if the ending was an afterthought.

Love story or thriller? Tim loved his wife so much that when she disappeared he used his tech company to create an AI version of her. Some think he killed her, but as the AI Abbie starts to “remember” more of the human Abbie’s memories it appears that might not be what happened. So many twists and turns in this story that it kept me guessing right to the very end.

I requested this book because it was listed as a psychological thriller but it really is more of a sci-fi genre which I really do not read. I tried to get interested in it but failed as it just did not hold my interest. I think sci-fi fans will really enjoy this. I did think the book was very well written. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I could not get into this book. It did not catch my attention at all and I couldn't stick with it. It was dull to me.

If you love a good thriller or have even a passing interest in anything sci fi, put this on your wishlist immediately. As the story begins, we are introduced to a cobot (companion robot) based off of AI scion Tim's dead/missing/other mysterious ending wife, Abbie. AI Abbie has been given many of organic Abbie's memories, as well as her personality traits and interests, though some of these are not nearly as well executed without all of the senses working together.
AI Abbie enters the world with a curious fascination for her surroundings. She is introduced (re introduced?) to her husband, Tim, who at first glance appears to be besotted with the memory of his wife, and their neuroatypical son, Danny. She slowly moves about the world that Abbie had inhabited, and as she does so, her memories deepen and grow, sometimes inexplicably when compared with the information that Tim would have had available. The increasingly sentient AI Abbie delves deeper into the secret life of the family she has joined, soon discovering that what was presented to the public eye may have been nothing but a façade. As more and more clues spring up, she fights not only for the answers to what really happened, but also for her own life.
What starts off as a mixture of Frankenstein, the Stepford Wives and an obsessive infatuation with a missing loved one slowly evolves into a white knuckle thriller. Like a growing crack in the ceiling during a thunderstorm, the secrets trickling out soon turn into a heady rush of twists rushing out faster and faster, surging forward with no chance of being contained. As someone who binge watched all of Westworld (twice), I obviously ate this book up. I stayed up well past my bedtime in order to finish, and it was worth it. Apart from the ethical questions that arise, this book was also a chilling thriller with a deeply satisfying conclusion, the content already striking up many conversations with my family and friends about technology and its growing ethical concerns for the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free advanced reading copy. This did not affect my review.

This book was a ok Book I was expecting more from the author at the begging was a little bit confused because the way the main character spoke I struggled a little bit but I kep reading until the end I was expecting more suspend and thriller but overall is a book you may enjoy

Abbie awakens to a strange feeling of not knowing exactly who or where she is. As she adjusts, she finds her husband telling her that she's a cobot (companion robot) that he created to replace his wife who disappeared and presumably died five years before. She's been programmed to have Abbie's personality, habits, tendencies, memory, and vocabulary--but not all of it. Her husband says that's because it might be too much for her right away. He tells her though, that she was and is The Perfect Wife.

The problems she faces as she learns her role as wife and mother are how to parent their autistic son, how to cook for her family and entertain guests when she can't taste the food she cooks, and whether she can trust the things her husband tells her about their life together.

More of a sci-fi book that a thriller - not bad, just not what I was expecting.....by the end, it came together and I wanted to know what happened, but a little slow at the start.
I’m more of a thriller type of reader, so maybe someone who loves sci fi will really love the book

I wasn’t a huge fan of this one. For some reason I just couldn’t get it to keep my attention I didn’t care for the main character Abbie and that could be why I just wasn’t invested in her story. The plot reminded me of another thriller I’ve read and it just didn’t seem fresh

I really enjoyed this book. The story catches your attention right from the beginning and keeps you reading because you just have to know how it ends. I would definitely recommend it to friends.

Thoroughly enjoyable, twist filled, compelling ride. I'd say more, but don't want to spoil it for you. This is one you will enjoy! JP Delaney's stories just keep getting better and better.

Every book I've read by this author has been insane! I really thought I had a grasp of what was going on until around chapter 26 and had my mind blooooown. Very cool book about Artificial Intelligence and autism that I foresee to be a hot topic at release!