Wow... Just wow!!
This near-future techno thriller is definitely not one to miss. The created society was immersive and I enjoyed being a part of this new age world. Each of the three main characters were engaging and it was easy to follow as the book switched between different points of view. The book managed to use plot twists and chapter cliff hangers to keep me engaged and I devoured the book in one day.
The last part did become a bit predictable, especially once you figure out how all three POV are connected. I wish there was an unforseen twist or a stronger ending to round out an otherwise amazing book. However, I still really enjoyed the book overall.
4.25 Stars!

This was the book our book club chose for February. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t that interested in it. But the girls chose it, so I figured it had to be good. Also, that’s the beauty of being in a book club! It helps you branch out and try books I normally wouldn’t try! I am so glad I gave this book a go!

This book is still living rent-free in my head and will probably do so for some time. I just finished the Marriage Act by John Marrs before this book, so my brain was already in the sci-fi futuristic space.  Some of the concepts for a lack of a better word are definitely a possibility in the future! Being able to take any biological matter to create life.  Imagine you could see what your child would be like when he or she grew up. Would he/she be a fast runner but suffer from depression? Would they be incredibly smart but antisocial? That simply fascinated me. Imagine the invasion of privacy. Actually, privacy would be a thing of the past.

Ember was such a strong woman throughout the whole book. She took on a job to protect Thorne from DNA theft. Then she falls in love with him. Quinn was a struggling young woman who was a surrogate for one family and decided to do it again for a man whose husband died in a tragic car crash. My heart broke for Lilly quite a bit during the story. I won’t say anything else on the characters, so I don’t give away any details.

This was an okay speculative fiction for me. The end did ramp up into thriller pacing, but large chunks of the story didn't quite feel like a thriller to me, and I struggled to connect with the characters with the writing style. It kind of felt like I was reading summaries of what had happened to each character since I was last in their POV.

I am an outlier though so check other reviews!

Thank you to NetGalley and The Quick Brown Fox and Co. for this advance copy. I was absolutely hooked by the opening scene of this book. The author created a truly unique and fascinating premise. After the first couple of chapters, I feel like things went a bit flat. I wanted a faster pace and it was difficult to distinguish between the multiple POVs - their voices were not very different from one another. Science fiction and speculative fiction are not usually my thing, so it could be I’m just not the right reader for this one.

Thank you for this free copy!
The premise of this book was fascinating. Blake Crouch has written some of my all-time favorite titles, and I was excited to see Baby X compared to his novels.
The execution of Baby X unfortunately fell flat. The writing felt clunky, self-indulgent, and even cheesy at times. The dialogue was severely lacking. There were quite a few plot holes and character actions that just didn’t make sense. The characters were not very dimensional. I also would have loved more world building. I was able to correctly guess the characters’ relationships and the “twist” pretty early on, and found myself rushing through the end.
I didn’t dislike the book — there were times I couldn’t put it down. It just didn’t deliver for me.

Sci-Fi is alarming when one can imagine it as our reality.
Thank you to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for my eARC for review.
Baby X feels a bit like the movie Gattaca, and in the vein of books from authors Blake Crouch and John Marrs.
The story is told from POVs of Ember, Quinn and Lily.
It's the not-distant future, and technology includes the holoverse accessed through smart lenses in the literal blink of an eye. Pregnancies can be achieved with anyone’s cells, from any type of cells.
Lab-created gametes are called the Selected. One can learn in advance the personality traits, physical characteristics, and health anomalies.
But with any new technology, there will be crime. Stolen-cell pregnancies are taking place, and The Vault specializes in this.
"Famous desirables" are being targeted for their DNA and related traits.
There are some well thought out concepts here, a touch repetitive at times, but made human through interesting characters and twists.
A solid read for sure - recommended!
Released on March 5.

PHENOMENAL!!! A heartfelt thank you to NetGalley, Kira Peikoff, and The Quick Brown Fox & CO., Crooked Lane Books for generously granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review. Typically, I adhere to the practice of reading and composing my review prior to the publication date. With the publication date of March 6 for this book, I initially feared I had missed my chance to request the arc. So, you can imagine my sheer delight when, on March 8 I discovered it was still available. Without hesitation, I swiftly clicked the "read now" button and promptly elevated this book to the top of my TBR list!

WOW!! MIND BLOWN!!! “Baby X" is a masterfully crafted speculative thriller, filled with suspense and unpredictability. Its innovative plot and terrifyingly prophetic themes will keep readers guessing until the very end!! I was completely engrossed from the start and found it difficult to put the story down! It prompts deep reflection on life and the imminent future, exploring the ethical dilemmas of genetic selection, its far-reaching implications, and its relevance to contemporary discussions. The narrative strikes a perfect balance of science fiction elements, making it accessible without requiring an advanced degree to understand. I appreciated how the story unfolded through three distinct points of view, intricately weaving together their narratives. The unexpected shocking ending took me be surprise, leaving me utterly AMAZED when all the pieces finally fell into place!! I absolutely loved this twisty, faced-paced thriller, solidifying its place as one of my favorites for 2024!! 💙💙💙💙💙

In a world where any biological material can be harnessed to create life, stolen celebrity DNA becomes a commodity sold to the highest bidder or the most obsessed stalker in this gripping narrative. Baby X offers a vivid portrayal of the near future United States, where advanced technology allows the creation of eggs or sperm from anyone's cells, celebrities grapple with the unsettling possibility of encountering biological offspring they never conceived. This book offers a captivating blend of morally ambiguous heroines, genetically engineered babies, DNA theft, celebrity obsession, deeply buried family secrets, self-driving vehicles and cell phones are a thing of the past.

Renowned singer Trace Thorne grows weary of being targeted by the Vault, a black market platform dedicated to DNA theft. Fed up with paying hefty ransoms for this own genetic material, he enlists the services of bio-security guard Ember Ryan to safeguard his biological integrity. Ember, fiercely committed to protecting her clients, is well versed in the Vault's tactics which range from discarded tissues to used straws and lipstick tubes and has thwarted numerous DNA theft attempts. Despite her growing feelings for Thorne, she remains steadfast in her duty to keep his DNA secure. However, Ember's world is turned upside down when a pregnant woman named Quinn emerges, claiming that Thorne is the father of her child. Suddenly, all assurances are thrown into doubt, and Ember finds herself torn between her loyalty to her client and the unsettling truth that threatens to unravel everything she thought she knew. Can Ember realistically keep Thorne safe?

Overall, I was completely enthralled from start to finish! If you appreciate speculative fiction or Blake Crouch then this is a book for you! I wholeheartedly recommend it and believe it deserves all the stars!! 💫💫💫💫💫

I am a huge fan of thrillers that highlight ethical concers. Books that embody the "just because you doesn't mean you should" concept.

I saw where someone compared this an episode of Black Mirror and that is spot on. Super fast paced, very unique story line and very well executed. This captured frighteningly realistic glimpses of what technology has done to our generation and where we could all be headed someday.

Definitely a must read for Blake Crouch, Ben H. Winters, and Sarah Gailey fans.

Many thanks to @crookedlanebooks and @netgalley for my #gifted (free) copy. Out now!

This was definitely a unique thriller/medical/dystopian book, and I tore through the pages. I was speechless with the end. If you are a fan of John Marrs, especially THE ONE, you will love this one!

What if you could pick the genetics of your baby? Well, in BABY X, you can! Set in the 2050s, you can create a baby out of any amount of cells left behind. That could be a bad thing for highly popular people who need to hire somebody to wipe all their cells away after everywhere they go. Told though 3 different POV'S, these women have their own unique stories to tell, that eventually intertwine and things start coming together perfectly. If you want a one of a kind book, I definitely recommend reading this one!

3.5 stars.
The premise was so intriguing.
The cover is so intriguing.
The title is so intriguing.
Everything going into this book was just INTRIGUING.

The writing was quite easy to read, while still having some extra feel to it. The twists weren't great but also not bad? I did guess all of them(except one) but other than that, I was interested enough to continue reading. I was bored at points but then the story would pick up and I was hooked again. There are 3 POV's and since I had guessed the plot twist about 20% in, I was kind of annoyed since it took so long(imo) to get there.

Just the concept itself should make you want to pick it up!

Thank You, Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Holy Crap! The ride this one took me on was so captivating. It is set in 2050 and brings up ethical concerns about genetic engineering and using technology to contort DNA. Think shopping for custom babies. It's almost sinister and eerie with how potentially realistic it could be. The whole book was rich with description and made me fully immersed in the storyline. It wasn't necessarily a thriller, but was fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering where it's going. So, so good.

Another reviewer called this black mirror esque and it totally is!! Set in the 2050s where all babies are made in lab and Selected for their DNA attributes the story follows multiple POVs. I really enjoyed how this felt so far fetched but also... totally realistic for the future! I feel like we're already sort of on this path. The ending completely shocked me. I didn't see it at all!! SO good.

Thank you netgalley for the earc in exchange for an honest review.

Y'all the future is wild.

The story is great and told through differing POVs but the star here is the exploration of "what if". What's next in the evolution of technology? Through a thriller we explore the moral crossroads that technological advances will bring us to. This story has a heavy focus on eugenics and medical consequences surrounding that.

I loved diving into this world that was both foreign and familiar and guessing how these stories intertwined. The writing was not transformative but the story was great. It was really good brain exercise trying to imagine today's tech evolving to what was written here and the implications it could have on our society.

I recommend to anyone who: likes sci-fi that, instead of exploring a whole new world, imagines own society technologically evolved, is wowed by fun tech, and the wild "what ifs" of advancements in the medical industry.

Quinn is a surrogate of the future. Perfect embryos are made in a lab and then implanted in the mother to ensure babies are smart, athletic, and not prone to any health issues. Quinn’s new client is something of a mystery. An exciting story begins to unfold as Quinn starts researching the new father that has hired her to birth his baby.

Ember is a scientist that specializes in keeping celebrity clients safe from people that are trying to steal their DNA to make babies with exceptional skills.

Lily is an up and coming journalist and wasn’t a child that was selected for her excellent DNA. She was made the old fashioned way and this leaves her feeling insecure when facing other journalists her age who’s DNA was hand picked for their exceptional potential.

These three stories collide in a futuristic setting that is the story of Baby X.

Baby X was a great sci-fi read for those just beginning in the Sci fi genre. It has many futuristic elements sprinkled throughout the book without creating a whole new world that the reader would have a hard time connecting to. I suggest it to anyone that is interested in the Sci-fi genre.

My review of Baby X by Kira Peikoff. #BabyX #NetGalley on netgalley.com

The setting of Baby X takes place in the not-so distant future where the norm for upper middle class couples is to select embryos based on polygenic score predictions for different diseases and personality traits. The plot has some twists and turns, and a big one in the end as it seems a lot of these kinds of "thrillers" have. The pace of the book was fine, and I found the overall theme interesting.
However, I had a hard time reading a lot of it because the whole "holoverse"-thing felt forced and the way it was constantly mentioned didn't flow well. Due to the referencing of recent events like the Covid-pandemic, it seemed like we were supposed to believe the book takes place in this universe just a few decades down the road, but in my mind the development of societal trends read like the futuristic projections from the early 20th century, where people pictured everyone having flying cars and nonsensical unnecessary gadgets in the far-off 2000's. An example describing the living room of one of the characters:
"The shelf with its holographic book spines, displaying a rotating cast of her favourites."
And another:
"She longed for their android dog (...) They had ordered his appearance and personality when they first moved in together"
Like - what? I just couldn't suspend my disbelief that normal people would want anything like this, but maybe that's just me.

Some characters were also annoyingly slow at some points, where I was already connecting pretty obvious dots but they took ages to, and sometimes a few of them seemed to not understand things they really should due to their supposed expertise.
I had some trouble making sense of some of the scientific references (don't get me started on Winnie's muffin recipe), maybe some details just shouldn't have been described if they aren't grounded in reality so that the reader isn't pulled out of the story like I was several times. Parts of the dialogue seemed unnatural and immature which also distracted me from the story.

In addition to these criticisms I was left with some questions about how the wider society has been affected by the changes the book is centered around, like how metrics like population size has been affected by the embryo selection process. Are these procedures available to the rest of the population outside of the wealthy? What about other countries? What is the situation regarding contraception and sex that isn't for procreational purposes?

All in all the book was easy to read and sometimes the plot was interesting, but the twist felt a little unoriginal and similar to other thrillers I've read previously. It gets 2.5 stars from me.

A big thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Baby X had some really great ideas and was mostly a great sci-fi thriller. My one complaint would be how it ended. The twist fell flat for me and took away a lot of the momentum from the rest of the story. If everything involving that could be taken out, this would have been a 5 star read.

Note: arc provided by the publisher via netgalley in exchange for honest review

3.5 stars, rounded up!

Baby X is totally original. In the not-so-distant future, anyone’s genetic material can be collected and manipulated to become reproductive material- great in theory, but not great for celebrities, whose material is stolen and sold on the black market. The story itself is intriguing and I really enjoyed the tech advances the author came up with for this age.

Where this book came up short for me was in the POVs. For the first 50-60% of the book it was very difficult to tell the 3 female narrators apart; their voices are all so similar and don’t have much that set them apart from each other.

Overall I really enjoyed this story!

Just LOVED this look at a highly believable high-tech future set in the 2050’s that kept me quickly turning pages with awe.

In this imagined future IVF allows for picking parent’s choice among analyzed 5-day old embryos, with “natural” born children at a distinct disadvantage. Parents can choose between the relative strengths of the embryos. Screening for disease vulnerabilities in fertilized eggs has eradicated most inherited diseases. Test tube babies are the norm, and procreative sex a thing of the past. New technology enables any human cell to be transformed into a sperm or egg. An elusive secret cell hacker group, calling themselves the Vault, steals celebrity DNA to either blackmail the celebrity or sell the DNA to the highest bidder who wants to have a celebrity’s child. Smart contact lens have replaced cell phones, which have become viewed as quaint and antiquated.

Thorne, a guitar playing teen-throb celebrity, has been threatened in the prior year by the Vault who claimed to have his DNA until he paid them a ransom for it back. He hires Ember, who has self-fashioned herself as a bio-security guard, to follow him on his world-wide concert tour to protect him from more stolen DNA. Quinn, a surrogate for hire, believes she is carrying Thorne’s DNA for a widowed gay man who’s a fan and is about to confront Thorne with this fact. Lily, a recent college grad working for one of the few remaining print magazines needs to find a high-tech story impressive enough for their Editor in Chief, and finds potential in her parent’s decision to have another baby in their 80’s, so called “golden age parenting.”

The plot keeps things moving quickly and absorbingly along, but the real star here is the glimpse into a future that seems all too probable.


Thanks to The Quick Brown Fox & CO, Crooked Lane Books, and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

If you love Black Mirror and Blake Crouch, you’ll definitely love this one! I loved the fact that this storyline felt like it could very much be our future reality, while also not being so bogged down with scientific jargon like some realistic sci-fi tends to do. I loved the twists and turns that this took and definitely didn’t see the final twist coming. I will definitely check out more by this author in the future.

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

I believe that this book can best be described as part thriller/ part speculative fiction. The author creates a world where any two people in the world can make a baby, using a process called IVG. An eyelash, hair follicle or bit of saliva can be taken from an individual to create an embryo and then later implanted into a human. Furthermore, the couple goes through a selection process where they get to handpick their embryo based on the likelihood of different health conditions. Very few people chose to have a child the old-fashioned way and its even taboo to do so, calling these individuals "unforeseen."

Taking the matter of IVG even further, The Vault is created which auctions off the DNA of the rich and famous. In many cases, these select elite have their DNA stolen from them in order to create children against their will. This world also has capabilities for android dogs, foods modified to eliminate foodborne illnesses as well as contact lenses that can monitor the actions and location of other human beings. The book follows the stories of three women, Ember, Quinn and Lily. Little by little, the story unravels and reveals a little more about these characters with time. They are all interconnected and the story comes full-circle by the end.

Living in a time with further developments in Science, Technology and AI, this book helped me ponder some deeper questions. I started to wonder at what point does advancement go too far? What's the line or limits when it comes to advancement? How does this affect society on a moral level? Is it within our ethical framework to rate or select other individuals before they are born? Is it acceptable for the government to view our embryos as its own property instead of ownership belonging to the individual/parent?

All in all, I found this book to be incredibly enjoyable and I would happily recommend it to all my bookish friends and family. 4/5 Stars