I gave this book 1 star because I finished it and 1 star because it had a couple of twists. I'm yet to decide if they were all unexpected/plausible, which seems ridiculous in itself considering the content.
Having skimmed a few other reviews of this because I was struggling with how to review it without spoilers, I think I'm in a minority; I finished this one thinking how pointless a story it was overall and everyone else is awarding it 5-star rave reviews.
We have a tech titan who's beautiful, young artist wife is missing, presumed dead. Together they have a son who became autistic. Then we have a robot version of the beautiful, young artist wife to help the tech titan with his grief and to stand in for his wife, in case he finds her. I think. Then it turns out the guy is a misogynistic sex pest. And all the sideline characters have bigger parts to play than first thought. Or do they? Ultimately, it feels like a rehash of the old trope of 'the robots we built to serve us have turned against us and now we're all going to die'.
The writing was good and that is why I persevered but the plot was beyond ridiculous. There are two narrative voices; one in first person which turns out to be a group of people filling in blanks and one in second person and I defy anyone to tell me they guessed who this was. I think perhaps it just isn't my cup of tea and I'm being overly critical of a narrative I don't fully comprehend which in turn meant I wasn't invested in the resolution but I maintain that it was trying to be too clever compared to what it could actually pull off. One thing I will say is that it is so tightly packed with subplots that you can barely review it without spoiling something. Is that a good thing? You tell me.

I was to be fair, a bit skeptic about this storyline but as I was invited to read the novel I was prepared to give it a go. Boy am I glad I did this is an unusual story of a woman called Abbie.

It starts when she wakes up in hospital not aware of what’s happened,it transpires that Abbie went missing 5 years previously. Her IT Billionaire husband Tim has created her as an identical AI robot with real memories and to take the place of the real Abbie who disappeared. You first think he has built her because he misses her and desperately needs to have her in his and their son Danny’s life again. Danny suffers with Autism that was discovered when he was very young and they had researched many ways to try and help him it was absolutely devastating to both his parents to see Danny suffer so much.

What actually transpires is he only built the AI Abbie so he can find out where his real wife went. The story is told by two characters Abbie the AI and another person who knew the human Abbie and you discover who they are later in the story.

It is a gripping story one you will get hooked on, the ending will have your heart pounding as you won’t expect what happens. Definitely would recommend The Perfect Wife to everyone looking forward to JP Delaney’s next novel.

I enjoyed this so much more than J P Delaney's previous two psychological thrillers. Fascinating concept and the plot kept me hooked. I also liked how cleverly the second-person and collective first-person narratives were used, very skilfully done.

Whatever you do, do not start reading this book if you have anything to do in the near future. I could not put this book down!
The story begins when Abbie wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. It soon transpires that she disappeared five years ago, presumed dead, and her tech billionaire husband has created an AI version of his wife. He claims to have created this AI Abbie out of love and to alleviate the devastation of her loss. It then becomes apparent that more than one character are not what they seem.
The characterisation, plot and narrative commentary are all razor sharp and are pitched perfectly to maximise a response from the reader. The story allows the reader to explore their personal views on AI, sympathise with a character with autism and recognise the red flags of a controlling and abusive partner. JP Delaney masterly ramps up the drama and suspense and has the reader hooked from the first page.

http://<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42927050-the-perfect-wife" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Perfect Wife" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1561628251i/42927050._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42927050-the-perfect-wife">The Perfect Wife</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14719991.J_P_Delaney">J.P. Delaney</a><br/>

A brilliant imaginative read. that keeps you totally mesmerised to the end. The ending was completely unexpected, but very gratifying.

Thanks to Netgalley and Quercus bks for a copy of this for an honest review.
I really enjoyed J P Delenays last book “The girl before”. So I was looking forward to reading this on the basis of that.
Unfortunately I’m not a big sci-fi fan so the storyline of AI wasn’t for me and I didn’t find the book was for me..

I received a copy of 'The Perfect Wife' from Net Gallery for my honest review so here it comes.
I haven't read anything by J.P Delaney before so I really wasn't sure what to expect. The sci-fi thriller is a genre that I dip in and out from time to time.

I loved this book, I really could not put it down. I'd describe it as a mix between West-world and Gone Girl. Just when I thought I had figured out the ending more sinister and creepy twists kept coming.
Beautifully written, this will give you a whirlwind of emotions throughout.

Tim Scott is a successful famous entrepreneur who specializes in AI, he marries young artist Abbie and together they have a son Danny. But its not your typical marriage!
The book starts with Abbie missing and Tim doing whatever it takes to get the love of his life back. Which happens to include using his tech company to build a replica cobot of Abbie, the story then follows Abbie coming to turns with this new way of life while trying to deal with family life and wanting to get to the bottom of the real Abbie's disappearance.

I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just say its thought provoking and a little scary in places when you think this could really happen way in the future with the way tech is constantly developing.

Its a crazy ride, but one I'm glad I went through.
4.5 stars! I can't wait to read more from this author.

I have really enjoyed JP Delaney's previous books and was therefore thrilled to have the opportunity to read their latest offering. This was certainly different! I loved the story but as someone who is not scientifically minded it took a bit of getting my head round at times to be able to imagine the AI. However, this did not detract from the enjoyment of the book and it was great to learn something new. This book moves back and forward in time so you get to see how the relationship unfolds between Tim and Abbie. Lots of twists and turns unfold throughout the book culminating in a great ending.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book.
At first I wasn’t sure. A book about an AI wife not for me, at first I didn’t enjoy the book and found it difficult to get into, but when I did get into it I couldn’t put it down.
The characters are so well written, there’s love or is there? Hate, suspense and of intrigue. The ethical dilemmas of AI are there as well and could this happen in the future we will have to wait and see. For me a mother’s love for a child with autism is so touching and believable (I have a friend with an autistic child). The plot is twisted and gripping and I did not expect the ending. I was going to give up with this and am so glad I didn’t. I would recommend.

Firstly I would like to say a big thank you to Netgalley for providing me an eARC copy of this book.

I have read Delaney's other book, The Girl Before, last year but I don't overly remember it so I went into this a bit blind about his writing.

The Perfect Wife follows the story of Abbie who wakes up in a "hospital" and is told by her husband Tim that five years have passed but she has no memory of who she is or how she got there. Tim tells her that the real Abbie died five years ago and he has brought her memory and personality back to life in a "cobot". He tells her that he loves her. He tells her that he wants to be with her forever. Can Abbie trust him? Or is there something more sinister going on.

I was really gripped by this story. From the first page I was really intrigued by this plot and although it is a normal psychological thriller there's an added element with the whole robot futuristic vibes I got from this book. Delaney does a really good job of weaving tension throughout the story and really pulled me into this book. The character that I was most intrigued by was Abbie, and the complex emotions that she goes through during this book. You really can't help but empathise with Abbie and the turmoil that she goes through over these pages. It's such an interesting concept and I think Delaney does this really well. Abbie slowly becomes more human throughout the story and you can't help but empathise with her.

The story splits between Abbie's perspective and those that work at Tim's company. We also jump between timelines; with Abbie we are in the current day whilst the alternate perspective starts from when Abbie first met Tim up until current day. I really enjoyed this mix of perspective and allowing the story to build gradually over the story.

The only reason I rated this four stars was because of the ending because it just didn't click for me. I felt that Abbie (both Abbie's actually) deserved so much more than what they got and it just felt so rushed and confusing that I had to flick back and forth between pages to try and make sense of what happened. Overall a good and enjoyable read!

Yessss. This is JUICY. Super creepy, weird, twisted with a focus on futuristic technology - just what I would expect from a JP Delaney book. Very enjoyable. I always look forward to his books and this didn't disappoint. I just wish I knew who the author really was!

(Thanks for netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)

The premise of this book is certainly intriguing, a com-bot (companion robot) uploaded with a tech billionaire's missing wife's memories and personality, and her (it's?) sentience. The debates about AI are well illustrated, and the technology provides an interesting contrast with the age-old themes of relationships, power and identity.

This story is about Abbie,Tim & autistic son Danny. Abbie is a robot, a clone of Tim’s wife who is missing presumed dead as a result of a surfing accident. Robot Abbie has been programmed with Abbie’s memories. Robot Abbie decides to investigate what happened to the real Abbie.

This story is told from two point of views. Firstly Abbie the robot in the present and a nameless person telling the story of the real Abbie from the beginning. I really couldn’t get my head around the way people treated robot Abbie as though she was a real person. I did enjoy the mystery of what happened to the real Abbie but what I loved more was the Autism representation in this book. I would highly recommend this book for the autism representation alone.

Wasn’t at all sure at first as this was different to my usual reads but a few chapters in, I was utterly gripped. The characters are so well written, there’s love, hatred, suspense and bucketloads of intrigue. The ethical dilemmas of AI are touched on as well as how far grief,, loss and ultimately the need to control can take a person. Add into that the depth of a mother’s love and you have the perfect recipe! The plot builds beautifully to a gripping, twisting, turning conclusion that I couldn’t put down. Would highly recommend!

I am a big fan of JP Delaney and in this Stepford Wives meets Frankenstein meets Westworld novel he has hit the mark again. This is a completely sinister cocktail of robotics, artificial intelligence, cloning and toxic relationships. There is a sensitive side story of a family trying to come to terms with their autistic son. That might sound a bit odd but it is actually very pertinent to the story as a whole.

When Abbie wakes up, in what she thinks is a hospital bed, she believes she is recovering from an accident. This isn’t the case, she is an A.I. version of the real Abbie who went missing five years previously. Abbie’s devastated husband Tim, a wealthy entrepreneur from Silicon Valley, has created her in his wife’s image. Without trying to give too much away A.I. Abbie begins to develop her memory and cognitive skills and starts to dig into the past.

This is a riveting thriller which is intelligently and cleverly written but it is also a thoughtful observation of sentience, technology, morality and ethics.

Top tip: read the last couple of chapters twice!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

That’s so much netgalley for letting me read an early edition of the perfect wife.
Abbie is missing, then she is found. Abbie is married to Tim and they have a son called Danny who is autistic.
Tim is into robots, and some of the technical jargon went over my head but it never really mattered.
It’s a wonderful and quite an emotional story and could not put it down,
Recommend you read this book and learn about robotics for yourself.
I remember the Stepford Wives from many years ago as I am old.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the opportunity to read this book. Honestly I thought this book was a little unusual, it took me a little while to understand what was happening. It was a good story, just not for me to be honest.

What a brilliant book! I have adored all of JP Delaney's books to date, they are rich, exciting stories and The Perfect Wife was no different. I was excited to read it each time which I think is a testament to how well written it was. The characters are all really strong and 'Abbie' is fantastic as an unreliable narrator. I love that you never quite know what to believe or who to trust and it works so well with the book. I really enjoyed taking a step into the world of AI and Silicon Valley was a fascinating setting for the story to unfold. Will be recommending this to everyone!

A chilling and very thought provoking read. Is this the future for us all?
Five years ago Abbie had a devastating accident. Five years later she wakes in a hospital but doesn't remember why.
Her husband is by her bedside but what has he done to her? To the outside world she is Abbie but she has changed beyond our wildest imagination.

In The Perfect Wife J.P. Delaney explores the boundaries of technology and questions surrounding what it means to be human.

Abbie wakes up in a hospital bed, believing herself to have been in an accident. That's sadly not the case. She's a robot, a synthetic copy of the real Abbie who has been missing - believed murdered by her husband Tim - for the past five years.

Over the course of the coming weeks, Abbie soon becomes unsettled. Why would anyone recreate their dead wife? She's the subject of media attention, hounded by the press, disliked by those around her. She's not real.

After discovering books and an old tablet disguised in a bookshelf in the home she shares with Tim, co-bot (companion bot) Abbie starts to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of the real Abbie...

First things first, this book has one of the most engrossing opening chapters I've seen in a long while!  The way that a robot might react to being told it isn't real plays out in a very realistic manner and the book feels reminiscent of the wonderful Black Mirror episode Be Right Back. If you enjoyed that set-up, then you'll probably love this novel too.

Delaney's use of dual narratives is an incredible narrative tool to build up the suspense within this thriller. The use of the second person allows the reader to fall into the head of a robot, you are a newly created co-bot questioning the motives of her creator. The chapters set in the past are told by a mysterious narrator who has intimate knowledge of Abbie and Tim's relationship, yet doesn't reveal themselves.

Abbie is likeable, especially when you learn more about her through the chapters set in the past. You see the art exhibits she set up in the tech office, including one (do as you please I believe it was called) which I would love to see in real life! You see her fall for Tim and he for her...

She is sweet and creative. Tim is, quite simply, a creep. As the novel goes on his actions get stranger and stranger. This created a sense of panic within the novel, because her creator was the very person she grows to fear and distrust. The interplay between Tim's role as husband and as creator (and his simplistic views on women as whores/mothers) were very well developed.

The novel is filled with twists and turns and I raced through it, finishing just before midnight. Wow, what a tale!

However, the discussions of autism towards the beginning of the novel were unsettling to me. If Delaney's afterword discussing his personal experiences parenting his son had been an author's note at the start of the novel I would have felt much more comfortable, especially as I was concerned about the representation.

Aside from discussions about the ability of autistic people to empathise, the other aspect that concerned me early on was the descriptions of the ABA technique as like a fix-all. While I don't have personal experience of this technique I have seen numerous autistic people online discuss the negative impacts ABA has had on their wellbeing and I was concerned that anyone who did not have personal knowledge of autism might not be aware of the controversies behind ABA.

I wish that Delaney's skilful debunking of Tim's extreme use of ABA had been hinted at earlier in the novel, or the author's expertise mentioned in a foreword. As Delaney discusses in the afterword, ABA has brought great results for his family, and I appreciate his acknowledgement in the novel of the potential downfalls (e.g. electric shocks when used extremely).

I would also question whether this plotline would have been better served as a novel in its own right, as at times the focus on Danny's autism felt unnecessary to the wider narrative. The care of a mother for any young child would have created similar effect.

Like always, Delaney weaves a gripping tale.

If I could review the story of Abbie, the companion bot who wakes up five years after her originator's death, on it's own then I would be giving this whirlwind book an impeccable five stars. My fears regarding representation were dampened later in the novel when the discussion of Abbie's relationship with her autistic son was heartwarming and very moving.

The Perfect Wife releases 8th August from Quercus Books.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus for the opportunity to read in exchange for my honest review.