For a while I've been waiting for the next big idea in the domestic thriller, and this book is a game-changer. A sentient robot clone of a defectively ambitious tech CEO's disappeared wife grapples with questions of identity, love, and parenthood. Meanwhile there's a mystery full of danger and unpredictable twists, and time is running out...

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this ARC of The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney in exchange for my honest review.

This psychological thriller comes out August 6, 2019. If you’re a fellow thriller lover, you are absolutely going to want to go out and get yourself a copy! I utterly loved this book. Delaney pulls you in and has a way of keeping you on the edge of your seat. Throughout the entire book I kept thinking I figured it out and then bam another twist was thrown at me! By the time I got to the very last page I was speechless but in a good way. I wasn’t expecting it all to lead up to that jaw dropping ending.

After being in an accident, Abbie wakes up to find that she has no memory of what happened to her. She is told she was in an accident 5 years ago but thanks to technology she was given a second chance. According to Tim, they are married, have a son and she was not only a wonderful artist but also a passionate surfer. From everything he has told her she was the perfect wife. Problem is the more information she comes across about the past the more she starts to question everything her husband has told her. Is he honest or does he have ulterior motives? What happened 5 years ago and what is she going to do now?

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thanks also to Penguin RandomHouse for the ARC.
The opening of The Perfect Wife truly grabs you. It makes you believe that Abbie has awakened from a coma, or otherwise recovered from a terrible accident. But, then the reality comes through - Abbie is a "cobot", a companion robot modeled after Tim's late wife, Abbie.
I truly had to suspend belief in this book. The vast majority of the book was told from two perspectives, and I wasn't sure who the speakers/narrators were. In fact, after completing the book, I am still not sure. I found the concept intriguing, but ridiculous. I don't believe, and I certainly hope, that we will ever be able to manufacture "cobots" with empathy and the ability to think for themselves. It would be horrifying to create these "perfect" companions.
I thought the parts of the novel dealing with autism and its treatment were interesting, and found it even more interesting to read the authors notes on dealing with autism in his life. Autism is a very real issue in our world and it seems to be a larger issue all the time.
I found the last few chapters to be truly bizarre and ridiculous, but it did exemplify the inner workings of a diabolical and manic mind to create a perfect being.
#ThePerfectWife #JPDelaney #NetGalley #Penguin #RandomHouse

This was an awesome look at the near future of robotics. When wife and mother Abbie mysteriously disappeared years ago and no body can be found, the police assume either suicide or murder. Then her iconic tech billionaire husband is charged but released as there is no real evidence to suggest foul play. The novel opens when Abbie awakens with little knowledge of what happened and then discovers that she is actually a cobot (companion robot) that her husband built because he was so devastated by her death. She can upload memories of their old life and functions much like the real Abbie (except of course she has no need for food and has no female anatomy). Told from her perspective in 2nd person as well as others who knew the couple, the book explores the nature of love, obsession, and of course, robotics, as Abbie finds clues and uncovers secrets that will reveal the true nature of her husband and their relationship.

5 jaw-dropping stars to The Perfect Wife! This book was psych thriller meets sci-fi, which was a welcome breath of fresh air for those of us that may be experiencing thriller fatigue. JP Delaney takes the reader on a journey where they are faced with many moral dilemmas: what does it mean to be alive? What does it mean to be in love? The last few chapters are filled with twist after twist after twist that you will never see coming! Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this ARC!

5 stars!
Go into this open-minded. I did and I was so engrossed, involved, addicted and intrigued.
JP did a really great job of introducing the cast of characters and bringing them to life. Both literally and emotionally. I was so attached to Abbie the cobot I honestly forgot she wasn’t real.
This is so unique and different as far as subject matter for a psychological thriller and I’m really sad it’s over now.
10 stars for that cover too. It really symbolizes the story.

Thank you #Netgalley, the author and the publisher for my free arc in exchange for my honest review.

Holy heck! I enjoyed JP Delaney’s previous novels so I was excited to dive into The Perfect Wife. After reading the description, I wasn’t sure this novel would be up my alley and even 20% into this novel, I was still questioning if it was for me, BUT then the plot starting coming together and I was completely all in!!!! Once I fully grasped the gist of this mystery/thriller, I was on the edge of my seat until the very last page! The storyline is brilliantly captivating and I was blown away by how original it is—love that! JP Delaney spun together several mysteries within a huge mystery that will keep you turning those pages long past your bedtime! The Perfect Wife is a 5 star read that I highly recommend! I’m already excited for JP Delaney’s next book!

Kudos to The Perfect Wife for breaking the mold of the current wave of domestic thrillers. While I'm a fan of many of these thrillers, lately the genre has grown stale for lack of innovative ideas. So I was pleased to see something different in the genre. J. P. Delaney incorporates elements of science fiction into this thriller about Abbie, who is married to a mad scientist/techno genius. Four years earlier, Abbie was in an accident that led to her maybe-death. Now she's been resurrected in the form of a robot. She looks like Abbie, sounds like Abbie, and has Abbie's memories ... but underneath it the rubber skin, she's made of plastic, wires, and microchips,

What follows is a complicated story about a troubled marriage between an artist (Abbie) and a computer genius (Tim) who is as obsessed with control as he is with artificial intelligence. We also meet their autistic son (Danny) and a cast of side characters, some of whom we can trust, and many who have agendas of their own. Soon the AI version of Abbie begins to unravel the mystery of what happened to the real Abbie--and the truth is a lot more complicated than I ever imagined.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an advanced reader copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This book was amazing! I could not stop reading from the time I started. This book is filled with twists and turns. This book really makes you think about a lot of ethical and moral issues that could come about in the future. The characters really make you feel for them. I did not see the ending coming at all!!! This is a must read!

Sci-Fi meets thriller. This book is my favorite JP Delaney book so far. I wasn’t super impressed with the last one but I feel that the writing has really improved. I’m not a huge sci-fi robot reader so since the main character was a cobot I decided to keep going since the book was well written. I will be anxious to see what comes next from JP Delaney. I really like that the author isn’t afraid to jump genres, it keeps things fresh!

Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of The Perfect Wife.

I was not a fan of the author's previous books so I went into The Perfect Wife with serious trepidation.

If you don't like genre blending, this may not be for you.

It is a mishmash of sci-fi and domestic thrillers and the typical tropes you would find in the latter.

** Minor spoilers ahead **

The story started out well, at first.

Tech genius Tim has designed a robo-wife, Abbie, after his deceased wife, whom he loved and adored. He has filled her brain with social constructs of Abbie, namely info gleaned from social media accounts and the like.

As the robot Abbie adjusts to her 'new' life as wife and mother to a developmentally disabled child, Danny, she realizes the woman she is replacing hid many secrets, most of which will prove devastating to robot Abbie.

I really enjoyed the sci-fi aspect of the book, the rise of A.I., especially considering the modern world we live in.

I did not understand the sci-fi jargon but I appreciated the technical aspects set against the turbulent, sexist community of this particular sector.

But it was difficult to get over the typical archetypes; how constantly the real Abbie is referred to as 'hot' over and over; the fact that Tim is a sexual predator and his wife is oblivious to his defects, the adultering, how Tim kept calling human Abbie 'perfect,' 'She was perfect,' 'She had no flaws,' perfect, perfect, perfect. Ad nauseam.

Barf.

That explains the silly, cliche title; again, another book with the word 'wife' in it. And the year is still young.

I understand from the addendum that the topics concerning childhood autism was from the author's personal perspective and it was a nice touch, but it bogged down the tone of the novel.

There was a lack of urgency and daring; at times, the novel reads like a how-to manual on how to care and nurture your autistic child.

There were no thrills or shocks; I kept reading, hoping robot Abbie would go T-1000 on Tim and everyone else (blame James Cameron, not me for this perspective. Kidding. Blame me.)

There were still things I didn't understand; the human connection.

Why did human Abbie hook up with Tim. Money? Security? The connection is eluded too by the omniscient narrator (the tone of which I found distracting most times).

But, I understand their relationship is not the story. The relationship between robot-Abbie and Tim is.

Readers are introduced to human Abbie in flashbacks, so you never really get to see her, only through other people's perspectives. Yet, you still don't know her. She's an artist; why? How did she and Tim meet initially?

There is not much in the way of character development.

I couldn't sympathize with human Abbie; she felt contrived and phony; an artist, a free spirit, tattooed and wild, gorgeous and stunning, who marries a socially awkward but brilliant man. Whatever.

You're not meant to care about Tim, or maybe you are. The author keeps trying to depict him as someone who truly cared for his wife and son, but its hard to reconcile that man with the misogynistic, foul mouthed predator that he was.

The ending is muddled and open-ended, though I expected that.

It's not really an ending so much so as demonstrating humans are flawed and we make the same mistakes over and over without ever really getting anything right.

You can't correct human nature. We are who we are.

Thanks to Random House and Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I got an email from the publisher about reading this ARC, I was excited because I enjoyed the author's 2 previous novels and so I downloaded it without even reading the synopsis. Then I started reading and quickly found out this was about a cobot or companion robot that a tech company owner had made to bring back his dead wife and at about 2%, I seriously considered abandoning this book. I hate sci-fi books and books that feature ideas that couldn't happen in real life. Probably the only reason I plowed ahead was that I had previously enjoyed this author's works and I am SO glad I continued on. I LOVED this book. I could NOT put it down.

The mystery part of uncovering what had actually happened to the real Abbie through cobot Abbie's experiences was good but the added element of her not being human somehow made it more interesting. It really brought up all of the good and bad aspects of what would happen if you created a robot that could reason and have feelings. And since this probably will be happening in real life soon or maybe already is, it didn't end up having the dreaded sci-fi element that I was afraid of. It was like a good mystery to unravel, but with a total unique layer to it. It is the most interesting and unique book I have read in awhile. I LOVED IT.

What a great psychological thriller! Another hit from JP Delaney! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

"She's a miracle of science." Abbie, wife of billionaire tech mogul Tim, wakes up five years after a surfing accident -- only to realize she's one of her husband's projects. Through the miracle of science, Tim has created Abbie to be a companion robot -- a "cobot" -- to fulfill the gap that was left behind by the disappearance of his wife Abbie. This new Abbie is full of memories that have been "uploaded." But the new Abbie feels that something is amiss. She will stop at nothing to fill in the gaps of her memories and figure out what really happened.

Diving into the relationship between the billionaire, nerdy, commanding Tim and the free-spirit artist Abbie kept me coming back for more! I spent the entire book trying to figure out what was going on in Tim's mind and what really happened. A MUST read!

Thanks to NetGalley for this advance readers copy of The Perfect Wife. I was a bit put off when I realized the main character was a robot. But I quickly was drawn into the story line. A deeply satisfying novel of suspense full of twists and turns. I did not guess the ending and it was, to me, a satisfying conclusion. I highly recommend this book.

Another amazing 5 star plus read from Delaney, whom seems to come up with some of the most original, but highly creepy and thrilling plots. This was very chilling, disturbing, and thrilling, but in a gripping, riveting manner, which is sure to have the readers brain broke by the end! I will forever be a fan of Delaney’s and hope he comes up with some more original, but amazing books!
I will be highly recommending in Chapter Chatter Pub!

After getting o few pages into this book I wasn’t so sure I’d enjoy it. A lonely tech genius Tim has created an android to replace his wife. His wife has been missing for 5 years. The android is a ringer. Tim has uploaded all of her (Abby) memories to the android or so he tells her. But android Abby picks up on what’s real and what’s not. Add to the mix a 6 year old son with autism and she has a lot on her plate.

At first I wasn’t sure I would enjoy/finish this book. I am not a fan of science fiction. But Delaney has written ‘her’ in a way that makes her more ‘human’ than most of the book’s characters. I recommend this book!

What makes us human? Our souls? Our ability to communicate? Or empathize? JP Delaney provides a nonstop thrill ride in The Perfect Wife when an AI genius brings his missing wife back as a life-like robot. The reprocussions of this choice has a ripple effect especially when it’s discovered his wife originally disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
I couldn’t put this down. I look forward to recommending it to friends and patrons.

I found The Perfect Wife grabbed me from the start and held my attention throughout. It is an unusual, mind-bending story filled with deceptions. I had to reread the ending to savor the final twists. If you are looking for a modern mystery – this is it.

I'm usually not one to read science fiction novels, and if I had know this would include that genre (Abbie is a replica AI robot of the wife), I'm not sure I would have read it. But I am so glad I read it! While the science fiction stuff was still "weird" to me, the story is so strong that I was able to thoroughly enjoy all of it. Very much a thriller, and mystery wrapped up in the clear obsessive nature of her husband and what he has or has not done with his human wife. It was a book I couldn't put down and really wanted to see how it all turned out. Not a full 5 stars because I thought the ending was a bit hard to understand even after re-reading it two times, so I didn't feel fully satisfied with the finale. Maybe I'll read it again to see if it's more clear.