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A review by paulabrandon
The Perfect Wife by JP Delaney
5.0
Looking at the title and reading the synopsis, you might think this was the typical domestic noir tale involving a total ninny marrying a man she barely knows and then being shocked when she doesn't know much about him. This thriller turns that trope on its head by having protagonist Abbie be what's called a "cobot", an artificial intelligence being created by tech billionaire Tim Scott to replace his missing/presumed dead wife. She has been uploaded with all of Abbie's memories through online data. As her AI continually updates, she begins to wonder what sort of relationship Tim and the original Abbie really had.
I really can't say much about this without spoiling things. But I can say it's the best thriller I've read so far this year. If you can past the slight sci-fi element of Abbie being an AI robot, and the use of the second person narrative, this is an intriguing, suspenseful, surprising read. I really had no idea where it was headed, and was constantly surprised throughout the story. While no doubt this is a mainstream thriller, it does highlight a number of topics that are highly relevant in today's world, such as uneven gender dynamics in workplaces, how we define ourselves in today's society, what makes us "us", and the uncertainty of the future in the face of rapidly developing artificial intelligence that can potentially replace so many jobs and tasks that we take for granted.
The Perfect Wife was a slick, intelligent, emotional thriller that delivered a traditional domestic noir story with a speculative fiction bent, upending all the expected tropes that come with this subgenre, and it really knocked my socks off. I'll be recommending it to as may people as possible. Read it!
I really can't say much about this without spoiling things. But I can say it's the best thriller I've read so far this year. If you can past the slight sci-fi element of Abbie being an AI robot, and the use of the second person narrative, this is an intriguing, suspenseful, surprising read. I really had no idea where it was headed, and was constantly surprised throughout the story. While no doubt this is a mainstream thriller, it does highlight a number of topics that are highly relevant in today's world, such as uneven gender dynamics in workplaces, how we define ourselves in today's society, what makes us "us", and the uncertainty of the future in the face of rapidly developing artificial intelligence that can potentially replace so many jobs and tasks that we take for granted.
The Perfect Wife was a slick, intelligent, emotional thriller that delivered a traditional domestic noir story with a speculative fiction bent, upending all the expected tropes that come with this subgenre, and it really knocked my socks off. I'll be recommending it to as may people as possible. Read it!