In a contemplative and suspenseful novel of speculative fiction, Sarah Gailey has further burnished their reputation as a writer who deals deftly with moral ambiguities.

Dr. Evelyn Caldwell is a woman hardened by her years of abuse and neglect as a child, and her marriage to Nathan Caldwell, a man who is both needy and jealous of Evelyn's research prowess. Evelyn is studying cloning. Cloning of humans. When Nathan steals her research, it isn't to try to out publish her, it is, shockingly, to try to create a better Evelyn, who is docile, obedient, and more submissive to him. Martine is everything that Nathan thinks he wants, including, shockingly, fertile. He leaves Evelyn to marry Martine and though it smarts, Evelyn is trying to recover when she receives an unexpected phone call from the quite pregnant Martine begging for her help. Nathan is dead. He tried to kill her and she defended herself, says Martine. The story of what Evelyn and the Echo Wife do is an interesting one, indeed.

Another wonderful novel from Sarah Gailey. They have a gift for writing complex female characters who aren't necessarily always likable but who are always fascinating. Full of quiet suspense and twisty turns, this novel is a short, diverting read.

The audiobook, narrated by Xe Sands, captures the novel's atmosphere beautifully.

I received a digital and paper review copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Evelyn Caldwell is a respected scientist, and on the night of her win on a prestigious award, she can’t help but think about her greatest failure. Her marriage. She had loved Nathan. And then she hadn’t. But for him to walk out on their marriage, on all the years they lived and worked together? She had never expected that. And now she’s at the awards ceremony alone, having to smile and tell people why Nathan wasn’t with her for her big night, over and over.

She went home with her award, to her new home still filled with unpacked boxes from the house she had shared with Nathan. But it wasn’t until she got to the lab where she works on cloning that she got the even bigger gut punch. Martine had called, and she wants Evelyn to meet her.

Martine is Nathan’s new partner.

Evelyn wants to blow her off. She knows that she could. But for Martine to call her and ask for a meeting is big. There must be an important reason. So Evelyn agrees to meet her in a local coffee shop. And when she shows up, Evelyn finds out why Martine wanted to see her. Martine is clearly pregnant.

Evelyn can hardly put into words all the things she’s feeling, of how wrong it is that Martine is pregnant. Evelyn is stunned. She’s angry. She can’t believe that Nathan would do such a thing, putting all her hard work on the line for such a huge ethical violation. She can’t be pregnant. Clones should never get pregnant. She is very careful to put a failsafe in place every time, so this could never happen. But Nathan is not as careful. Or maybe he planned for his new wife, a clone of his first wife, to have his baby.

Evelyn tries to stay calm. She tries to stay aloof. She manages to keep it together and not tell anyone about Nathan’s egregious behavior. She tries to swallow it down. She goes on with her life. But the next time Martine calls, she sounds so desperate that she feels she has to go to her again. That’s when Evelyn is met at the door by Martine, who is holding a bloody chef’s knife. And Nathan is bleeding out on the kitchen floor. Evelyn has to join up with her husband’s pregnant partner to bury him.

And that’s where The Echo Wife begins.

You should know: this is not your typical domestic thriller. Clearly, author Sarah Gailey is taking this story to places you’ve never imagined. I’m not sure which is more compelling—her thoughts of where cloning humans can take us or the nuanced descriptions of emotions in these relationships.

I loved this book. I was told it would appeal to fans of Killing Eve (which is enough to hook me immediately), but it also made me think of Samantha Downing’s My Lovely Wife, in that twisty marriage sort of way. The bottom line here: this is an amazing novel, and whether you’re in it for the sci fi cloning part or the domestic twisty part, you will be more than satisfied with The Echo Wife. It’s fascinating, it’s ingenious, and it will stick with you for long after you’ve finished that last page.

Egalleys for The Echo Wife were provided by Macmillan (Tor Books) through NetGalley, with many thanks.

All kinds of moral and ethical questions are broached in a new science fiction domestic thriller, The Echo Wife. Several are solved the old-fashioned way through deception and murder.

Evelyn is a respected scientist creating clones to perform various tasks. She is working through a divorce from her husband, Nathan. She and Nathan often fought about her placing her work above their family life. But her refusal to have kids was the last straw.

Before even separating from Evelyn, Nathan finds Martine and sets her up in a nearby house. When Evelyn meets Martine for the first time, she realizes that Nathan has a distinct type of woman to which he is attracted. And that she and Martine have more in common than she thought...

Once I started reading this book, I just couldn’t stop reading it. It has a compelling plot. I also think it has just enough science fiction in it to make the genre-fluidity work seamlessly. I genuinely liked the originally unlikeable main character, Evelyn, by midway into the novel. Despite the science fiction setting, Evelyn felt like a realistic person with understandable flaws.

Overall, if you want to read a terrific domestic suspense book with a unique setting, pick up The Echo Wife. You won’t be disappointed. 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars!

Thanks to Tor Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was provided to me by the publisher on NetGallery in exchange for an honest review.

I was so excited to receive this ARC after having finished Sarah Gailey’s other book Magic for Liars, which I also really enjoyed. I picked it up this week while taking a break from my other read and I am so glad that I did. I finished it in a matter of hours and the story really had me thinking.

To start with, I was so impressed with Gailey’s writing! It was nothing like how I remembered it being in Magic for Liars, instead, it fits perfectly with how I would imagine a scientist would sound. It had just the right tone and it fit Evelyn’s character to a T. I also loved the timeline she used to craft Evelyn and Martine’s story. Evelyn is telling this story from the future giving glimpses into her thoughts after the events in the story take place and dewels even deeper into her own childhood memories. This gave Evelyn such a detailed development throughout the story as you come to understand how she has become the person she is today. I think Gailey is just one of those authors that are excellent at character development!

The Echo Wife is considered a science fiction book, but really I would say it is more of a thriller. The science fiction bits in the book were easy to read and understand. Gailey did a good job explaining Evelyn’s research and how clones are created and work within the story. She really makes you ponder though, along with all the other characters in the book, if clones are people or not? That is a major focus of this story, especially with Martine’s character and her growth during the story. I loved how Sarah Gailey dealt with Martine’s existential crisis; her hunt to find herself and what her purpose truly was.

The only reason I didn’t give The Echo Wife a full 5 stars was because of the ending. I just wasn’t fully satisfied with how the characters are left off. For me, it took away a lot of things I thought had been done so well in the rest of the book. However, I still recommend this novel! Check it out if you’re interested in a thriller with science fiction elements!

Spoilers for the ending:

I didn’t like the fact that Martine and Evelyn end up being isolated with each other in Evelyn’s childhood home with Violet. I was hoping that Evelyn would have stepped out of her comfort zone and become more personal with the world outside of her work. She spends such a large part of the story talking about how she is alone and at the end, she is essentially still alone. Same with Martine, I wish she would’ve been able to become more than just a mother(Don’t get me wrong that’s an important part of a person's identity!) But she spent the book searching for her purpose outside of what she was programmed to be and I felt like that was never fully resolved. This ending undid all the amazing development both of the women had gone through during the rest of the book and just wasn’t satisfying for me. Let me know your thoughts!

Another fascinating and enthralling story from Gailey, this time as a sci-fi thriller novel about a cool and collected scientist that has to collaborate on her greatest work yet with a creation from her nightmares.

I adored Evelyn, the logical, cold hearted scientist whose point of view the novel follows. She reminded me of a Gillian Flynn character, in the way that she was allowed to be aloof and sometimes nasty in a way women generally aren't allowed to be in literature (or life either I suppose). I also found the clone research to be interesting, if gruesome.

Martine, the near constant companion of Evelyn, was a fascinating character as well. Created by Evelyn's ex-husband to be the sweet, docile, improved version of his wife, it was a determined struggle for her to evolve within the months the story unfolds over, a battle of programming versus will.

I'm not a huge thriller reader but this story had me hooked from the beginning. This is of course assisted by Gailey's crisp prose and the swift pacing of the story. If you enjoy clone stories, complex female characters, and stories with sometimes dense scientific interludes, pick this one up.

Thanks to Tor publishing and NetGalley for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Echo Wife has a really unique concept. Evelyn Caldwell is an award-winning scientist. And her husband just happens to be cheating on her with a genetically cloned replica of herself named Martine. The husband is murdered and the wives come together to pick-up the pieces.

As a new reader to sci-fi, having gotten my feet wet with Black Crouch's books last year, I was excited to try another sci-fi/thriller combo. Unfortunately this one wasn't for me. I think part it this is to due with the description setting very different expectations for the book. A book that's promoted as "perfect for readers of Big Little Lies and enthusiasts of Killing Eve and Westworld­" was misleading for me, probably because I naturally gravitate towards the BLL and Killing Eve stories and really didn't get many connections to those beyond some very basic and superficial plot elements.

With so many elements in the story, (creating doubles for politicians, Evelyn's childhood, her marriage), it felt like many things only skimmed the surface.

Science fiction fans will probably enjoy and appreciate this book more than I did and I would recommend checking out reviews to see if it's a fit for you.

Thank you to TOR and Netgalley for the advanced readers copy!

The Echo Wife is a great book about nature versus nurture and what it means to be "alive." Evelyn is brilliant, unlike any other, until she clones herself. Although, clones aren't really the same are they? This type of speculation is rampant throughout the book and really makes you think of what changes the future might bring and how each outcome could impact our lives. Overall I thought this was a good book, interesting subject matter, but I had a hard time really sticking with the story and found myself putting it down and coming back to it frequently.

4/5 Stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This one had a lot of twists and turns in it! I loved the combination of sci-fi and thriller that this one brought! The pacing for this one was good, but I did have issues connecting with the characters. I found the main character to be a bit unlikeable, but learning her backstory made her a bit more understandable! I could see this one being made in to a movie for sure! This one didn’t completely blow me out of the water but I still enjoyed it! 3.75 stars!

I was really looking forward to this book I had heard it was for fans of "Big Little Lies" and "Killing Eve" and I was instantly drawn to it. However I didn't;t enjoy it as much as I was anticipating. It had a compelling story line that kept the reader interested, but some of the book just seemed a little too far fetched. I would still recommend it.

a fantastic premise but the actual book leaves something to be desired. i'm not sure what? i wish i felt more connected to the characters or that something more happened. i never really felt any urgency in the text while reading.

Wow. The Echo wife was a suspenseful story about Evelyn, a successful geneticist who has revolutionized the art of cloning humans. The story begins with her at an awards banquet. She is describing her reaction to every onlooker to her research. Her techniques are unique and changing the world of science. Evelyn is determined, driven, and hard-working. When Evelyn discovers that her ex-husband has developed a clone of Evelyn and developed this clone to a 'version' that Nathan conditioned to give her ex-husband a child.
A direction Evelyn never saw her life going into. The Echo wife goes into a tailspin.

The story goes into hyperdrive and you can't turn the pages fast enough to find out what Evelyn will do next. I loved the way this story twisted and turned to keep you guessing. Even in the last chapter, I wasn't sure what Evelyn was going to do. I loved the writing style, the way the author gave us all the details slowly so we could not predict how or what would happen next. A great story. I highly recommend this one.

The Audiobook was excellent. The narrator kept the book exciting and you could hear the suspense in her voice. Loved it.

Thank you to McMillian Audio and Netgalley for my advance copy.

How could there be someone with the exact DNA as you?

That could happen if you were cloned.

Evelyn and Martine had the same DNA.

Evelyn was married to Nathan - both were scientists.

Evelyn and Nathan started to drift apart, but Nathan still wanted his wife. To keep her, he cloned Evelyn into Martine.

Clones were not to live long. What did Nathan do to keep Evelyn alive?

THE ECHO WIFE is way out there and the most bizarre book I have ever read.

What the characters did isn't possible in my eyes, and all the scientific information was wordy and tedious for me.

Sci-fi fans and readers who enjoy an unbelievable story line should enjoy this book. 3/5

This book was given to me via the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Yeah yeah, the subtitle is easy pickings, but sometimes it’s the simple things in life that are the best. It’s very hard to come up with a pun that combines the act of echoing and the myriad themes Sarah Gailey has packed into this book. There are questions about the debate of nature vs nurture, and an extreme muddying of the waters. You have traumas past and present building characters with insatiable levels of drive in one direction or another. So instead of agonizing over the title, I chose to dig into the book itself. The Echo Wife, by the aforementioned Sarah Gailey, is a dark journey through the psyche of a woman that also manages to blur the lines of nature versus nurture in clever ways.

Evelyn, the main protagonist and only perspective, is a renowned scientist in the field of cloning. She has just been presented with a major award for her advances in the field, and yet her husband is too busy having an affair to care about her accomplishments. But it’s not the average run of the mill affair. Martine, her husband’s new girlfriend, is a clone of Evelyn grown and raised in secret by her husband to be everything Evelyn was not. Obedient. Patient. Gentle. Martine oddly wants to form a sort of friendship with Evelyn, and Evelyn obliges by having a meeting over tea, and having Martine over at her place. One night she receives a terrible phone call from Martine: her ex husband is dead, and Martine has killed him. In order to hide the secret of Martine, and the death of her ex husband and keep her standing within her field, Evelyn hatches a plan that will require her particularly useful set of skills.

While the premise sounded promising, I had a hard time getting into this book. Mostly, I think I had trouble with the main character, Evelyn, and her blunt anger and career driven attitude. It’s less that I find these traits distasteful, it’s just her inner monologue became a repetitive jackhammer in my brain, and threatened to become the sole way in which I saw her character. While it serves as a sturdy foundation for further exploration of the book’s themes later on, I had a hard time getting past the upfront and ever present repetition of who Evelyn was to herself. However, while these aspects of Evelyn don’t really soften through the progression of the book, Gailey highlights their omnipresence within Evelyn’s life in interesting ways as the story goes on. Her counterpart, Martine, is a great foil, and really helps dig into Evelyn’s brusque manners in exciting and compelling ways. Martine dilutes some of Evelyn’s more obtuse qualities, not through action but by taking up space within the story. She’s too polite, goes out of her way to make people feel comfortable, but also shows some of the incessant drive that fuels Evelyn. She has her own dreams and desires even if they are mostly programmed by Evelyn’s husband. I admire Gailey’s ability to make two people who are so different feel so similar at the same time, without resorting to superficial contrivances.

The story itself is weirdly fun. Gailey presents a pretty horrific and disturbing scenario with a quirky sensibility. There are points where it feels like they wrote a fifties television show pilot, complete with a “shrewish” woman learning the ropes from her perfect housewife clone. I wouldn’t say I laughed, but there is sinister comedy at play that keeps the story oddly light, while it explores some shadowy territory. That feeling stops, however, during Evelyn’s flashbacks to her upbringing. These chapters are tough pills to swallow, and while they were never a joy to read, they were compelling in their own right. Her relationship with both her parents and the interactions she has with them are haunting in many different ways. Gailey does an excellent job of keeping the information low in these sections, focusing on the memories a child would have developed, instead of viewing them as Evelyn would as an adult. They are free of rumination and judgement, giving you a window into her past with the shades half drawn.

Though it takes some time for the wallpaper to be stripped from the intricate mosaic below the surface, the mosaic is horrifying and breathtakingly beautiful at the same time. Gailey juggles concepts of free will and human programming, while humming a mashup of I Love Lucy and The Twilight Zone. It’s a strange novel, but Gailey patiently allows the snowball of a reveal to build up. Obviously, nature vs nurture comes up, but they throw a wrench in the gears by confusing the two. What does it mean when the programming is a form of nurture, but meant to create a specific nature? It’s further complicated by the memories that Evelyn has of her childhood as they dive into how she becomes who she is. Gailey plays it well too, not diving too much into cause and effect, instead allowing the reader to parse the memories like they would their own life. They are written as if you’re asking yourself, “why am I the way that I am,” while diving into the packets of neurons that make up your past to find those answers, without really finding specific events. It’s exciting and dreadful at the same time because all it does is bring you to one terrifying answer, you’re unique, but not special.

Gailey has written a fun and dark exploration of what makes us who we are. I am glad I stuck with it, but I will admit it was a tough go for the first fifth of the book. It never really picks up great speed, however, they are patient, and I recommend you be patient too. There are times the book threatens to be a thriller, but it never really follows through, but I think it’s better for it. If you’re looking for a brisk, weird and uncanny dive into the nature of identity through a funhouse mirror, Echo Wife should be on your to TBR.

Rating: The Echo Wife – 7.5/10
-Alex

I was the last one of the three of us to finish The Echo Wife, so Jana and Tadiana had to put up with my increasingly capslocky emails as I got deeper and deeper into the book. As a thriller, The Echo Wife certainly delivers that everything-just-keeps-getting-worse unbearable tension that makes the genre work.

Evelyn was fascinating to me as a character, even though I often didn’t like her much. The way she fought so hard against becoming her browbeaten mother, only to find herself exhibiting characteristics of her abusive father instead, was believable and chilling. So, too, was the ease with which she slipped into taking Martine’s programmed domestic tendencies for granted, because, of course, life is so much easier when you have someone taking care of the home for you. I thought more than once about the essay “I Want a Wife” by Judy Brady Syfers, which was written in 1971 and still holds relevance today.

There was one big scientific loose end that appeared very early on as a major plot point, and I was sure the answer to that question would be one of the novel’s reveals, but it was left unresolved. Like both Tadiana and Jana, though, I was gripped by the evolution of Evelyn’s moral compass as she first rejects, then begins to come to terms with, the idea that clones are people, and have been people all along.

After the steadily escalating shocks of the book, it ends in a way that is quieter than one might expect, yet thought-provoking. The ending might be idyllic, or might be ominous, depending on what you think of the character growth and whether the old dysfunctional patterns can be broken.

The Echo Wife kept me riveted as a thriller should, as well as invested in the character development of both Evelyn and Martine. Everything I’ve read so far by Gailey has been compelling on the psychological level and this is no exception.

My Review:⭐️⭐⭐⭐️/ 5 stars

This book is Stepford Wives meets Westworld with a touch of Big Little Lies. At first reading it, I was not sure if I was into it, but once you get into it, you can’t put it down. Evelyn Caldwell is a successful, brilliant scientist specializing in human cloning. Her husband Nathan had betrayed her by using her research to create his own “perfect” clone of his wife named Martine - a soft spoken, gentle, woman who aimed to please and wanted children. Basically Martine is the opposite of Evelyn - and it hurts to know you can be replaced by someone you love. Until she gets a call from Martine that Nathan is dead after a heated altercation. Evelyn and Martine must work together, to make sure Nathan's death is covered up or else Evelyn’s years of research would be compromised.

It was intriguing to see how Martine is a bit more “humane” even though she is the clone whilst Evelyn is a bit more icy and reserved. The characters' relationship/friendship really is what the book is about essentially - and what Evelyn sees in herself as flaws when she gets irritated by anything Martine does. This was incredibly well written and I can’t stop thinking about it. One of the great sci-fi books I have read lately. Definitely recommended if you enjoyed Westworld!

Thank you to Tor Books and Netgalley for the e-copy in exchange for my honest review!

US Pub date: February 16, 2021

Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be. And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband. Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and the Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up. Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty.

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey was one of my most anticipated reads of February and I was absolutely thrilled to be approved for it on NetGalley. I really lucked out because this is officially one of my favorite reads of 2021 so far. I loved Sarah Gailey's Upright Women Wanted so my expectations were very high for this. This uniquely clever sci-fi thriller with a dash of dark humor really packs a lot into its 256 pages and it also never feels rushed or clumsy. I also appreciated that just how character-driven it is and that we stick solely with Evelyn's perspective throughout. I wouldn't quite say there are a lot of plot twists, but there are many killer character-based revelations. Let's just say we get deep dive into Evelyn, her past, and her relationship with her clone and it's marvelous to see.

Overall, I can't recommend Sarah Gailey's The Echo Wife enough. If you like the sound of Westworld meets The Stepford Wives, I have a feeling you may enjoy this just as much as I did. I need to get caught up on their previous works including Magic For Liars, River of Teeth, and When We Were Magic as soon as possible.

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

The book kept pulling twists out of its hat in satisfying ways. Adds a science fiction angle to an otherwise common plot with a lot of success. The main character is antagonistic and confrontational, at times eschewing the trope of a likeable narrator. For the navel gazer (if that's a group). The end comes together a little too neat, and some of the twists near it strain plausibility, but the trip to get there is a lot of fun.

Hello, hello! I’m currently writing this review between power outages, so if it ends up being late, the power went out again before I could finish. If not, yay! And sorry if it’s a little shorter than usual because I’m rushing. Anyway, Jordan Hanley at Tor Books reached out through NetGalley to see if I’d be interested in reviewing The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey. It seemed like an interesting read, so I said sure. It was released yesterday (February 16th). As usual, I must thank NetGalley and Tor/Forge for access to an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Let’s get to it!

The Echo Wife follows Evelyn Caldwell as she struggles to pick up the pieces after her marriage fails, all while diving head first into her work. Enter Martine, who just brings more problems. Throw in a betrayal from the closest thing Evelyn has to a friend, a dark past full of secrets, and an experiment gone so right that she can’t even talk about it, and that pretty much sums up Evelyn’s life right now.

Seems like a fun little plot, right? It is, but it’s also super predictable. She works in clone science, which is made clear from the beginning, so all of the major twists are super easy to see coming. Even Evelyn’s backstory is easy enough to figure out when she mentions that her dad’s been missing for years. It’s a fun story, but if you have even a basic understanding of sci-fi, you won’t be very surprised.

The characters were a mixed bag. Evelyn realizes she’s selfish and stubborn, but seems oblivious to the fact that she killed her marriage the moment she decided to have an abortion without telling her husband (not really a spoiler as much as something mentioned in passing). She told him she was pregnant, but didn’t bother including him in a decision that affects both of them. She doesn’t communicate and she doesn’t really think of anyone but herself, even her incentives for helping Martine are selfish. For a smart woman, she’s far too stupid a lot of the time. I like Martine a lot more. She’s really sheltered, but wants nothing more than to live and learn. Everyone else is basically just there to explain why Evelyn is such a crappy person.

Otherwise, the writing was lovely and made for a quick read. Things moved at a nice clip and kept me interested. It wasn’t anything new or insightful, but it was fun watching Martine grow and change over the course of the story. I just wish Evelyn would’ve evolved a little more.

Ultimately, The Echo Wife was just okay. It doesn’t really encourage me to look for other books by Sarah Gailey, but it wasn’t bad by any means.

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. If you don’t mind unlovable main characters and want something sci-fi, check it out. If not, you aren’t missing much.

At under 300 pages, The Echo Wife is a taught, exciting, provocative tale, with not an ounce of wasted space or padding. It’s compelling reading, start to finish… and the synopsis doesn’t even begin to do it justice. The plot revolves around cloning, but it's also a character study of a strong woman who doesn't fit the expected boxes and a contemplation of what it means to be a person. Excellent.