I received an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney is a slick and engaging thriller that combines elements of psychological suspense with futuristic technology. The novel centers on a woman, recently resurrected as an AI after her mysterious death, who is trying to piece together the truth about her past and her seemingly perfect husband. The writing is tight and smooth, which keeps the pages turning, and the characters are well-developed, particularly the complex portrayal of the protagonist as she grapples with the revelation of her own existence.

The storyline is fresh and imaginative, offering an intriguing premise that questions the boundaries of love, control, and identity. However, the ending felt a bit too fanciful for my taste, straying into territory that seemed a little far-fetched compared to the rest of the novel. Overall, while *The Perfect Wife* is an easy and entertaining read, it's more enjoyable on a superficial level. It would be ideal for a light read by the beach or pool, but it doesn't quite offer the depth or emotional punch that would make it truly memorable.

This is a fast paced edge of you seat read that will keep you guessing right up intill the last page this book kept me up all night I just couldn't put it down

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Jet another very unexpected book by this author. Every single book takes you for a ride for sure. It was a great idea and very thrilling book full of suspense. Highly recommended

I usually like all of JP Delaneys books but I found it hard to get into this one. I think I just didn’t really like the concept of it at the beginning, was not realistic and that put me off unfortunately

This book exhilarating, I finished it and was left thinking "what did I just read?"
Overall a fun read, though a bit hard to review without giving major spoilers!
Thank you NetGalley

Firstly, I'd like to thank Netgalley and Quercus Books for the eARC for an honest review.

Anyone who knows me knows that I always say that I don't read sci-fi books. The Perfect Wife is a Mystery/Thriller with huge sci-fi elements and I loved it. I literally couldn't start another book until I wrote this review. I have to commend the author for using 2nd person throughout the book. All writers know that 2nd person is very hard to write in because it can easily fall flat. J.P. Delaney did it so well and then the twist near the end was fantastic. The use of 2nd person just became 10x better with that twist. That wasn't only one twist as well. They all were brilliant for me. Also, as well as the 2nd person POV there were 26 chapters interspersed throughout narrated by a collected 'we' which gave us insights into the relationship between Abbie and Tim.

To say that this book messed with my head would be an understatement. The moral dilemmas had me questioning everything. The main POV being a robot with memories and feelings just made my head explode over and over again. Tim, the husband, was a great character. Not nice at all but so well created. He was manipulative, controlling, obsessive, clever, and you couldn't not hate him. I thought that Danny, Abbie and Tim's son was also a great character. J.P Delaney used his experience of having an autistic child to write Danny. It was very informative and all the different kind of 'treatments' was explored thoroughly.

I absolutely loved this book and it is definitely a top read of 2021. The way it is written is just so clever! I definitely recommend this book to Mystery/Thriller fans.

A difficult book to review without giving away too much!

Suffice is to say it is compelling reading, that will grab you straight away, and keep sitting in your seat until you know what happens next...

Recommended

The Perfect Wife is far more original than that very generic title might have you believe (not that the title isn't appropriate).

Five years after her supposed death - although a body was never recovered - Abbie wakes in what she thinks is a hospital, scrabbling for memories. Her husband - visionary tech developer Tim Scott, founder of Scott Robotics - is by her side. But Abbie isn't waking from a coma and she isn't in a hospital. Turns out Abbie isn't really Abbie at all - she's a companion robot, a cobot, designed and built by Tim to replace his dead wife, uploaded with her memories - some of them at least - conscious and capable of independent thought.

It's an intriguing premise, as "Abbie" struggles to understand what has happened, who her husband really is, and what actually became of the real Abbie. Not to mention trying to connect with her young son Danny, who has autism.

The second-person narrative - Cobot Abbie's thoughts and experiences are rendered as "you" - was a little distracting throughout, although I understand the reason for it. There's also another narrative running parallel to this, from an unnamed narrator, describing past events at Tim's company - how he and Abbie met, etc - which I took to be a kind of composite of those "in the know". (This is eventually explained - kind of.)

The author has some things to say about autism and certain methods by which it may be "treated", and the author clearly knows something of what he speaks here, referring in an afterword to his own son. The character of Danny was, I felt, sensitively portrayed.

There are also interesting considerations here about consciousness, artificial intelligence and what it means to be human. While this is a psychological thriller rather than science fiction, these are issues which many SF authors have grappled with and will doubtless continue to do so.

The end became a little confusing and didn't necessarily go the way I had expected/hoped, but was satisfying in its way.

A thought-provoking read.

Oh my, what a ride. I really really love Delaney's thrillers, they're easily some of my favourites. They're always different and absolute page turners. Just when you think you might know what's around the corner and have made your guesses, ugh, so good.

I'm sad I fell out of reading for a time and it took me so long to get around to reading this. Pace is great, characters are excellent. Character development, in particular, of MC Abbigail was also excellent, believable and yeah. I just loved it. I was a bit confused as to who the other POV was, you're kind of thrown into the "we this, we that" but never really know who the 'we' is and that's my only real downside to the thriller.

Thanks to NetGalley, Quercus Books and J.P. Delaney for an aRC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

I liked JP delaney’s last novels and this was no different. To me I liked the concept. Reminded me of a Netflix show. It was driven and I could see it play out. It took me rereading the ending to fully get it but I read this quite quickly and really enjoyed it.

Wow what a read. Nail biting until the end with an end I did not see coming. Had me hooked reading until the small hours. Definitely recommend this.

Wow might not be a proper way to start a review, but what a book! Easy to read, hard to let go of... The Perfect Wife leaves you wondering for quite a while afterwards.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

Not sinister and not a thriller unlike Girl Before, written by J P Delaney.

Tim Scott is a tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley and he has created Abbie 2.0- an empathetic companion robot in his dead wife’s image. She is to fill in the role- also as mother to his autistic son.

I’m still reading but I’m not sure it’s gripped me and I’m far from any big twist. I don’t think it’ll go in that direction- rather a quiet, untimely end.

—-
I’ve since finished the book. It didn’t end well. And the writing was a little sloppy towards the end. It wasn’t as conclusive as it could have been and I still don’t know who the narrative voice was??

I received this book through Netgalley for review consideration.

The whole of this book is written from second and third POV and swaps between past and present without any warning! I found it all a little confusing even when you pushed past the sci-fi elements. I didn’t find the book had any real flow and it was tricky to keep focus. Wasn’t for me...

I much prefer previous books written by the author, however this one was still an enjoyable read. The character and plot development worked well for me and kept me intrigued.

Wow. Just finished the a perfect wife and truly disappointed.... that I did not read this sooner.

I will not go into too much detail other than it involves AI and murder. (Swipe to read the blurb of this book).
We follow two different POV which you don’t really know whose telling the point of view until the end.
I applaud the originality of this book. Honestly 5/5 stars for me.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Having thoroughly enjoyed the previous books by JP Delaney I was excited to be approved for this latest one.
This was certainly different from your usual thrillers and because of that I found it intriguing.
Not sure I’ll read something similar again.
3.5 stars

Thought this was good and kept me interested throughout but not as good as The Girl Before unfortunately. I enjoyed reading about the characters, their ambitions and the dynamics between them, but the ending and progression of the storyline wasn't as satisfying for me as I would have hoped. Regardless, I'm still a fan of the author and look forward to reading future works! He has a brilliant writing style.