The Family Experiment by John Marrs took me on a virtual reality trip where families could "adopt" a virtual reality AI child and parent them from birth to an accelerated 18. Not only can you have the parenthood experience, if you win, you can keep your virtual reality child for life or win a butt load of money instead!

How do you win? Well, by being the best parent you can, oh, and by wooing the subscribers/voters throughout your parenthood journey! Subscribers can join you on your virtual parenthood journey whenever you engage with your AI child. There is no privacy on this journey. Every action taken or better yet, not taken, is a judgement deemed.

Several UK couples join the Family Experiment for their chance to have a virtual child and win money. Every single participant has a secret. Secrets that could destroy lives. What is everyone hiding and will their secrets be revealed? Who will win The Family Experiment and what prize will they choose?

Backstory: raising children in this futuristic time, has been a financial burden that some parents are unable to meet, therefore, child trafficking/selling is rampant in recent years. Promised to give their child a brighter, better future, families have been selling their offspring to have them shipped oversees into a better life.

My thoughts:
Exciting, thrilling and page-turning! This book had me HOOKED and engaged! I was so SHOCKED throughout the whole story! You can nver go wrong with a John Marrs read!

Thank you to the publisher for giving me the chance to read an early digital copy of this book. I have heard a lot of positive buzz about John Marrs, so I figured what better book to start with than his newest one. This is the first book that I have read by John Marrs, but it definitely won't be my last. I can definitely say that this book was a wild ride from start to finish. After reading this book, I am very excited to go back and read his other books. I went into this one blind and I didn't really know what to expect, but it definitely exceeded my expectations.

This story is set in the future where it is possible to have a child in the Metaverse, a place where you can interact and feel things as if you were in the real world. Each of the families in the competition have their POV. I enjoyed the plot and many of the ideas being in a metaverse. This is one of three books the author set in this world and I can’t wait to read the others!

John Marrs knows how to write a speculative thriller and he killed it again with this book. I’m amazed by his ability to capture emerging tech concepts and fold them into his stories in a way that makes you say “ what if”. This story had all the twists and turns and kept me gripped till the very end! If you are looking for a well developed storyline with a complex cast of characters, look no further. This gave me all the Black Mirror vibes.

Contestants compete to prove who is the best suited parent(s) to an AI child. The winner is chosen by an audience that are able to stream 24/7 while the contestant experience parenting an AI child that has various development leaps and ages at an advanced rate from newborn to adult — all in less than a year. Each parent or couple has secrets that they would rather keep hidden. This futuristic story involving AI keeps you reading with the never-ending cliffhangers that end each chapter as you jump into the point of view of the next couple.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! Thankyou Netgalley for my kindle copy! I immediately purchased the hard cover once i started reading, I could tell early on that it was going to be a favourite of mine. I am excited to read more of his books, especially the ones that exist in the Metaverse. Short chapters are my favourite and he ends almost every chapter on a minor cliffhanger or a reveal. There was one twist towards the end that made me audibly gasp. SO GOOD! This is by far my favourite read of 2024! BRB going to buy more John Marrs books!

John Marrs can do no wrong in my eyes — 100% love everything he writes. Auto-buy author! I appreciate the author and publisher for this gifted copy! Definitely will be telling all my book friends about this one!

Man, John Marrs just does not miss. If you love sci-fi/speculative thrillers like I do, add this to your TBR now.

Similar to Harlan Coben, John Marrs has such a talent for introducing seemingly disparate characters and then making your jaw drop to the floor when you start piecing together how they might all be connected to one another.

I was waking up early and staying up late for this one. I was on the edge of my seat and just couldn’t wait to see how it’d end, especially once the action really picked up.

The Family Experiment explored the idea of virtual family planning by allowing families to raise an AI child via VR headset. To make matters more intense and to gain public and media traction on this new virtual parenting opportunity, the launch is made via a reality show in which 10 couples will attempt to raise their child over a condensed time period for the chance to win a cash prize or keep their virtual child.
This book was very entertaining and I enjoyed reading it until a certain point. I am of the opinion that this book could have ended earlier than it did and with a stronger cut off if the author hadn't decided to move past this and proceed to explain each POV rather than just let the suspense settle and leave the readers’ imaginations to run their course. I think with better editing this book could have been revised to have a more jaw-dropping conclusion.

Unfortunately this one was just not for me. It started off ok and toward the middle of the book I just was not into it anymore. I have loved all of the other John Marrs books I have read, but this one just didn't keep me going like the others.

I feel like John Marrs knows something we don’t about the future. This book was insane! They way we follow the characters and their diffrent yet similar lifestyles with Artificial intelligence is something that gets you thinking that this could be our “regular” in a near future! I mean we’ve seen movies read books, about what happens when you mess with AI. Marrs gives us an incredible storyline and he makes sure we know to what lengths some humans will go to have a “family”. It also makes you question who and what you confident family. Really makes you think is blood really thicker than water?

I didn't find Marr's writing as strong in this novel as I did in The One. I think it might have to do with the story being a bit more drawn out than I would have liked. That said, The Family Experiment is an interesting story that tackles some what ifs that don't seem so far fetched. This novel is great for fans of Black Mirror. I'll be coming back to Marrs' work again in the future.

I am obsessed! John Marrs has yet to disappoint me, and this book was no exception!
A new game show it's beginning. A handful of people are selected to participate in raising a virtual reality child. Whoever wins, can choose to keep the child or receive money to begin their journey to starting a family.
This book was interesting to see from all the multiple points of view. Each family has theories l their own reason for wanting a part of the action... but they all have their secrets too.
This book calories my attention, made me hate or love the characters, and introduced a concept I have not read which was half the fun!

Everything this author writes is amazing. The twists the turns, the depth, so so so good. I loved this one so much. I could not put this book down. Highly recommend.

I just love John Marrs, and this book didnt disappoint. It's written in different POV's which I'm a big fan of. I also love a good reality TV angle so this book just checked all the boxes!

This was my first book by John Marrs and I loved it! The concept of this book is amazing and kept me interested the entire time. I loved that the POVs kept going back and forth between the couples and additionally information from The Family Experiment show host. I was not expecting the ending and have been talking about this book for the past five days because it is THAT good!

Where do I even start?!?!!? I'm not sure how to even characterize this book. Dystopian? Thriller? Mystery? Fantasy? Suspense? I don't know but wow this blew my mind. Marrs is such a creative writer. This story was unique, futuristic, yet so relatable to today. It's actually quite scary how relatable it is. Could this actually happen in our future? I wouldn't be surprised if it did. I will say, the beginning was a bit difficult to get my bearings because of all the different characters introduced but I eventually latched on and it wasn't that bad. Some people DNF-ed early on for this reason and I would urge you to stick with it. I highly recommend this book! Must. Read. All. Marrs. Books....

I would like to thank NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

I am a big John Marrs fan. His latest dark, twisty thriller, The Family Experiment, is set in the same universe as his other novels: The One & The Marriage Act.

The Family Experiment follows 10 couples as they create and raise a virtual child (90's kids, think Tamagotchi) from 0-18 in a span of 9 months. The prize is the right to keep their child, or risk it all for a real live baby. While the book is specultaive fiction, I still found the concept very unsettling. With the way our society and younger generations cling to and rely on technology, and a looming irreversible financial crisis, it is not hard to imagine a world where "virtual children" exist as an alternative to flesh and blood. It may be a good "training tool" to get an idea of what parenthood is like, but I find the idea of virtual children creepy.

One of the major characters is Hudson. He is participating in The Family Experiment as a single dad, but his story is largely told in the past twelve years earlier. I like the book in that the contestants all have interesting stories and roles that all tie together in different ways. Hudson’s chapters are the most compelling to me, but also the most disturbing. This book went to a lot of dark places (trafficking, pedophilia, abuse, etc.) not to mention the violations of privacy programs like this must commit to exist. Yikes.

The book was very dark & twisty and kept me guessing until the very last page. A bingeable read for sure., and A must-read for any thriller lover!

In true John Marrs fashion I was kept on the edge of my seat and was blown away by the twists and revelations! I adore his speculative thrillers and this one was another masterpiece! Thank you HTP for this arc! 🫶🏻

Thank You NetGalley for the ARC. John Marrs can do no wrong. A1 is actually making life better.... or is it? A marketing strategy in the form of a tv reality show to launch metaverse babies who are supposed to serve as a solution/comfort to people who want children. This book was fast paced and jaw dropping. I loved it.