Book Review: The Perfect Wife

Title: The Perfect Wife

Author: JP Delaney

• Publisher: Ballantine Books (August 6, 2019)
• Publication Date: August 6, 2019

Rating: 5 out of 5

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This is the third book by JP Delaney that I have read and it is another winner. Another psychological thriller, this time focused on technology. Here Abbie awakens to find herself in a hospital-like environment with her husband, Tim, beside yet unaware of why she is there. As things start to gel, it becomes clear she is a cobot — a companion robot. Tim, entrepreneur founder of a Robotics company in Silicon Valley, has created her to simulate his missing wife. He imbues her with human Abbie’s memories and little by little, cobot Abbie starts to become more “human” in her thinking and behavior. 

The plot is fascinating and intriguing but the writing is a little confusing. Delaney changes between present and past, and from point of view. The present comes from cobot-Abbie, but the past comes from an unnamed third person. These changes are in some places quite harsh, in some place very good.

The mystery is what happened to Abbie that caused her to disappear. Was Abbie the perfect wife? Is the new Abbie a perfect companion? Why did Tim create her? Who is deceiving who? The story kept me hooked and had sufficient twists that when I thought I had figured out the climax I was again surprised. I would highly recommend this book as well as the other two books by this author.

I received this book as a free pre-publication galley version in return for an honest review.