John Marrs is the king of speculative thrillers. Along the line of his popular novels The One, The Passengers, The Marriage Act... this novel takes it over the top. It's scary as hell and takes on AI technology in the Meta universe. This is a riveting novel about a reality competition show. Real World families raising avatar children - at a much faster rate than in the Real World - and whoever wins "best parents" gets to either keep their Meta Universe child or delete them and get funds to raise a real child. Hats & AI devices off to Mr. Marrs!

John Marrs is the king of making me say “one more chapter” He just knows how you give you the perfect amount of information to keep you reading to find out what is happening. I really liked how the chapters were broke out by the couples. I felt like each chapter gave you just enough information about the past to keep you really invested. And of course the twist I never saw coming. I did feel at the end I was a little ready for the book to be over but overall another excellent read by John Marrs!!

In an age where AI seems to be growing and expanding into every field possible, I feel like the release of this book was timed perfectly. The idea that AI could write full length novels used to seem far-fetched, and now look where we are. It isn’t all that crazy to think it might one day try to replace our need for family with a virtual substitute as well!

This book flawlessly combined so many of my favorite things. People building a family to care for (and possibly even kill or delete) inside a video game took me back to my days of playing the Sims. The Metaverse was a fun experience that reminded me of the OASIS in Ready Player One, and the reality show competition was just the cherry on top of the cake!

I wasn’t hooked immediately at the start of the book, but as the story went on and I learned more about each character’s messy past, I reached the point where I couldn’t stop reading. This was my first John Marrs book and I understand that it’s his style to start off a little slower and build the characters up, and he did a perfect job of giving me just enough information about each character to make me want to read more and find out the rest. I loved how everything tied together at the end!!

If you like scifi thrillers or are looking for a unique take on AI’s capabilities, I highly recommend you read The Family Experiment!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing this ebook for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The UK is at a breaking point as the population rises, the economy fails, and people are unable to provide for their family or even afford to start one. For those who are desperate to experience parenthood, an alternative may soon be available. For a small monthly fee you can create a virtual child accessible through the metaverse using a VR headset. Prior to the launch of this program, a reality show has been launched where ten families will raise a virtual child from birth to the age of eighteen over a nine month period. The winner will be offered the choice to keep their virtual child or delete them and use the prize money towards having a real child…what could possibly go wrong?

The Family Experiment is a thrilling new novel set in the same universe as The One, The Marriage Act, and The Passengers. If you haven’t read these yet, you might not understand all of the references made but it probably isn’t a necessity to enjoy this novel. A reality show is created to help launch the release of virtual children in which contestants compete for the grand prize. Society is able to weigh in on the contestants parenting skills as well as voting for monthly challenges like giving the child an illness. The contestants are not at all who they initially appear to be and as the story unfolds we see their darkest secrets brought to life. What could go wrong with this little social experiment…well pretty much everything including murder. A dark and twisted but unputdownable read that I highly recommend.

If you have previously enjoyed Marrs’ novels and enjoy dystopian, virtual realities with lots of twists, I think you’ll like this. The One is still my favorite, but The Family Experiment is set in the same universe, which I think is so cool!

The Family Experiment
by John Marrs
Pub Date: July 9, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

From the acclaimed author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and brilliant speculative thriller about families: real and virtual. This was the first Marrs book for me and I was excited to read it.
In The Family Experiment, the economy is in crisis, the world's population is soaring and for those couples who would like to start a family its virtually impossible! But fear not because there is an alternative! A reality tv show where you can create a virtual child from scratch and access via the metaverse and a VR headset has been created and we have 10 couples who are participating. They raise the metaverse child from birth to eighteen years in a 9-month period with a too good to be true prize for the winning couple

WHAT I LIKED
➽ Short chapters
➽ Evenly paced
➽ The plot was brilliant and felt almost too real!
➽ The characters and their backstories
➽ The Drama
➽ Every chapter ends on a cliffhanger
➽ The mixed media was brilliant
➽ Highly entertaining but thought provoking too
➽ The twist, turns and reveals

WHAT I DIDNT LIKE
➽ There is a LOT of characters!
➽ some minor plot holes

I really enjoy Marrs' books--- I like this universe, but it is becoming a bit repetitive! I love the glimpses of the world building we get, and I can only hope we get more.

This is the first book I've read by John Marrs, and it didn't disappoint. I'm excited to read more of his books.

The family experiment is set in the UK. It follows a new reality tv show where five couples and one single contestant will compete to raise their very own AI child they've created. The AI children go through stages birth-18 years in a 9 month period. The parents all have one thing in common, they don't have any children of their own. The winner of the tv show will get to choose to keep the money and use it to start their own family or keep their AI child. The public will get to watch them 24/7 and vote on their favorite.
The book has multiple POVs told by the parents. The characters were all interesting, and they all had things they didn't want the viewers to find out.

The book was so good. It got me thinking of AI, and the future . Will this be a thing since AIs kinda big right now. Oh, and it also gave me black mirror creepy vibez ! lol

Fucking wild, and what an ending! I loved every second of this. Not as action packed as I’m used to but man was I hooked from the beginning. The entire concept is intriguing and really not that far fetched. Really makes you think.

I don't generally read sci-fi but the outstanding reviews and unique story caught my eye and I was NOT disappointed. John Marrs wrote a page turner in this one and even with a large cast of characters, I found myself deeply involved in each storyline and struggling to put it down.

The "family experiment" is a reality game show in which couples compete in the Metaverse to raise an AI child at an accelerated rate as the world watches. One "lucky" couple will win the opportunity to either keep their child or a cash prize. Marrs uses this to explore so many ethical questions that aren't so far away from our own future and constructs a wonderfully twisty and surprising story along the way!

I will definitely be checking out more of John Marrs's books in the future and recommending this to others!

Thank you to Netgalley, John Marrs and Hanover Square Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

"The Family Experiment" was quite a wild ride. Initially, I had a little trouble keeping up with the cast of characters in this novel about AI and its impact on future generations. Once I settled in, it was much easier to follow along (and a couple of characters were eliminated). The premise is a reality show where hopeful families can win money by raising an AI-generated avatar child from the age of birth to 18 years in a short 9-month period. As these families travel quickly through adolescence, the audience can give feedback, espressing their delight or displeasure with the way the children are being raised by awarding red hearts or black ones. At the end of the growing period, the winning family is chosen by the audience, who then must make a difficult choice to either keep their avatar child, or terminate him/her and use the money to begin IVF, etc. to create a human child. There are many twists and turns in this story, and it kept me on my toes. The premise is a little unnerving as well. AI is already infiltrating our everyday lives, so is it actually far-fetched to think one day we might have virtual children in the Metaverse? We could have the experience of having children, without all the responsibility. If you get tired of them, you can terminate. If they do something horribly wrong? Bye-bye baby. With his latest sci-fi novel, "The Family Experiment", Marrs delivers a thrilling story and an astute social commentary.

This is the second book I've read by John Marrs, and I was uncertain about what to expect when I picked it up. However, I was hooked from the very beginning. The story felt like a plausible glimpse into the future of AI, exploring a world where wearing a VR headset and suit immerses you fully in the metaverse. I devoured this book in just a few days because I couldn't put it down. I was eager to learn more about each couple or individual on the reality show. Will they be able to parent their metaverse child? Who will win the grand prize? The intricate connections between the characters surprised me. I loved the back-and-forth narrative, delving into each character's past and seeing how it influenced their interactions with their meta child. This book is full of twists and turns, making it impossible to stop reading until the very end. I look forward to exploring more of John Marrs' work.

I was SUPER excited to get my hands on this upcoming release! This was the first book I’ve read of The Universe novels and I was impressed! Very different from Marrs’ standalone thrillers but just as engaging and addictive. I really enjoyed the writing style of the different couples and the chapters of news articles and online chats. In true John Marrs fashion, there were some twisty moments that had my jaw on the floor. The last chapter was NOT what I expected at all and I loved every second of it! I look forward to reading the other books from The Universe.

Thank you to Netgalley, John Marrs and Hanover Square Press for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I just love John and the way he incorporated his other worldly sets into this. So fun. I loved this so much it’s wild how he does this

Once again John Marrs does it again. Dark and twisty. This book will have you on the edge of your seat and leave you guessing (or questioning) until the very end.

Although this book is out in the UK, I’m in the US so not available yet, however, I was so lucky and excited to receive my first ARC of John Marrs’.
Overall, I loved it, but it was a bit different than previous books I’ve read by the author.
As with typical John Marrs, there were lots of characters and in the beginning it was a bit of an effort to keep up. I probably would have bought this as an audiobook with so many characters, as that helps me to not get lost, but I kept at it and fell in love with the story.
The book was so well written, lots of character development, and no idea where the story was going for the first half of the book.
When the twist’s and reveals started happening, they never stopped until the end. I found this book a bit different from others of his in that I did not throw my kindle or cuss. There were a few tender moments, but just overall, a great book.
I do not want to give any spoilers away, but I will say that it was nice reading a John Marrs book where I felt happy at the end.

This was equally parts sad thrilling and chilling! So beautifully written and well thought out! Thank you Harper Collins and Net Galley for the ARC! I’m obsessed with strange world John has created from the driverless cars to the smart marriages to this! This was brilliant and I want more of it!

OK, John Mars author makes you think creepy vibes love his work. The experiment was gripping Paige. Turning kept me engaged as the story played out with the experiment and the process to the outcome with jaw-dropping moments with some twists just a really great trailer enjoyed it.

John Marrs did it again! This book was absolutely fantastic. This author is brilliant with his twist and turns and just when you think you’ve figured it out, you’re wrong. He has a gift! 5/5 stars!

The premise of this book initially intrigued me, a social experiment with the use of virtual reality to create a family and a reality show competitive. Unfortunately, the premise of the story was better than the actual story. We are introduced to 5 couples and 1 single dad contestant and their reasons for wanting to enter the competition. From there secrets unravel for each contestant making this a story within 5-6 storylines which to be honest confused me.

In my opinion none of the characters were very likable. The sub story lines in the book were very unbelievable, and I found this book hard to read. The author also waits until the end to introduce two characters which would have helped the storyline had they been introduced earlier.

This book was provided to me from NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for my opinion.