When Evelyn discovers that her husband has stolen her research and used it to create a clone of herself (With all of her "less desirable" traits removed. Gross.), she starts a chain of events that quickly begin to spiral out of control. Sarah Gailey's The Echo Wife is the story of betrayal, revenge and the question of who can (and can't) really be considered "human".

Lest you are tempted to write this book off as only futuristic sci-fi, The Echo Wife, is really more of a "will-they-get-away-with-it" thriller that also happens to have some clones.

What I appreciate most about Gailey's work, is that even when the circumstances are fantastic, all of their characters are still so grounded in emotional truth. Nobody makes any weird choices to move the plot along. Everything. Makes. Sense. It's really delightful.

I would recommend The Echo Wife to fans of Gailey's previous work and folks who like a little genre-bending. Also, anyone going though a tough break-up will likely also enjoy this book for the schadenfreude alone.

Thank you Netgallery and publisher for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.
First of all the cover is striking and says read me I love it! The book was really good I can't think of anything negative to say. I highly recommend reading this book.

I can’t even. How does Sarah Gailey constantly put out such amazing books? They are a machine. A beautiful, strange, brilliant machine.

Evelyn is a brilliant scientist in the area of human cloning, her husband is less successful, except in creating a more malleable and compliant version of his wife. When Nathan ends up dead everything unravels and Evelyn is left to clean up yet another mess. An interesting look at genetics and nature vs nurture, the morality behind cloning and the ethics of science wrapped in a nonstop thriller. A great read!

Other readers may compare this book to thrillers or sci-fi novels, but for me this was pure Black Mirror. Like one of the better episodes of that show it cuts right through the element of advanced technology in the story and plumbs satisfyingly deep into the all too human ramifications of that technology's use. There is so much explored here, so many intense themes - the impossibility of being truly known, the price of ambition, the deep scars parents leave on their children, the way love can die a death of a thousand cuts - and in such a relatively small amount of space! This is managed, in the main, by Gailey's tight grip on Evelyn as a narrator: she is so perfectly realized, her worldview so clear and sharp. The insights into her past in-between major scenes of action were masterfully done; every little bit of her was revealed at exactly the right moment. It was because of her, even more than the thrill of what would happen next, that I couldn't look away. I imagine other readers might take issue with the way she is - unlikable female narrator and all that - but I loved her. She was so raw, so real, and I enjoyed her sting.

If I have any complaints they're concentrated at the beginning of the book, and mainly boil down to the fact that there is a very important conversation - the conversation that precipitates all the action that follows - that is given to the reader in exposition, rather than shown in a scene. It felt like a wrong note struck in a book that otherwise deliberately, well, unearths so much for the reader.

But otherwise? An incredible book. I can see this one bringing thriller readers into sci-fi for the first time - and vice versa. I'll definitely be recommending this one to a lot of people.

Westworld (more understandable version) meets Stepford Wives and Orphan Black kind of story is freshly baked from the oven. I see five sizzling, well-deserved, shiny stars dancing above my head! This is more entertaining, mind bending, grey cells frying, soul shaking, heart throbbing adventure than I expected.

This is absolutely, deliciously my kind of extremely crazy story: imagine your husband replace you with another version of you. What would you do? Scream, cry, call a contract killer, suffer from depression, commit to kill the other version of you or accept the defeat and work on cloned replicas of Tom Hardy at your lab (last option is the best choice but unfortunately the heroine of this book didn’t make wise choices like me!)

Okay, let me rephrase it: our brilliant scientist Evelyn’s husband Nathan is not happy that she is a workaholic, heartless, cutthroat bitch who prefers to live in her lab and work 24/7 for your scientific experiments. ( it’s true! I think JJ Abrams inspired by her when he named his production company “Bad Robot” because most of the parts: she acted like really mean robot, hardly process human feelings.) And of course she doesn’t want to have a baby. It’s unnecessary responsibility, right? She’s working way too much important things. She’s the brilliant Evelyn Caldwell, a rising star of scientific innovations with brightest future ahead of her.

But her dearest husband cheats on her with a woman looking exactly like her. Actually he’s dating with cloned replica of hers (Whattttt???) And now he wants to divorce! And this is not only mouth dropping part of her unbelievably unique story: the cloned replica is pregnant right now! (WTF! Did I read right? How could be scientifically possible? But Evelyn’s dear clone Martine is expecting. And she meets her with the shop to show her growing baby bump and Evelyn tells her the ugly truth about the reason she’s been created.

From now on, if the story is not crazy enough for you: Just wait for Martine’s urgent call on the phone. She panicked, barely breathing and she seems like losing it. As Evelyn goes to the house Martine shares with her ex-husband: she finds out, her ex lying on the floor in blood bath. Martine says: “it was self –defense” and Evelyn replies: “Let’s bury him!”

Still not crazy enough for you? Wait for it. Evelyn and Martine realize a search party can begin sooner they will be prime suspects of Nathan’s mysterious disappearance. Or at least Evelyn is gonna lose everything: her researches, reputation and freedom because nobody knows Evelyn is existence. She is illegal. So they decide to work on a new clone replica. They’ll recreate Nathan to solve the problem! Yesss, I know you’re hooked and

I stop right now! I already gave so many juicy details. But I assure, the story’s conclusion is more twisty and shocking. Yes, there are more revelations and surprises to come.

Overall: It was one of the best, amazing, shocking, dazzling, phenomenal sci-fi reads of this year. I highly recommend it to genre lovers. I couldn’t put it down! It’s smart, its dark humor captivates you and you don’t want to let it go.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan/ Tor Books for sharing this remarkable ARC with me in exchange my honest review. I truly loved it so much.

What’s worse than finding out your husband is having an affair? Discovering he’s having an affair with your double, not your twin – your clone. The clone your research created. It can’t get much worse than that can it? It turns out it can