Member Reviews
Was worried the AI aspect would make this less thriller more sci-fi but it seemed so realistic and kept me guessing the whole book. Great summer read for fans of suspense.
Abbie awakens in a daze with no memory of who she is or how she landed in this unsettling condition. The man by her side claims to be her husband. He’s a titan of the tech world, the founder of one of Silicon Valley’s most innovative start-ups. He tells Abbie that she is a gifted artist, an avid surfer, a loving mother to their young son, and the perfect wife. He says she had a terrible accident five years ago and that, through a huge technological breakthrough, she has been brought back from the abyss.
But as Abbie pieces together memories of her marriage, she begins questioning her husband’s motives—and his version of events. Can she trust him when he says he wants them to be together forever? And what really happened to Abbie half a decade ago?
This one is a thought provoking, fast paced thriller that was incredibly difficult to put down! I loved it!!
Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC of #ThePerfectWife
Pub Date: 06 Aug 2019
The Perfect Wife is about a young mother/wife, an autistic son and a tech “genius” father/husband dealing with the loss of the wife/mother, Abbie. But then husband/father (Tim) builds an AI version of Abbie and that's where the story begins. We are introduced to the AI version of Abbie at the start and then we discover that something happened to the real Abbie and no one knows what. Is she dead? Did she run? Is she hiding?
The story flashes back and forth between the present and the past when Abbie & Tim meet and fall in love. The present takes place 5 years after Abbie's disappearance. There are twists and turns that I’m sure will shock readers. For me it took almost a month to finish this book. I never took to it. I think for me the characters weren’t for me.
From the beginning I didn’t like Tim and I didn’t understand why or how Abbie would fall for him. That was my question throughout the entire novel. How does this carefree, artist fall for someone who treats people so badly and controls so much of her life?
I'm not sure I needed the flashbacks, I found myself skipping over them more and more and I get they set up parts of the twists but I am interested to know how the book would read without them.
I will recommend this one to others because I know people see things differently and just because I wasn’t a fan does not mean other people won’t love this. It's well written and the twist will for sure get people. The tech part was interesting and I honestly enjoyed some of the scenery we were introduced to.
Thank you Net Galley and Simon & Ballatine Books for providing this book in exchange for my honest review.
This was a fantastic book! I loved all the characters and thought the writer was brilliant. I don’t want to put in any spoilers so I will have to keep this short. Run to buy this book!
So I was merrily humming along reading the story about this woman waking up from what seemed like a long coma, that she had died 5 years ago, but then to realize she was a robot with artificial intelligence. I almost laughed my way to the trash can. How preposterous I thought; what a ridiculous premise. JP Delaney should castigate me and wipe the smirk off my face. This turned out to be an involved fascinating expose of sexism, autism, artificial intelligence and a world not too far away from reality. Just this morning I opened the NYT to find an article about research trying to make automatic bots into more human empathetic creatures. The story itself is about a robot who was created to be a facsimile of a powerful controlling husband of a robotic corporation whose wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances. However, the real mother left behind a child with autism and the "robot" is very concerned about the school that he is placed in according to his father's wishes. Everywhere the robot turns there are questions about what really happened to her husband's wife, his sexual depravity,and his controlling methods.Lots of twists and turns with a wonderful surprise ending so keeping with the thrust of the novel. In the acknowledgements, we find that Delaney has his own autistic 21 year old son, which lent to the credibility of the autistic section.
From going to ugh, I went to a solid hurrah..I urge you to suspend belief and dive right in. You will be deeply rewarded.
I have thoroughly enjoyed JP Delaney’s previous books, so I was so excited for the chance to read the latest in his canon. The Perfect Wife is a pretty fast-paced thriller that while incredibly creative, fell a little short for me. I think the artificial intelligence thing was just a little too contrived and bizarre for me to fully suspend disbelief and feel connected to the characters. The plot was fascinating and definitely kept me reading, but something just didn’t quite land for me. While this wasn’t my favorite of his, I’m excited for what JP Delaney comes up with next!
If you are a fan of the TV show "Humans", this book is for you!
J.P. Delaney has done it again with this amazing read! It is not only a great psychological thriller, but it makes you really question artificial intelligence, life, the soul, and what it means to be human. Don't miss this one!!!
This is a hard book to review. Most of the thoughts I have feel like they'd be spoilers. I'd rather you learn for yourself what the story is about. While this will never make my list of favorites, it is a very unique and somewhat troubling plot. An occasional surprise kept me reading.
Another winner by JP Delaney! Delaney has a way of making something so far fetched seem very possible. Just when you think you know what is coming next you are surprised! I would highly recommend this book.
I read a lot of thrillers, and they all end to feel a bit formulaic after a while. The same was not true in this case. This was a book about a woman who disappeared and then woke up in the hospital as an AI companionbot (cobot). She learns she was brought back in this form as an attempt of her husband to try to find his wife - whom he believes is still alive. The story follows linearly in two paths - first is the cobot and second are coworkers of the husband that begin when the husband first met his wife. I read the entire book rather quickly and I just love this author so much! It felt very well researched and was incredibly interesting.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a GREAT book. Abi is dead, supposedly, so her techie husband uploads her into a Companion Robot—cobot. Before she disappeared, Abi and Tom, her husband, had a son who developed a form of autism. Delaney knows what he’s talking about. He has a son with Autism. Lots of themes in this book—when is life more than intelligence? Who gets to play god and why? What Willa parent so for a child? Who can you trust at the end of the day?
I loved JP Delaney’s last book. So I was excited to get an advanced copy of The Perfect Wife. However, I was completely disappointed by the plot line, and subsequent ending of the book. Simply put, there was far too much going on in this book. The AI plot line was complicated enough, but then adding in an autistic son, a sex disorder/sexual harassment issues with the husband, her drug use and disappearance, the staffs point of view, etc made this book feel jumbled.
Thank you Netgalley for an early copy for an honest review.
WOW! This book really captured my attention and didn't let go. This is by far the best J.P. DELANEY book I have read. Great job.
Abbie wakes up with no memory of the past 5 years. She recognizes her husband, Tim, but not much else. Tim is a tech guru that Abbie met on the job at a robotics company. They have a son, Danny, who is on the spectrum. Now, for the flip side - Abbie isn't the original woman Tim married, but is an A.I "cobot" (companion robot) who was built by Tim trying to replicate his beloved wife after she disappeared from their beautiful mansion on the ocean. Cobot Abbie has emotions and some of Abbie's memories. Cobot Abbie struggles to adjust to this new existence and starts to wonder what really happened to the original Abbie . Is the new Abbie the perfect wife, is Tim the perfect husband?
This was such an original, interesting concept!! I really loved it - and the sci-fi genre is normally not my go to! I really loved this book!
Thanks to J.P. Delaney, Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this fantastic book!
The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney
This story was for me very interesting, a little creepy and unputdownable! I wasn't really sure what to expect knowing that there was a robot with AI involved, but I've got to say I liked it! The characters are really fleshed out and I got to know and understand if not like them or what they were capable of doing and it intrigues me knowing how AI is moving along rapidly in today's society. Take a ride with JP Delaney and read this you won't regret it! Thank you Netgalley and the Publishers and JP Delaney for allowing me to read this book.
Perfection is a lie. There is no perfect, only pedestals that appear to be, and when one falls off, man it’s a hard hit.
What starts with a Levin’s Stepford Wives feel, yes, robot and all, becomes something else entirely. Marriage, manipulation, fall from grace and a child with Hellers Syndrome amount to a whole lot going on. The story threads are artfully constructed with an unfurling of details that give you a complete picture. The plot is unique and timely with Artificial Intelligence and suspenseful with a missing person, which will leave you guessing and processing details right up to the end.
Really well written and plotted but a little to Sci fi for me but still an ok read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review this book
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review. Let me preface this by saying I had never read this author’s books so I didn’t quite know what to expect. It grabbed me from the very beginning. I’ve never read anything that has covered this subject matter any way like this. If you like unexpected twists, you will enjoy this book. Big thumbs up from me!
I am not at all a Sci -fi person, but this book was very enjoyable. VERY creepy, totally different, but so well written. It's a totally different feeling than most of Delaney's books, but I actually enjoyed this departure. Even if you're not a sci-fi lover, give this book a try. Very interesting read!
Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest opinion.
My friend has been raving about this so much that I decided that I needed to give it a try. I was expecting an ending like Behind Her Eyes but I wasn’t shocked at all. I guessed most of the ending and that saddens me. It was an interesting concept though.
Tim’s wife went missing five years ago and it devastated him. Her car was found near the beach, her surf board was missing but Abbie never turned up. We all have different ways of grieving but Tim took it to a whole new level.
Tim’s robotic company put millions of dollars at stake to create the perfect robot that resembles Tim’s missing wife. She shares the same memories and mannerisms as Abbie but she’s strictly robotic. As the new Abbie wakes up and goes home, memories start playing into her mind as she pieces together her life before.
But things don’t start to add up. The new Abbie is now on a mission to figure out the blank spaces in her memory. As she uncovers more secrets, she finds herself in danger. Most times, secrets are better left buried.
The Perfect Wife wasn’t perfect but it was quite interesting. Most of the situations wasn’t something I was expecting but it was mostly predictable. I was glued to most of it but once I knew for certain that I figured it out, I skimmed the last ten percent. I’m glad I read it because it was unique and kind of insane. You’ll definitely want to read this wild ride.