A great, edgy read which is laced with malice, dark overtones and evil. The concept and the plot were very cleverly layered with creepiness and sinister narrative to make this a wonderfully gripping read. Atmospheric throughout, the multi-layered story moved seamlessly between past and present, emanating a perfect level of suspense and tension.

When I first realised this book had a strong AI theme I was surprised and I wasn't totally sure this one was for me. But that feeling completely disappeared after the first few chapters and although there are clearly aspects of AI throughout, it doesn't dominate the story which is a first-class piece of true psychological suspense.

I cannot say I was particularly fond of Abbie, Tim or indeed, any of the characters, but I felt that this was entirely intentional and essential to this story.

This tense novel posed some interesting questions, touching on marriage, misogyny, family, autism and good and bad parenting. A remarkable and highly engaging read told in the second person, the dual time-line worked well as the story progressed to the ultimate finale. I thought I had everything fathomed, but the various twists and turns wrong-footed me and I found myself re-reading the last few chapters to fully absorb the twists.

The Perfect Wife is exceptionally well written and I couldn’t put it down. I want to read more by J. P. Delaney, for sure. I have no hesitation in recommending this book to those who are passionate about their psychological thrillers.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel from Quercus Books via NetGalley at my own request. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

One of my favourite books for so long. I’ve decided I’m only giving truly exceptional books 5/5 and this is a clear 5/5.
It manages to blend mystery and sci fi into a unputdownable, mesmerising, blend of skilful writing and pure joy.

Fascinating and eerily could be the future
A heartbreaking love story not just man and woman but of a mother and son, which you can feel has reality blended into the story, JP Delaney knows autism. AI and how they could be created as in this story is stuff of science fiction....at the moment and is a theme that appears often, the role it plays in The Perfect Wife provides a whole new what if and a further morality questions on what is life

I had no expectations when I started this, as I hadn't read JP Delaney previously (and hadn't even read the blurb on this one!), but I enjoyed the premise, the writing was good, and it kept me entertained on a long train journey. I found the exploration of AI as replacements for 'lost' people was interesting, but it didn't quite work for me in the way it ran alongside the psychological thriller element.

wow as others have said I have never read a book like this.
I am not a big fan of futuristic writing and have deep mistrust of that is electronic!
This book looks at the life of a supposed genius who has what appears to be the perfect marriage.
Add in the challenges of an autistic child and the over arching concept of a mothers love.
Mix this all up and discover the cracks behind what you see. A genius or a monster?
An examination of AI and the ability to think outside the box.
I could not put this down. From the get go I hated Tim but tried desperately to like him. was I right to try?
This book has so many twists that you think you have cracked it. I even wrote it down and handed it to my husband but how wrong was I?Very.
You think you have it then you don't . I would challenge you to try.
I must confess the back story in the acknowledgements bought a tear to my eye.It is not written for pity but it becomes clear that analysis of this situation and the character of Danny and the other characters are so believable because of this experience.
5 great stars

Brilliantly written and totally gripping, absolutely loved this book and have recommended this to my fellow readers as a must read

I enjoyed this book quite a lot even if the technical terms and items added in the story felt a bit surreal at times, it didn't stop me reading and thinking that this is very doable and one day maybe it will become something normal in our day by day living.
We are looking for the perfect people to surround us, but that perfect for us it's not always the same perfect for others.
The story's well written and engaging, with compelling characters and the tech added another layer of mystery and how the usage of it brings more awareness to the life we live now

I have delayed writing my review on this to think about how I felt reading this intriging sci-fi/futuristic story and I have to say although it was cleverly written I really didn't like it. I struggled to get through it but half-heartedly. It just was not my type of book. I have no doubt that other people will love it but sadly it wasn't for me. Strange but apparently true.

When I first started reading this book I was a little confused as I couldn't remember the description mentioning AI. I had previously read The Girl Before by JP Delaney so was very interested in seeing what this book was like.


The story is about Abbie who has been in an accident but her consciousness and memories are brought back in the form of a robot.
It's written in a way that makes it feel like you are the main part and puts a lot of focus on the child with autism. The story makes many references to studies on human behaviour and learning.

When I first started reading I didn't think I I was going to like it but I actually found it really interesting and clever the way comparisons were made between emotions and lack of emotion.

A weird book but good. First time reading by this author and it won't be my last. Tim was creepy, controlling I'm a bit confused why an artist was doing worked at a high tech company?

I’ve read The Perfect Wife in two sittings and struggled to put it down in between. A book that had me engrossed and well worth a read

Abbie has just woken from a dream, she is in a hospital bed with her husband waiting to take her home. At home she finds that she can remember some things, but not others. Her stuff is all there ready for her to go through, to jog her memory, while husband, Tim, is there for her as she settles in.

She gradually expands her experiences as she moves beyond the home, meeting people who fill in the gaps in her memory, experiencing sudden flashes of enlightenment as things click into place. She still feels like there is so much missing, that she hasn't been told or given details of. It is like a slow torturous drip feed of information.
The story is written as if the reader is Abbie, with someone taking you through it all, letting you know what is happening. There are also others whose story is told alongside Abbie's and they add the background to what happened before Abbie's accident.

The story is immediately grabbing, straight in, no messing. You are Abbie and you are going to stay as Abbie until you finish reading the book. And, no matter what you think is going to happen at the end of the book, I don't think that you'll guess! So don't peek and spoil it. That would be a terrible shame.

I enjoyed this book hugely, I had some long nights reading it. I heartily recommend it to you.

Rating 4.5/5

There are some authors that I would pick up automatically without really looking at the blurb and after reading Believe Me last year JP Delaney became one of those authors. So I have to say I was pretty surprised when I started reading The Perfect Wife because I really wasn’t expecting the artificial intelligence aspect to this story.

It did throw me a little, that and the tense of writing used, and to be honest I did start to wonder if maybe I wasn’t going to enjoy this one as much as I’d hoped. I stuck with it though and I am exceptionally glad that I did, as once again JP Delaney has created a book with an obsessive and chilling tension that I could not put down.

The thing that continues to work brilliantly in this book is the fact that I can never predict what will happen next, sometimes when reading psychological thrillers I have suddenly come to the answer of who or why and it becomes a very conscious part of my reading experience, which means I might not enjoy the book as much. With this book any time my brain thought it was making a connection, that I might have figured something out, my theory was blown out of the water. I was definitely kept on my toes, the suspense was just perfect and gave me that edge of my seat feeling.

I think what I appreciate so much about this authors style is that everything has a purpose, even if you don’t recognize that at first. As I mentioned before it is written in an unusual tense and the chapters switch between Abbie and an unknown narrator and by the end of the book when I realised why those choices were made, it took my engagement with the book to a whole other level. It’s the kind of revelation that makes me think about it for days, weeks and sometimes months afterwords and JP Delaney seems to manage it effortlessly every time.

I feel like I want to delve into the characters but I don’t want to say anything that will ruin the reading experience for anyone else so what I will say is Abbie being AI and having the cross over between her ‘memories’ and her own sentience was very interesting and made for some exciting reading.

There is another thing that is hard to go into without giving too much away but what I will say is that there was an aspect of the ending that I was a little disappointed in, I think it felt a little tacked on almost. Perhaps it’s just that in a book that is so clever and that has covered its bases pretty much all the way through there is a little niggle, something that I questioned, I’m not sure. It didn’t change my enjoyment of the book overall, I think it’s just that my expectations were high and I wasn’t expecting to feel like that at the end of an otherwise amazing book.

The Perfect Wife has certainly cemented JP Delaney as one of my go-to authors and I have to say I am intrigued to find out what subject matter will be explored in the next book because I’m looking forward to it already.

A dystopian fright for the possible future. Confusing and enthralling at the same time. I am a fan of JPD and this masterful treatment of an almost sci fi plot except for the fact that AI is on our doorstep. Greatly enjoyable and fast paced this deserves to be as great a success as "The Girl Before".

Not what I was expecting...
30 August 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

So this book wasn't what I was expecting at all and I didn't see the end coming either.

A different approach to the psychological thriller encroaching into scifi territory - not my usual fare, but an interesting read.

Will definitely consider more books from this author in future.

Suspend disbelief and settle down for a good read. Delaney is a great storyteller and in "The Perfect Wife" presents us with a situation where Tim, [ a programming genius] with his own robotics company and vast wealth, is faced with the death of his wife, Abbie, whom he adores. His solution involves technology, algorithms and robotics. But therein lies the problem. Who ends up controlling whom? Fast-paced and fun to read with a real twist in the tail is a fair summary. But that's not all. It begs the question as to what makes us human and can even the most sophisticated artificial intelligence ever get near replicating that? Or does it simply reflect and magnify human weakness.

You’d be very wrong in thinking that JP Delaney’s recent publication “The Perfect Wife” was a techno thriller involving Artificial Intelligence. Although it has a futuristic premise, this is actually a very well written, psychological suspense novel, focusing more on parenting a child with autism than the future world technology of AI. Once you’ve picked your way through the technology, there’s a huge family drama going on which carried the weight of emotions and moral dilemmas throughout.
With regards to the AI part of the story, it’s a very thought provoking read, the future of robots having empathy and emotions and rebuilding life like models of loved ones who have died is both scary and mind blowing. I really don’t believe the futuristic elements were too far fetched and it’s certainly a possible scenario to imagine in the not too distant future.
I must admit to not totally understanding everything, there were instances when things went a little over my head and there were some words that I didn’t comprehend but at no point did it put me off and I felt quite a strong compulsion to keep reading.
The main male character Tim was very unlikeable, which the author did a good job of getting the reader to feel this way and for me, Danny was the central character who unassumingly took the lead role.
My advice would be to go into this book with an open mind, with no preconceptions of what to expect, its original, unique, thought provoking, shocking and at times quite emotional and very entertaining.
4 stars for an enjoyable and interesting psychological thriller and I look forward to reading more by JP Delaney again in the future.

I didn't expect this to be sic fi and I'm not usually a fan but this novel kept me reading with tis twists and turns. an enjoyable escape into the future.

Well this book wasn't what I expected it to be. After reading the first chapter of The Perfect Wife, I was intrigued but unsure if I would actually enjoy it as sci-fi isn't usually a genre I would read. However, I've read and enjoyed other JP Delaney books so decided to give it a chance and I'm glad I did as I enjoyed it. Being a engineering student and having studied a bit of programming earlier this year I found it quite interesting. I was a bit confused and disappointed with the ending but overall it was a good read.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of this ebook in exchange for my honest review.

This JP Delaney novel again has a little twist of something futuristic.

I felt at times that the story became overdrawn and that it all could have been resolved a lot faster. The ending felt unsatisfying to me and I have to admit that I was expecting more of the story.