I am so happy to report that John’s Marrs’ newest installment of his speculative fiction world does NOT disappoint.

The setup: In the near future, would-be British parents join a reality show to raise virtual children for a chance at a cash prize. But everyone- including the corporation behind the virtual children- has secrets to keep.

This book is compulsively readable with short chapters and believable plot twists. Despite the long list of characters (9 parents, their kids, and plenty others), I had no trouble following along as the characters remind you who they are along the way. The Family Experiment feels a bit darker than the author’s other works, and trigger warnings abound- but manages to still read quickly and enjoyably.

5 ⭐️!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this novel; likely because it slightly terrified me due to its accurate depiction of how social media and technology has impacted our daily lives. People compete in a reality show, where they are given an AI child. There are different types of “couplings,” but each is viewed and judged live, while their secrets are also shared. The winner? Gets to decide to take the pot of money and sacrifice their child, or keep their AI child.
So many moral questions asked in this one. It really got me thinking and turning the pages!

This book is about the future of AI and some problems we may actually run into in the future. It was difficult for me to keep track of all of the different families included at first but as I kept reading, it became easier to decipher who was who.

The Family Experiment is exactly what I am looking for in a dystopian drama. This multiple perspective story centers on the contenstants in an AI-child reality TV show, and I was hanging on every single word.

Mind. Blowing. Set in the same near-future dystopian world as The One , The Passengers, and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment by John Marrs raises some fascinating and thought-provoking questions. The characters participate in a reality show competition on parenting AI generated children using avatars in the Metaverse. These people take their meta children very seriously. Evidently, they are very realistic and some of the characters consider them to be real people. This, of course, elicits heated debate on what constitutes a "person." For the sake of the competition, the meta children make rapid developmental leaps (they go from birth to age 18 in 9 months). I enjoyed how the ramifications of meta children are examined from many different angles (the Pope even issues an edict about them).

The slow drips of information tried my patience a bit, but in the end, it all came together, with the characters' backstories and the development of meta children (it probably won't surprise anyone that they weren't developed ethically).

I highly recommend this intriguing book to anyone who enjoys speculative or dystopian fiction. Perfect for fans of The Measure!

If John Marrs writes it, I’m going to read it! Of course I love his regular thrillers, but it’s these dark speculative fiction thrillers that I really can’t get enough of. The Family Experiment is in the same universe as The One, The Passengers, The Minders, and The Marriage Act. They aren’t a series exactly, so you can definitely read The Family Experiment as a stand-alone, but the world building across these books is outstanding, so I highly recommend reading them all to get the full effect. Individually and collectively, these books form a fascinating and frightening picture of a near-future dystopian world where technology reigns supreme.

Imagine the existence of virtual AI children in the Metaverse, and now imagine a reality tv show format that lets people in the Real World watch a handful of couples (and one single guy) do exactly that. At the end, one family will remain standing. As each contestant family gets eliminated from the competition, their virtual child “dies”, dissolving into pixels. Marrs takes the contemporary issue of AI and gives it a dark futuristic twist, giving us lucky readers a story is that is whip-smart, razor-sharp, and extremely clever. I was completely glued to this story that’s filled to the brim with questionable characters, complex moral dilemmas, crazy twists, and ethical situations I know I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Hanover Square Press for providing me an advance copy of this book.

The Family Experiment by John Marrs, a decent read and I will recommend the book even though I don't think it was for me. Thank you for giving me a chance with this book and I do think others will enjoy it.

4.5 stars

THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD.

The Family Experiment is the hottest new reality show. Six couples were chosen to raise their very own Metachild in a virtual reality over the course of nine months. In those nine months, they will experience each milestone stage of life ranging from infancy to the teenage years. The couples are given access to VR headsets and suits to where they will be able to actually feel their child touching them. The winner of the show will have the choice of keeping their Metachild or receiving money to fund their pursuits to grow their family in the real world. But what happens when things go awry in a virtual reality?

John Marrs has a way of writing a book set in the not so distant future that is so intriguing yet so disturbing. This book is all about AI which is such a hot topic right now. Should there be punishment when an avatar is murdered? What happens when you neglect a child that's not real? Oh my gosh I'm going to be thinking of this book for a long time.

This is the fifth book I’ve read by this author…..and my favorite. Short chapters made keeping the multiple characters easy to remember. It is a very easy read and a book I would definitely recommend to friends and family. While I’m not familiar with AI in general, it was an interesting concept and the storylines drew me in.

Every time I read a book by a white man that I end up loving I scream “A WHITE MAN” like I’m Schmidt because let’s be honest, I’m never rooting for the white guy but dang it if John Marrs isn’t so talented.

Although he said this is a standalone, it really felt like the third book in a trilogy set in an alternate universe where scientists have figured out how to find your DNA match soulmate (The One) and then the government punishes people for staying single/unmarried (The Marriage Act) and now, in The Family Experiment, tech companies have found a way to make lifelike virtual babies for couples who can’t afford or can’t have children.

This book was such a wild ride. It was like a slinky being thrown down 20 flights of stairs with the amount of twists packed in. It felt like Big Brother and Upload had a baby with Ender’s Game.

The haptic suits absolutely felt ripped off from Upload. Other than that, this book was absolutely bonkers and if you like stories about morally grey people, this is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley, John Marrs, and Harlequin Trade Piblishing for an arc of The Family Experiment, out July 9!

📝 Quick Summary: Times are hard and many families are struggling to afford, or have, a child. Well here’s an opportunity from Awakening Entertainment to care for an AI child through their MetaVerse. Here, the couples will raise a child from birth to 18 years of age, through the use of their avatar bodysuits. Five families applied and became contestants on The Family Experiment, in which they’ll raise a baby in the hopes of also winning the competition. Through this VR set and hazmat suit, they’ll experience the “near perfect baby.” They will face monthly challenges, be constantly in the public eye, but also be able to return to their real home in the Real World. Viewers get to chime in and watch this entire experiment unfold… and at the end, the families will have a huge decision to make; keep their metaverse baby, or take the prize money to try to have their own baby in the Real World.

💡 Thoughts and Feelings: The start of this book moved a little slow at first, but I think that was also because it took my brain some time to wrap my head around this idea. There are also a lot of characters and storylines to follow, so once you have that under your belt, the story really takes off. Once you get into each couples lives, and find out that, surprise!, none of them are perfect, that domino effect of bomb after bomb happens. The last 20% really had me on my toes and although I pray this idea never takes place, it was interesting to see this unfold. (The author’s note was also short and sweet, but worth the read.) Every couple had my sympathy at one point or another, but their metaverse kids… ugh. It makes you question a lot, that’s for sure!

👍🏻or👎🏻: 👍🏻 Oh yeah! I always promote Marrs’s novels, and this is no different. This was a similar take in the sense that JM takes a quite possibly (scary) futuristic idea, throws a thriller aspect to it, and makes you cling to your chair.

⭐️ Overall Rating: 4.5-5 🌟

This novel was provided by the publisher, via Net Galley, in exchange for my honest review.

HOOKED FROM THE FIRST CHAPTER!

First: There are a few trigger warnings to consider, so please look into those if you have any triggers related to losing a child or the death of a child.

Second, Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing via Netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC of The Family Experiment.

Now for the good stuff. This book is a dark thriller set in a time when artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming very prominent. It follows five couples and one singleton who are desperate to be parents but, for one reason or another, are not. They are given the opportunity to become parents in the MetaVerse for nine months. Every month, the AI child will go through a "developmental leap." These developmental leaps enable the child to finally reach the age of 18 years old, by the 9th month. The contestants will face monthly challenges voted on by the viewers, who are given 24-hour access to the contestants via the Metaverse stream. The final contestant/s remaining will have the opportunity to keep their Metaverse AI child or take the $250k payout, and use the money towards a child in the Real World.

The contestants are:
Dimitri and Zoe Taylor-Georgiou (Metachild, son Lenny)
Selena & Jaden Wilson (Metachild, son Malachi)
Rufus Green & Kitty Carter (Metachild: daughter, Olivia)
Single Dad-Hudson Wright (Metachild, daughter Alice)
Woody and Tina Finn (Metachild, daughter Belle)
Cadman N’Yu & Gabriel Macmillan (Metachild, son River)

The reasons behind each contestant's desire to be on the show slowly unfold and often leave the reader wondering what is going on. The twists and turns are not easy to pinpoint. Even though I may have gotten a theory or two partially right, John Marrs did a fantastic job of including some unpredictable components.

Who will win? What will they decide to do with the MetaVerse child they have spent 9 months bonding with and raising?

I enjoyed this book very much and could not put it down. I have convinced many friends to put this book on their TBR list upon its release on July 9th. I cant wait for them to read it and share their theories with me!

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc copy of this fun read by John Marrs.

It is thriller/suspense with AI and kind of futuristic- while reading I contemplated how likely this could actually happen & how scary advancement with AI really is.

The actual book told from multiple POVs following couples and one single father competing virtually against eachother to best raise their AI/metaverse created child. Each child grows from 2 weeks to 18 years old in 9 months with everything live-streamed during the competition- but the virtual reality only. The winner can pick prize money or to continue life with their metaverse child. Their real lives and the secrets they each hide seem to be protected from the virtual reality they participate in.

The book also references the book The Marriage Act written by John as well which I recently read and enjoyed. Just the idea/plot of the stories is interesting and kept me excited to keep reading and find out what REALLY happens and specifically for the family experiment who wins!

Overall, I liked it a lot. I haven’t read of or heard of any books similarly written which is exciting as sometimes books seem familiar and that is never the case with a John Marrs book. I definitely plan to recommend this as a fun read to friends and other book lovers- it’d be an awesome beach or vacation read!

Futuristic? Thriller? Suspense? AI? Desperation? Competition?

If even one of those 👆🏼 is for you, read this!!

John Marrs is back with another suspenseful tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat! Un-put-downable.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

This one was just not for me. I usually LOVE John Marrs novels, but I struggled to get through this one. I was so excited when I got approved and had high hopes. There were SO many characters. It went back and forth and there wasn’t a lot of time spent on character development. I think the idea of virtual reality children didn’t interest me, so it may partially be a personal experience thing.

This was a crazy read that kept me on my toes the entire way through! Full of twists and turns, Marrs keeps readers engaged and wanting more. Usually I don’t like books with so many characters and points of view, but Marrs keeps it easy to remember who is who and this only adds to the suspense.

👧 Book Review 👧

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest opinions.

Publication: July 9, 2024

Rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

I was sucked into this book and I couldn’t stop until I figured out all the secrets! I loved Marrs science fiction and even though this book is a series, it can definitely be read as a standalone.

I loved Woody & Tina and Hudson’s story the most. I felt they had the most secrets to them!

For fans of:
❤️ Dystopian
👧 Set in near future UK
❤️ Speculative fiction
👧 Popcorn thriller
❤️ Various POV’s
👧 Mixed Media (internet chats, articles, etc)
❤️ Secrets and twists
👧 “Reality” show

📕 Book Recs 📕
📚 Upgrade by Blake Crouch (genetic speculation)
📚 The Handmaid’s Tale (dystopian)
📚 Ready Player One (dystopian metaverse)

I love John Marrs & all his books & this one is no different. It’s a strange concept, the character development is great, & the ending was fantastic. It was one of those books where I was mad that I had to stop reading to get work done bc I didn’t want to put the book down! I can't say enough good tings about John's writing. It's easy to read & understand without being simple. I definitely recommend this book! Thanks so much to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this ARC!

This book was SO unique and readable. John Marrs does such a great job with speculative fiction and this was no exception. It was set in the same world as The One and The Passengers (you don’t have to read them first, but it’s fun if you do, because there are lots of connections!) and grappled with the ethics of AI in our future. Specifically- what would it be like if people had AI children? It gave me a lot think about while being fast paced and entertaining. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a plot driven, speculative fiction thriller.

I have been a John Marrs fan for years, so when I was approved to read “The Family Experiment” I screamed! This one was a dark and twisty page turner, taking place in a futuristic world where AI has become the norm. There is a new reality TV show where families are each given a virtual child to raise in the metaverse. Each family is competing to be the winner, which would include prize money or the choice of keeping your virtual child. As with his previous work, nothing is exactly as it seems. Every family has something to hide, and a big reason to win. I loved how there were tie ins to his previous books as well. Thanks so much to NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!