Review: THE PERFECT WIFE by J. P. Delaney
The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney Also by this author: The Girl Before, Believe Me
Published by Ballantine Books on August 6, 2019
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 432
Source: Netgalley
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FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
THE PERFECT WIFE Review
J. P. Delaney has become one of my go-to authors when I’m in the mood for a suspenseful psychological thriller with a unique storyline. I really enjoyed his previous novels The Girl Before and Believe Me for this reason and he’s done it again with his latest effort, The Perfect Wife.
The Perfect Wife follows Abbie, who as the story opens, wakes up not knowing who she is or where she is. Tim, the man who is with her when she wakes up, says that he is her husband and begins to fill in some of the gaps in her memory, telling her that she is an artist and a mother. What he tells her next is rather unsettling. Tim, a giant in the Silicon Valley tech industry, informs Abbie that she was in a horrific accident five years ago that took her from him. Through the magic of a technological breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence, he has managed to bring her back from the dead. The Abbie we are following in the story is actually an AI robot that is basically a clone of Tim’s real wife.
The technology is such that even many of Abbie’s memories were able to be uploaded into the AI unit. What starts to happen, however, is that the more AI Abbie pieces together about the real life relationship between her alter ego and Tim, the more she questions what Tim’s motives really are and his version of the accident that took Abbie from him. Is he really just a sad guy who misses his wife and wants to preserve her memory (in a slightly creepy way) or is there more to it?
I really enjoyed the many twists and turns of the story as AI Abbie gets closer and closer to unraveling the mystery of what happened to the real Abbie and what Tim’s role in it was. There’s plenty of suspense and I just loved the sci fi twist, especially having the story told from the perspective of the AI so that we can see her piecing together all of the key details needed to solve the mystery. The AI tech speak was interesting too, even if I didn’t necessarily understand all of it or wholly buy into the idea of being able to upload memories into an AI unit. It was still fascinating to even consider the possibility. I also liked the exploration of the moral implications – would such a thing even be considered ethical since you’re basically artificially cloning a person without his or her consent?
I also liked that in addition to the science fiction angle and the mystery/psychological thriller angle, the story has even more layers that deal with marriage and family. The author does an especially nice job of realistically depicting all of the challenges that come with raising a child who is on the autism spectrum.
The only real downside for me with The Perfect Wife is that I didn’t really connect much with any of the characters. I felt like an outsider observing them in a clinical way. My preference is always for characters that I find relatable or that I feel something for, so in that sense, the read was a little off for me. Even so, it was still a very solid read for me.
If a psychological thriller with a sci fi twist and a wholly original plot sounds like something you would enjoy, J. P. Delaney’s The Perfect Wife should be on your must-read list.
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
The perfect life. The perfect love. The perfect lie. From the bestselling author of The Girl Before comes a gripping new psychological thriller. . . .
Abbie awakens in a daze with no memory of who she is or how she landed in this unsettling condition. The man by her side claims to be her husband. He’s a titan of the tech world, the founder of one of Silicon Valley’s most innovative start-ups. He tells Abbie that she is a gifted artist, an avid surfer, a loving mother to their young son, and the perfect wife. He says she had a terrible accident five years ago and that, through a huge technological breakthrough, she has been brought back from the abyss.
She is a miracle of science.
But as Abbie pieces together memories of her marriage, she begins questioning her husband’s motives–and his version of events. Can she trust him when he says he wants them to be together forever? And what really happened to Abbie half a decade ago?
Beware the man who calls you . . .
Discussion: LIKABLE MAIN CHARACTERS, YES OR NO?
LIKABLE MAIN CHARACTERS – YES OR NO?
Every once in a while I get into random conversations with my coworkers about books. Not many of them are readers so it doesn’t happen often, but I always embrace those rare moments when it does happen.
This week’s topic of conversation was about whether or not we need likable main characters in the books we read, the movies we watch, etc. so I decided to use it as a jumping off point for a long overdue discussion post on the blog.
For me, the short answer to this question is no, but I guess it’s really a little more complicated than that. Of course I love to read books where I fall in love with the main character. I’m a huge fan of lovable scrappy underdogs and socially awkward characters that I just want to hug, which tends to be why I’m drawn to YA contemporaries like Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.
That said, however, I don’t need characters like that in books to enjoy them. I also love characters that are messy and flawed and oftentimes not so lovable. The more realistic characters are, the more I tend to enjoy them, especially if they remind me of people I know in real life. It makes them relatable for me and makes a book all the more compelling. Those family dramas that I love so much, like Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, fall into this category.
I also love books that feature well written villains. Whether it’s a retelling, origin story, or just a story that has a morally gray character, again it’s all about whether that character can capture my attention. I especially love a story where a villain is complex so that I can kind of see where he or she is coming from. I may not necessarily cheer them on, but I at least have some understanding of why they’re doing what they’re doing and that’s enough to keep me invested in a story. Heartless by Marissa Meyer comes to mind. It’s a Queen of Hearts/Alice in Wonderland retelling and I just loved the way Meyer portrayed the evil queen.
The characters that I actually tend to fare the worst with are characters that I just feel nothing for. I don’t feel invested at all in anything that they’re going through and instead, feel like I’m just an outsider looking in. I don’t know if it’s the writing style or genre, but I tend to encounter this issue more with thrillers than with any other genre. The Escape Room, which I recently reviewed, immediately comes to mind. As in the case of that book, I can still enjoy the book when the plot is well written and suspenseful, but looking back through my thriller reviews, it’s that indifference to the main character that will make me knock a star or two off a book.
Bottom line: I need to feel something for the main characters, whether it’s like, dislike, or somewhere in between. The kiss of death for me is definitely characters I don’t care about at all.
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So, what about you? Do you need the main characters you read about to be wholly likable?
Top Ten Tuesday – My Top Ten Favorite Cover Makeovers
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Cover Redesigns I Loved/Hated. Honestly, until I started blogging, with very rare exception, I never noticed how many different covers the same book can have. I knew there were occasionally special anniversary editions, etc. but that was about it. Blogging has been very eye-opening when it comes to book covers, among other things.
Now that I do pay more attention to the different covers out there, I do have some favorites and some where I prefer the earlier version over the newer one.
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My Top Ten Favorite (and Not So Favorite) Cover Makeovers
1. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
The one on the left is the older of the two covers, and I’m not a fan. Celaena just looks too doll-like. I much prefer the fiercer looking cover on the right.
2. Vicious by V.E. Schwab
I’m actually torn on this one because I really like them both. The one on the left is the one I own so I feel very nostalgic towards it and I love how atmospheric it is. That said I also love the vivid red, black, and white on the newer cover, not to mention the skulls and bones all over it. Both of these are winners for me.
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
This is another set of covers I’m torn on. The one on the left is the one I own and I believe the first cover that was issued in the U.S. It’s a great cover and of course there’s that nostalgia factor again. On the other hand though, look how truly gorgeous that cover on the right is. It’s stunning and I honestly think I prefer it to the original.
4. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
This series has actually had me conflicted about its covers as well, both because they changed and because I don’t think any of the versions matched each other well. In the case of the first book though, I think the original on the left is my favorite I do love the blue on each one, but I like the pop of the yellow on the original and I prefer the way the moths look versus the giant one on the other cover.
5. The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk
Although I really did love the one on the left, which is the original cover,
I do feel like the second one does a better job of conveying what the story is about and what age group it’s geared toward so thumb’s up to the newer cover design.
6. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
There’s a lot to love about both of these covers. Overall though, I think I prefer the newer cover on the right. I love the colors on that version and on the other two books in the series.
They’re vibrant and eye catching.
7. What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera
I actually love both versions of this cover too. They’re both just adorable. I do like that the newer cover references their meet cute at the post office though so maybe give a slight edge to that cover.
8. Seafire by Natalie C. Parker
This is another where I really love both covers. I love all of the vibrant colors in the original on the left, but how badass does the one on the right look? If I hadn’t already purchased the one on the left, I’d totally prefer to own the one on the right.
9. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
This is one of my favorite books and if I had it my way, I would own all three versions of the cover. The one on the left is my favorite because I love the atmospheric quality – the glow from the cottage, the snow the night sky, etc. The second one is also gorgeous though and I always find myself staring at it because of all of the amazing details. The third cover is probably my least favorite. It’s still pretty of course but just doesn’t have the special qualities that the first two have.
10. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
I’m sure there are many more versions of this cover out there, but these are the three I see most often. My least favorite of this bunch is the one in the middle. Something about it – the rectangle in the middle, I think – just makes it looks like some dated required reading book for high school. I think if the picture in the rectangle just took up the entire cover, it would be much improved. I think in this case I actually prefer the original on the left with the direwolf on it. The one on the right is nice too but it just screams generic fantasy novel to me, not to mention the ugly HBO advertisement at the top of it.
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So there you have it, some of my favorite cover make overs. What are some of your favorites?