Abbie awakes in a hospital with no idea of who she really is or what happened to her. The man who says he is her husband begins to fill in the gaps in her memory. An accident five years ago took her from him. Now stop here if you plan to read the book.....
"She is a miracle of science." In fact she is an AI. Yes, an artificial intelligence one of a kind. Husband Tim runs a high tech company that has the capability to pull off this one of a kind..Project? Miracle?
And this reveal is where I stopped and thought do I really want to read this? I'm not much of a sci-fi reader. But I wanted to see where and how Delaney would inject his suspense and twists, so I kept reading.
Alternating timelines give the reader a look into the 'before' of this marriage. And it is unsettling. However, both the narrator and perspective alternates between second and third person and found this a bit confusing.
So yes, we learn that the marriage and family (they have a son) had/has issues. How is a co-bot (companion robot) going to cope with real life issues? I got more caught up in the story as AI Abbie becomes more sentient. But pragmatic me had a hard time buying into the premise (which is why I don't read a lot of sci-fi). I found the characters (including the human ones) fell all a bit flat for me. The exception to that is their son Danny who has autism. I thought the depiction of both boy and autism to be written really well. It was only on finishing the book, that I learned Delaney has a son with autism.
Delaney is a British author. I found The Perfect Wife reminded me of a British television show called Humans which imagines a world with sentient AI's.
The Perfect Wife was an interesting combo of domestic noir and sci-fi. I can't say I loved it, but I am glad I kept reading. And I will pick up Delaney's next book. Here's an excerpt of The Perfect Wife. And check out what others thought on Goodreads.
4 comments:
With that AI element, I'm not sure this is for me.
Excellent review Luanne. It does have an interesting premise but I m not much of a sci-fi reader either, so this won’t make it onto my nightstand pile.
Hope your next book is 5 stars!!
Bermudaonion and Icewineanne - I picked up the book on the author's name, but hadn't read the premise. Definitely different - domestic noir with a side of sci-fi.
I doubt it would work for me though interesting premise.
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