The Perfect Wife: A Novel

This is the story of a man motivated by his own personal tragedy to create a new kind of companion.Tim & his friend Mike co-founded Scott Robotics, a company that makes cobots. Cobots are robots that may alleviate the loss of a loved one by providing emotional support. They have been specifically designed to provide empathy. They're programmed to take on the personality of a deceased loved one. They're customized to closely replicate the physical appearance of a loved one. Using advanced technology, they're able to build a very approximate replica of a dead human being.After Tim lost his wife Abbie, he created a cobot of her for companionship. It was the terrible grief & loneliness that drove him to create her. He won't talk about the circumstances of her death. The closest he comes is a brief reference to a surfing accident.Four years ago, Tim was put on trial for the murder of his wife, Abigail. The defense requested the case be dismissed. The judge agreed. The case against him was paper-thin. The prosecution had no body, no CCTV, no forensic evidence. He was completely exonerated.Tim & his wife have a son, Danny who is profoundly autistic. Tim insisted he be put in a special-ed school & he bullied her to go along with it. It was only after Danny started there, she realized just how bad it was. She put her foot down. Tim just carried on as if it were a done deal. This caused problems in their marriage.She started looking for alternative treatments. He put her on dating sites. Or, at least, a chatbot version of her. He made the chatbot tell those men all the degrading things she'd do for them. He thought it was hilarious.He wouldn't let her divorce him. She wanted to leave, to take Danny away from that horrible school & start over somewhere different. A whole new existence, off-grid & anonymous. She didn't want anything from the marriage; only Danny. But, Tim would never let her walk away. Abbie hated that Danny's education would become an issue for the court to decide. By planning to fake her death, she actually helped plan her own murder.

I was really glued to this book. It was well written even though at first I was not sure about it. It seemed,in the beginning, not to b e the type of book I would read. I stuck with it and it was good until the end when it got a lutt!e too confusing g for me. I think I got the idea of the ending, but I'm not 100% sure on that. However, I would recommend

4 1/2 stars.Wow! That ending! I can't even, just Wow!I really do not want to say too much about this book because I don't want to spoil anything. And going in not knowing is the best way to go.This is my 3rd book by J.P. Delaney and they have gotten better with each book I have read. I liked The Girl Before. Believe me was great. And this one was just Wow!Abbie wakes up in a hospital and does not know who she is. The man that is there says he is her husband Tim ( he is a tech genius) explains that 5 years ago she suffered an accident and he has been working on a way to bring her back. Which he is finally able to do in the form of an AI (with Abbie's memories). He tells Abbie that she is an artist that loved to surf and mother to their son Danny, who is autistic.As more of her memories are downloaded, Abbie starts to doubt what Tim is telling her. What really happened to the real Abbie 5 years ago?And that is all I can say about this book without spoiling anything.I was hooked from page one. This book was filled with twists and turns that I never saw coming. I thought I had things figured out but was way wrong. The only real issue I had with it was I was a bit confused at the end. Had to reread a few chapters and I am still a bit confused LOL But what an ending it was!

The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney had a really unusual and interesting premise. In a day and age quite overrun with thrillers (I’m not complaining) it’s a challenge to come up with something new and unique, and Delaney did it here. It’s a sci-fi mixed with domestic thriller and it carries a heavy dose of creep factor. The scientific-tech aspects of it were quite fascinating and thought-provoking, if also definitively unnerving.I will admit that I was somewhat confused at first, by the dual perspectives in the book. They are merely labeled numerically or by word-number which was rather confusing and didn’t help to identify whose actual perspective each chapter was from, though eventually I caught on. Perhaps that was the intended effect.The plot, and its concepts, when you stop to ponder it, is disturbing and slightly horrifying, but also immensely intriguing. The whole idea of artificial intelligence embraces the notion of man playing god, while being a natural extension of the pursuit of what’s next in technology.The ending was chilling, moving, and a stunner. I understand that some found it far-fetched, but really the whole story is meant to be slightly out there, as are all futuristic concepts, so to me, that’s what made it entertaining and a one-of-a-kind thriller.

This book is badged and, unfortunately, marketed, as a thriller, but that's not quite right. This is a thrilling book about humanity, set in the context of a near-future in which AI has advanced to the point where a robot, the protagonist, is fully sentient, autonomous and able to express emotion - and has been designed to do so to replace a person - the creator's wife - who has been missing for five years. This situation, in which the robot (or "cobot") is trying to find her/its place, is contrasted with a child - her child? - who has a severe form of autism and is only able to communicate in certain ways.The premise is immediately gripping, but the story develops slowly and carefully. Initially it may seem like a sci-fi tech thriller, or even a near-future psychological suspense novel. The things that might lead one to those conclusions are, in effect, the backdrop to a much more engaging story.The author has personal experience with severe autism and trust me, as someone who also has some experience in this area, it is evident in the writing that the author is intensely familiar with the challenges - and the love and, at times, desperation - that come with caring for an autistic child. Yet at the core of this book is the question of what we see as humanity. “But of course Danny isn’t any less human just because he doesn’t have those things. He’s just differently human: someone with an unusual ratio of rigidity to empathy.” “Perhaps the real test of someone’s humanity, you think, is how tenderly they treat those like Danny. Whether they blindly try to fix them and make them more like everyone else, or whether they can accept their differentness and adapt the world to it.”This is a remarkable book. Sadly, I fear it is being poorly marketed and represented.

I've read both 'the girl before' and 'believe me' and loved them. They both had an edge and had so many twists and turns.However I just couldn't get into this book, there was to much description and even though it was a Sci Fi story it just didn't seem at all plausible.

*MILD SPOILERS* 2/10 • First of all, the idea that cogent memories can be reproduced from a person's “social media records, texts, and other documents”, and that the resulting memories can then be used to recreate that individual’s personality, is patently absurd. Admittedly Delany notes in his acknowledgments that he deliberately avoided getting too technical about the creation of an AI but for this reader his approach was unsatisfactory to say the least. And then there’s the use of the second person. What can I say? – it bugs the hell out of me. I’ve never read an example that didn’t come across as artifice, and hence destroy the effect the author was trying to create. And then there’s the skimpy plot, which never convinces, and the characters, who are, for the most part, contemptible. And finally, for a thriller this book isn’t thrilling at all. I’m no aficionado of the genre, as I read very few, but frankly much of this novel is dull. The author even includes a couple of recipes, which I really could do without. Now I know some highly esteemed authors have done the same thing but no, seriously – stop it. I wanted to like this book, because the premise intrigued me, but the fact is I was deeply disappointed. Oh, and as for the ending – I don’t even want to get started about that …

Loved the idea of a first person AI narrator. Not entirely new of course to explore humanity by using non human creations - Gene Roddenberry taught us that many years ago as did many other sci fi writers and indeed literature has investigated the nature of 'man' using comparisons with non humans since literature and drama existed.The premise of using a non humna narrator is not disputed and for a while I enjoyed the narrative and wondering 'is she? isn't she?' ( dead). The input on autism coming from the authors own experience was also very interesting and gave several insights into undertanding some of the experiences of a neuro diverse person. What let this novel down for me was quite simply the plot and the ending. It felt like a rushed denouement stuck on at the end as if a deadline was due rather than a thoughtful way of resolving this nerrative. Yes it does comply with a cynical view of nothing really changing and the 'heroine', as always, being expendable and replaceable but that again was already done in Stepford Wives in two different ways depending on which one you watch. I'm not sure how 'Abbie' took that story much further? In short, loved the idea but not so much the execution .

I completed this book in 24 hours. I was absolutely captivated. I have read all of J.P. Delaney’s other books and was excited to get into reading this one. I was so hyped to get to the end and find out what happened... only to be let down big time. Never been into Science fiction but this book I thought was really interesting and I actually really enjoyed the characters...right up until the last few chapters.What was that ending? I had to re read it about 15 times and I was still confused. Seemed incredibly rushed compared to the rest of the book. It actually seemed like I had started reading a completely different novel. If the author had continued this book and took a slightly different approach with the ending I would have given this book 5 stars but the ending really ruined the book for me. Confusing, rushed and just a bit boring would describe the ending perfectly. The book builds up to this one moment at the end and makes the reader excited and then just lets you down. It’s such a shame.All in all I would say to give the book a go if you like psychological thrillers/science fiction books. But don’t be surprised when you get the end and feel slightly underwhelmed.