The Perfect Wife written by JP Delaney is one of my favorite books this year!! Plenty of action, plot twists, and layers in this sci- fi novel that you will have a hard time putting down. I wanted to find out what happened to Abbie and loved her character- loved the deep thinking this thriller inspired in me (Except at 2:00 AM when I could not sleep because I kept analyzing and thinking about what it means to be human, how we define and limit humanity, and about a mother's love. Of course there is much more to think over, that is just to get you started.) Artificial intelligence has fascinated humanity for a long time. I can remember the movies I would watch in the 70's and 80's... and even then topics like human emotion were something that humans were drawn to. Apparently we still are, because all of the moral debates involving data, artificial intelligence kept me coming back for more doses of The Perfect Wife and Abbie, the robot created in her image.

The ending- whew I did not see that coming at all, more surprises than i knew how to handle...felt like a little bit of whiplash but in the best ways. I reread the last section three times!!!!

I am thankful that I was given the opportunity to read The Perfect Wife and want to let JP Delaney, NetGalley, and Random House Publishing Group that I am honored to read such an enjoyable book. As always, my opinions are my own!

I could not stop reading this book!! Such a different and unique story. Also very appropriate to today's technology and what could happen. Part sci-fi, part mystery, part who dun-it, part what the heck is going on. The story of Tim and Abbie is so complex and whenever I thought I had it figured out, here comes the next chapter and I'd be clueless again. Can't wait to read more from this author!

It's difficult to review this book without giving away spoilers. While the author says he tried to avoid a techno-thriller as a genre, it does feel exactly like a techno-thriller. I would best describe this as a literary sci-fi/thriller. What it truly reminded me of was the sci-fi books I read back in the 1980s and 1990s. The sci-fi stories that were written before we fell in love with technology and forgot the dangers associated with it. The story questions the ethics of technology, science, and psychology and will make you question your own beliefs a thousand times. I absolutely couldn't put this one down and I now crave more stories like this. One particular interesting storyline of this book is treatments for autism and the author shares his personal story of having a child with autism and searching for the right treatment at the end of the book.

I liked this book, the writing was solid and the story moved at a good pace. I just could not get over the perfection of the main character--even before her transformation she really could do nothing wrong. The Perfect Wife was very cleverly put together and I wanted to find out just how exactly the author would end this. I thoroughly enjoyed J.P. Delaney's "Believe Me" and "The Perfect Wife" was good but it just did not blow me away like "Believe Me" did. I still recommend to anyone who likes the "Stepford Wives" suspenseful story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review.

Wow! Sci Fi meet suspense and technology! First of all - do NOT start this book when you are going to bed because you will not want to put it down. If this book had been written decades ago, we would have all said it was futuristic, but being written in today's times it makes one wonder and think "could this happen?"

It is a story of family, of relationships of technology and one has to wonder just how far someone might go to hold on to a relationship no matter how twisted or far fetched it might seem. A story of boy (Tim) meets girl (Abbie) and what time and technology and evil can do to a relationship.

In my humble opinion, this is JP Delaney's best work and I look forward to more.

Ok, this book was NOT at all what I was expecting. After reading the first couple chapters I almost put it down but couldn’t. I had read the synopsis but it didn’t fully prepare me for what I was reading. This isn’t my usual go to book. I would say this is more of a sci-fi psychological thriller. If you like psychological thrillers I do believe you will still enjoy this book. Without giving too much away Abbie wakes up as a re-creation of herself thanks to her tech savvy husband, Tim. Abbie has feelings and starts to investigate them on her own only to question what happened in her marriage.
A couple times towards the end of the book it alternated point of views that had me re-reading a couple times to see which version of the person was narrating at the time.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!!

The description of this book led me to believe I’d be reading about Abbie, a loving mother to a young son and wife to a tech genius. The description says she suffered a terrible accident five years ago and was brought back by a miracle of science only to find that perhaps her husband, Tim, has secrets he’s not sharing with her. I expected a psychological thriller, where the wife outsmarts the husband just in time to bring that sweet, sweet justice (or revenge).

What I didn’t expect was a sci-fi thriller. The genre usually isn’t my cup of tea and I probably would have skipped this book had the description told me that the “Abbie” I’d be getting to know is actually an emotionally intelligent cobot (that’s a companion robot). I almost bailed immediately, but as the real Abbie’s memories and digital footprint were downloaded into cobot Abbie, I got hooked on the story.

Told with a then and now perspective, the past segment is narrated by the collective, while the present is directed at you (cobot Abbie). The novel is timely and heartwarming and made me think really hard about what makes a person human. Is it the empathy, the call to morality or simply having flesh and blood? At the tech company, JP Delaney tackles gender inequality, harassment in the workplace and male entitlement. At home, Tim and Abbie struggle to do what’s best for their son, Danny, who suffers from Childhood disintegrative disorder, a late-onset form of Autism.

Cobot Abbie sets out to find the truth about what happened to Abbie that night, and soon the AI is taking matters into her own hands. Sci-fi lover or not, this is a must-read for anyone who enjoys psychological thrillers.

I was lucky enough to score an ARC of JP Delaney’s next book, The Perfect Wife, from Random House Publishing Group. As a big fan of The Girl Before, I was looking forward to this book and it didn’t disappoint.

This is a story about Abbie and the consequences of her billionaire husband bringing her “back from the dead” after she mysteriously disappears via a highly sophisticated AI Cobot. After her true purpose comes to light and Abbie realized her husbands motive might be more sinister, she is in a race against time to put all of the puzzles pieces together about what really happened to Abbie.

I’m a fan of books with a contemporary setting and touches of science fiction/fantasy/speculative in the storylines. This one definitely ticked that box. It was a perfect balance of interesting plot line that also wove in a mystery/thriller element as well. Delaney was able to dumb down a lot of the tech lingo to make it interesting and easy to understand, while also using it well to move the plot along.

So glad I was able to read this before its release on August 6 and I look forward to more books from this author.

I think we can safely assume that we've all been not-so-patiently waiting to see what JP Delaney does in his follow up to THE GIRL BEFORE (and the underrated BELIEVE ME). Well, folks, here it is, and it does not disappoint. In fact, given the relatively short turnaround here and the propensity of genre authors who have a big hit to churn out drivel as a result of publishing greed that values quantity over quality, it's surprisingly good. I kept thinking to myself, "dammit-- why didn't I think to do this?". It's perhaps slightly better in concept than in practice, and about 80 pages too long, but the concept and plotting are strong enough to carry the moments of weakness. The changing perspectives worked for me throughout the book, but in the final chapters, it seems to go slightly awry, as a third narrative voice ("we") is brought in at the last moment. I think the autism element, and the comparison and relationship between AI-Abbie and Danny is really fascinating and touches on an element of humanity I'd not previously considered. The author's note about his own child at the end makes the journey all the more rewarding, lending what could be just another piece of fiction an added depth that stays with you after putting it down.

In looking at the other reviews, it seems as though people are pushing back at the combination of Sci Fi and Thriller here, but I think they're woven together perfectly. I found the robot Abbie to be an easy character with which to sympathize, but I also possess a certain fascination with the philosophical and moral elements of artificial intelligence. If you're some kind of purist who is closed off to the possibility of empathizing with a being who has been created, then this might not be the best book for you. But for me, it honestly didn't even occur to me that it would be considered Science Fiction at all, because it is so grounded in reality (and so seemingly near). It doesn't read like Octavia Butler or even Margaret Atwood, as it relies on human interest rather than technology, despite the central character being a robot; I found it to be firmly rooted in the same genre and tone as The Girl Before.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the electronic ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was not expecting this to be sort of a AI (remember that movie) me too, genetic treatment all rolled into one story sort of novel. Even just typing that out, it just doesn't seem to go together but in this book, it somehow does. I mean it really really does. Honestly I don't even want to go into too much detail, because this is a book that I feel the reader needs to go into without any preconcieved notations at all. But let me say this, read it. It is not what you are going to expect it to be in any way shape or form!

I received this as an ARC from netgalley.com

I rated this book four stars because it was a page turner and kept my interest from the beginning to end. It was a good psychological suspense story and I thought I had figured out the twist about 1/2 way through but ended up with another twist at the end!

The characters were totally unlikeable but well developed. My only issue was the AI part which went a little over my head at times.

But it was definitely a different take in the usual wide thrillers and enjoyable!

The perfect wife tells the story of Abbie, an AI robot who was recreated from memories of the "real" Abbie. I enjoyed the writing style and the story, I devoured the book and could not read it fast enough! The last few pages however were a little rushed/confusing and made me question what I really knew about the character the whole story. Definitely recommend!

This book was very unexpected for me. I thought it was another edge of your seat thriller about a messy marriage and forgotten secrets. While these things are found in the novel, there was also a scifi edge to it that didn't sit well with me. I am not really a fan of scifi and was surprised the this made up most of the book. While I commend the author for bringing to life and original read, this book is not really my cup of tea. I do think that many readers are going to go wild over it though, especially because of it's uniqueness.

All I can say is "wow!" This book blew me away. Without giving too much away, Abbie awakens in a hospital. Her husband is at her side, and he informs her that she has been in the hospital for the past five years. Abbie doesn't remember much from her life at first, but memories come flooding back to her. As Abbie tries to piece together the last 5 years of her life, as well as care for her globally autistic son, it becomes a matter of life or death. This book is nothing like I thought it would be. It's definitely not your standard "wife wakes up from coma and must investigate her former life." When I thought I knew all the answers, I was blown away again. Excellent writing on Delaney's part, as I really felt like I could understand Abbie and her son.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing-Brigantine for the ARC.

Wow. Great novel. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about the sci-fi feeling of this book. But once I accepted that a robot could have feelings and emotions of their own, I really liked where this book took me. There's a feeling that something isn't quite right throughout the book, but I couldn't put my finger on it. The end tied up everything nicely. I look forward to more books by JP Delaney.

I am not usually drawn toward science fiction, although my Read list does have a healthy dose of magical realism. Having read and enjoyed JP Delaney's writing style in past works, however, I was excited when Netgalley and Ballantine Books offered me a preview of The Perfect Wife.

We meet Abbie as she's dreaming of her lavish engagement to tech billionaire Tim Scott. Only this is not a dream, but a memory upload to a cobot designed to look, think and feel like Abbie - the Abbie who disappeared 5 years ago. Tim tells cobot Abbie that they had a perfect marriage, and she was built to alleviate his grief. But can she trust him?

Told alternately in 2nd person and by an omnipresent narrator, The Perfect Wife lets the reader ride the wave of twists and turns. Was Abbie the perfect wife? What kind of husband - and person - is Tim?

This book touches on so many modern day topics - artificial intelligence, autism, robotics, emotional intelligence, the culture in tech companies - but ultimately asks a timeless question - what does it mean to be human?

Here's something about me: I am a sucker for second person. When second person is done well, it can be the creepiest thing, bringing so much vividness to a story, really pulling you in. Because, after all, it's about you.

And man, this one hit that sweet spot of absolutely perfect second person narration. Honestly, even if the book had had major flaws, I think I'd still love it for that aspect alone. But it was done incredibly well, and the way everything tied back together was clever.

I downloaded my copy of this and promptly forgot about it, until I started another book that had a similar beginning and then got really excited remembering the premise, and realised I was thinking of the Delaney. I try not to go into books excited right now because I'm normally disappointed but this held up to its promise! And I'm so over psychological thrillers right now because I love them, but the market is so oversaturated with ones that have been done. This was an incredibly refreshing one with a new premise, excellent execution, and lovely spects of sci-fi as well.

I loved that it made me think. The autistic element was so fascinating, especially when tied in with the technological aspect. We really think about what it means to be happy and successful, how we should be successful teachers, and how emotions can be learned. The slow flow of information via downloading memories really added to the suspense.

Another great aspect was that the secondary characters all held their own. Jenny especially I found to be endearing. The narrator, all my yeses. And Lisa as well. All the ways that their motives came together was so strong.

The ending was ridiculous. It worked.

This gives me hope that we haven't exhausted psychological thrillers yet! Keep them coming, Delaney!

Great premise. A really interested book with a unique prediction of the future.
I had a great time trying to figure out the ending. Delaney is a very good writer.
I read all her books.

Ok...not what I expected, but in a good way. I was hesitant to give the plot because of spoilers, but I think from other reviewers, and the first few pages of the book, it won’t be a secret.
Brief synopsis.....tech genius Tim has created an AI version of his wife, Abbie. Real Abbie disappeared some years ago, but no body was found. AI Abbie has uploaded memories from real Abbie, making her the perfect new wife. But the new Abbie starts to uncover clues and secrets about human Abbie’s former life. Maybe the marriage isn’t all that it seems.
I was hesitant....99% of the time I do not enjoy science fiction. Sorry if I offend anyone with that statement! That being said, this book was really good. While it has some sci-fi aspects, at its core is another great JP Delaney mystery that is thoroughly enjoyable.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to.