The king of thrillers did it again.. omg this story had me thinking thru the entire story. I finished it in two days, however it wasn’t my favorite book of his but it I would definitely recommend it was a really good story.

Yet another incredible story by #JohnMarrs. The premise is people who can't be parents in reality are competing as parents in a virtual reality, the winners will either get prize money or to keep their virtual child... the concept and world are well developed. I enjoy the multiple view points and love the twisted ending!

Side note: Formatting was weird on Kindle and at times it made it hard to read.

Besides that I really enjoyed reading this and I don’t say that lightly. I found this to be original and fascinating but also thought provoking. The writing was well done and I loved all the mini twists along the way.

After finishing this, all I could think was that AI is a scary and slippery slope. Does AI have the capability to have a “soul”? Are MetaChildren just as real as human children? As you follow each family’s progress throughout the game, you become attached to their fictitious children and questioning how real these avatars are.

I think the author did a nice job of tying up loose ends and setting the Metaverse world up for readers. My one complaint is that I felt like there was too much going on at times with all the different families involved. It makes me wonder how much of it is necessary.

All in all, it was a well done sci-fi think piece! Definitely recommend.

Where do I begin with this book! I love books with multiple POVs and mixed media content, so this one was definitely the one for me. "The Family Experiment" by John Marrs follows five families through their journey in a metaverse parental gameshow-like simulation for a winner-takes-all prize of parenthood. Each chapter is deliciously packed with action and ends on a mini cliffhanger that keeps you turning pages to find out what happens next.

I loved how each character's backstory came to life, allowing you to understand how they became who they are in the present time. The narratives of each family are interwoven with elements like viewer chat room transcripts, news cycle updates, and audience commentary, enhancing the immersive experience and adding layers of realism to the futuristic setting. This book twists and turns, leaving you guessing until the very end.

Marrs masterfully balances suspense and emotional depth, making each character's journey compelling and relatable despite the high-stakes environment. This was my first John Marrs book, but it left me wanting to go back and read all of his others, so they are officially added to my TBR list. You truly won’t want to miss this one; it's a thrilling exploration of parenthood, technology, and human resilience.

When I started this book I truly thought - has John Marrs gone too far? But after finishing, NOPE, he has just done it again. If you are into his speculative books like The One and The Passengers, RUN don't walk for The Family Experiment. I think its his best yet.

John Marrs never ceases to amaze me with his super original thrillers. This metaverse universe is so original and captivating. You do need to read the previous books in order to better understand this book. Very fun and captivating read!

The Family Experiment by John Marrs is a straight blast to the future. The reality show follows 11 families to create a family in the Metaverse. Little do they know that there will be so many twists ahead for them.

I enjoyed stepping into what would be a different reality! In true John fashion, the ending had me gasping!

Thank you, NetGalley and The Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC opportunity!

The plot centers around a reality TV show titled ‘The Family Experiment’ and follows five couples and a single as they compete to begin their own family - either with a natural born child or a meta child. Overall, I found this brilliant, well researched, and “smart”. My imagination was stretched as I tried to comprehend bouncing back and forth between reality and living in the metaverse with deciphering the possibilities turning me inside out mentally at times.

While I admire the imagination and skill of the author’s writing, I don’t know how I feel about this book...

John Marrs is the king of speculative thrillers. Along the line of his popular novels The One, The Passengers, The Marriage Act... this novel takes it over the top. It's scary as hell and takes on AI technology in the Meta universe. This is a riveting novel about a reality competition show. Real World families raising avatar children - at a much faster rate than in the Real World - and whoever wins "best parents" gets to either keep their Meta Universe child or delete them and get funds to raise a real child. Hats & AI devices off to Mr. Marrs!

John Marrs is the king of making me say “one more chapter” He just knows how you give you the perfect amount of information to keep you reading to find out what is happening. I really liked how the chapters were broke out by the couples. I felt like each chapter gave you just enough information about the past to keep you really invested. And of course the twist I never saw coming. I did feel at the end I was a little ready for the book to be over but overall another excellent read by John Marrs!!

In an age where AI seems to be growing and expanding into every field possible, I feel like the release of this book was timed perfectly. The idea that AI could write full length novels used to seem far-fetched, and now look where we are. It isn’t all that crazy to think it might one day try to replace our need for family with a virtual substitute as well!

This book flawlessly combined so many of my favorite things. People building a family to care for (and possibly even kill or delete) inside a video game took me back to my days of playing the Sims. The Metaverse was a fun experience that reminded me of the OASIS in Ready Player One, and the reality show competition was just the cherry on top of the cake!

I wasn’t hooked immediately at the start of the book, but as the story went on and I learned more about each character’s messy past, I reached the point where I couldn’t stop reading. This was my first John Marrs book and I understand that it’s his style to start off a little slower and build the characters up, and he did a perfect job of giving me just enough information about each character to make me want to read more and find out the rest. I loved how everything tied together at the end!!

If you like scifi thrillers or are looking for a unique take on AI’s capabilities, I highly recommend you read The Family Experiment!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing this ebook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The UK is at a breaking point as the population rises, the economy fails, and people are unable to provide for their family or even afford to start one. For those who are desperate to experience parenthood, an alternative may soon be available. For a small monthly fee you can create a virtual child accessible through the metaverse using a VR headset. Prior to the launch of this program, a reality show has been launched where ten families will raise a virtual child from birth to the age of eighteen over a nine month period. The winner will be offered the choice to keep their virtual child or delete them and use the prize money towards having a real child…what could possibly go wrong?

The Family Experiment is a thrilling new novel set in the same universe as The One, The Marriage Act, and The Passengers. If you haven’t read these yet, you might not understand all of the references made but it probably isn’t a necessity to enjoy this novel. A reality show is created to help launch the release of virtual children in which contestants compete for the grand prize. Society is able to weigh in on the contestants parenting skills as well as voting for monthly challenges like giving the child an illness. The contestants are not at all who they initially appear to be and as the story unfolds we see their darkest secrets brought to life. What could go wrong with this little social experiment…well pretty much everything including murder. A dark and twisted but unputdownable read that I highly recommend.

If you have previously enjoyed Marrs’ novels and enjoy dystopian, virtual realities with lots of twists, I think you’ll like this. The One is still my favorite, but The Family Experiment is set in the same universe, which I think is so cool!

The Family Experiment
by John Marrs
Pub Date: July 9, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

From the acclaimed author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and brilliant speculative thriller about families: real and virtual. This was the first Marrs book for me and I was excited to read it.
In The Family Experiment, the economy is in crisis, the world's population is soaring and for those couples who would like to start a family its virtually impossible! But fear not because there is an alternative! A reality tv show where you can create a virtual child from scratch and access via the metaverse and a VR headset has been created and we have 10 couples who are participating. They raise the metaverse child from birth to eighteen years in a 9-month period with a too good to be true prize for the winning couple

WHAT I LIKED
➽ Short chapters
➽ Evenly paced
➽ The plot was brilliant and felt almost too real!
➽ The characters and their backstories
➽ The Drama
➽ Every chapter ends on a cliffhanger
➽ The mixed media was brilliant
➽ Highly entertaining but thought provoking too
➽ The twist, turns and reveals

WHAT I DIDNT LIKE
➽ There is a LOT of characters!
➽ some minor plot holes

I really enjoy Marrs' books--- I like this universe, but it is becoming a bit repetitive! I love the glimpses of the world building we get, and I can only hope we get more.

This is the first book I've read by John Marrs, and it didn't disappoint. I'm excited to read more of his books.

The family experiment is set in the UK. It follows a new reality tv show where five couples and one single contestant will compete to raise their very own AI child they've created. The AI children go through stages birth-18 years in a 9 month period. The parents all have one thing in common, they don't have any children of their own. The winner of the tv show will get to choose to keep the money and use it to start their own family or keep their AI child. The public will get to watch them 24/7 and vote on their favorite.
The book has multiple POVs told by the parents. The characters were all interesting, and they all had things they didn't want the viewers to find out.

The book was so good. It got me thinking of AI, and the future . Will this be a thing since AIs kinda big right now. Oh, and it also gave me black mirror creepy vibez ! lol

Fucking wild, and what an ending! I loved every second of this. Not as action packed as I’m used to but man was I hooked from the beginning. The entire concept is intriguing and really not that far fetched. Really makes you think.

I don't generally read sci-fi but the outstanding reviews and unique story caught my eye and I was NOT disappointed. John Marrs wrote a page turner in this one and even with a large cast of characters, I found myself deeply involved in each storyline and struggling to put it down.

The "family experiment" is a reality game show in which couples compete in the Metaverse to raise an AI child at an accelerated rate as the world watches. One "lucky" couple will win the opportunity to either keep their child or a cash prize. Marrs uses this to explore so many ethical questions that aren't so far away from our own future and constructs a wonderfully twisty and surprising story along the way!

I will definitely be checking out more of John Marrs's books in the future and recommending this to others!

Thank you to Netgalley, John Marrs and Hanover Square Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

"The Family Experiment" was quite a wild ride. Initially, I had a little trouble keeping up with the cast of characters in this novel about AI and its impact on future generations. Once I settled in, it was much easier to follow along (and a couple of characters were eliminated). The premise is a reality show where hopeful families can win money by raising an AI-generated avatar child from the age of birth to 18 years in a short 9-month period. As these families travel quickly through adolescence, the audience can give feedback, espressing their delight or displeasure with the way the children are being raised by awarding red hearts or black ones. At the end of the growing period, the winning family is chosen by the audience, who then must make a difficult choice to either keep their avatar child, or terminate him/her and use the money to begin IVF, etc. to create a human child. There are many twists and turns in this story, and it kept me on my toes. The premise is a little unnerving as well. AI is already infiltrating our everyday lives, so is it actually far-fetched to think one day we might have virtual children in the Metaverse? We could have the experience of having children, without all the responsibility. If you get tired of them, you can terminate. If they do something horribly wrong? Bye-bye baby. With his latest sci-fi novel, "The Family Experiment", Marrs delivers a thrilling story and an astute social commentary.

This is the second book I've read by John Marrs, and I was uncertain about what to expect when I picked it up. However, I was hooked from the very beginning. The story felt like a plausible glimpse into the future of AI, exploring a world where wearing a VR headset and suit immerses you fully in the metaverse. I devoured this book in just a few days because I couldn't put it down. I was eager to learn more about each couple or individual on the reality show. Will they be able to parent their metaverse child? Who will win the grand prize? The intricate connections between the characters surprised me. I loved the back-and-forth narrative, delving into each character's past and seeing how it influenced their interactions with their meta child. This book is full of twists and turns, making it impossible to stop reading until the very end. I look forward to exploring more of John Marrs' work.