I finally read John Marrs and I'm so happy I did. "The Marriage Act"'s been on my bookshelf for a while now and if this sounds similar, it's because it (along with "The Passengers") is set in the same universe.

An intriguing premise where people in the real world compete to raise a child in the Metaverse, it was loads of fun with short chapters and twists. In the beginning, I found it hard to keep track of all the characters but it's obvious who we need to watch out for.

The book is a perfect fast-paced thriller that's great to get you out of a slump and the topic of AI and its possible implications was thought-provoking.

I can't wait to read the other books from the author. Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan for the e-copy!

4.5/5

Thanks to. Netgalley and Pan McMillan for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At some.point in the future, people who can't have children are given the chance to be parents to avatar babies in the metaverse. They will compete in a reality show and whoever wins gets to either keep their avatar child or cash in on the price money. The other avatar children will be destroyed.

As usual the imagination of John Marrs produces a super interesting book. As a rule I do not read sci-fi or futuristic novels for any reason. The only exception is John Marrs. He manages to come up with these concepts that sadly aren't all that farfetched and the back stories of the people are always interesting. As expected this was another super interesting page turner.

As is often the case with books that I pick up, I didn't know much about this story beforehand. I knew it was dystopian and the title gave me an inkling, but it ended up being so much better than I had anticipated.

Stories such as this one (when done well) always leave me with a funny feeling and keep me thinking for a long time afterwards. It leaves me with so many "what ifs" and can sometimes become a little bit frightening. This book delivered on both of those things. I think that it was the perfect balance of fiction mixed with examples of the state of real life society that made the entire plot feel plausible and terrifying. Within my lifetime, streaming TV was a completely alien concept and look at us now!

There wasn't a single character that I liked however I found all of them compelling. There were secrets layered on secrets layered on secrets and even those who I thought were good, were either hiding something sinister or made a decision that I disagreed with. I did however empathise with some of the characters. Some of them had such a deep need and longing for a child that they allowed their judgement and morality to become clouded.

this was an extremely engaging and compelling book. Packed with twists and turns that were impossible to see coming, but when laid out made complete sense. The concept was clever and thought provoking albeit horrifying at times. A fantastic read that I couldn't put down and highly recommend.

John Marrs has done it again with his new book The Family Experiment. Set in the near future and in the same universe as The One, The Passengers and The Marriage Act. You don't have to read the previous novels to enjoy this one, but if you have there are some little easter eggs scattered throughout.

Contestants in a new reality show compete by raising an AI child in the metaverse. The show is live streamed and the audience can show their reactions by way of red hearts and black hearts. They can also vote on situations to put the parents in. Of course each of the contestants have dark secrets that they are trying to hide.

The scary thing about this book is it's not too far from the reality. You could feasibly see it happening in real life and that's utterly terrifying. I don't want to give too much of the plot away but I will say there are unexpected and shocking twists and it had me completely gripped right until the end. I also loved the social media inserts which were humourous and very realistic.

I would highly recommend this addictive thriller or indeed anything written by this author. Thanks to Pan Macmillian and Netgalley for the ARC.

Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! I am a huge fan of John Marrs but this book is easily the best. In the not too far off future, a television competition is being run to see which people would be best suited to becoming parents, by giving them virtual babies of their own to look after. But these babies exist in a virtual world which the would-be parents visit by donning a special suit whereby they enter a Metaverse where they are with their virtual baby. The most voted for set of people win the chance to keep their child or to have money towards treatment to have their own child, e.g. IVF. The child ages by several years ever so often, meaning they are 18 at the end of the competition, despite it only being a few months long. As we learn the back stories and dark secrets of each contestant, we get more and more drawn in.
The whole book was amazing, but the ending, and the next ending, and the next ending were just brilliant. I am already excited about John’s next book! I just wish I could give it more than 5 stars!

Another phenomenal banger from John Marrs. Continuing his series set in the not too distant future, The Family Experiment builds on the potential horror of the The One, with DNA matches; Passengers, with self driving cars; Minders, with official secrets stored in people's minds and the Marriage Act, where couples are rewarded for compliance with continual monitoring or punished with a supervisory house guest. This new novel brings us into the dark world of AI and the misery of human trafficking. A reality show tracks a diverse group of couples and a singleton who are given a fast developing AI child in a competition which if they win with the popular vote, they may just get to stop their child being deleted... Being classic John Marrs each couple is not exactly what they seem and have secrets to hide. Brilliant.

3.5*

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

This book was addictive, just as the two previous books by John Marrs I've read. I flew through this book in just a couple of sittings and it had an incredibly interesting concept. The story itself was brilliant and very well written, I just found that the ending didn't quite do it for me, and dragged on slightly.

The format was perfect to the story, with us getting to dip in between all of the contestants, with each chapter adding more to the mystery of each individual. I just loved that everybody had something that added to their story!

I'm excited to see what John Marrs comes up with next!

A new experiment has begun in the UK where people can start a virtual family, being launched via a reality show. It follows couples as they raise their metababies from birth to 18 years in a condensed 9 month period, all of which is being live streamed to the audience. There are monthly challenges, polls for favourite couple and even the chance for the audience to show the contestants if they approve or disapprove of their parenting skills through heart emojis.

This was SUCH an incredible read that felt like an episode of Black Mirror! A truly frightening peek into a world that doesn't seem too far away in the future
Very smartly written with twists and shocks throughout. Descriptive characters, some of which were unlikeable and others you were rooting for in true thriller style.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for an ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

Reality TV, avitars, artificial intelligence, greed, deception are all words that describe this book. Thought provoking and imaginative are words I would add. An enjoyable and very different book from any others I have read, well done to John Marrs for taking me on this journey. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

I sailed through this in a day! I do love something that’s a bit Black mirror /near future. This book centres around a reality show which sees contestants raise a child in the metaverse over the course of 9 months. With the help of haptic suits their child will feel as real to them as possible, and will grow to be an 18 year old. Over the course of the 9 months the audience are able to follow along and nominate parents for monthly challenges. It all goes awry when within a couple of weeks one of the fathers cracks under the pressure and shakes his virtual baby to death. At the end of the experiment/ series the winning couple/ parent will get the possibility of a cash pot and the option of retaining their virtual child. The loosing parents will see their “child” switched off.

This was a fast paced read that mixed social media commentary with the story line. It was great seeing what each of the couples were trying to hide and the escalation up to the denouement The scary thing is that this doesn’t feel so far removed from reality… Thanks to netgalley for an advanced copy of the book. I’ve already started recommending it!!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Seriously couldn't put this down, such a good book and thought provoking too. With the way technology moves these days you could easily see something like this happening in real life!

John Marrs is fast becoming one of my favourite authors.

3.5 🌟

This concept is definitely unique although there was some familiarity in the world itself which made it easy to step into. I did find it a little bit chaotic at first with soo many characters to keep track of; it almost made connecting to them a little difficult but at about half way it did feel a bit more focused

I really liked the exploration of AI from the perspective of the morals surrounding it, and it definitely does feel creepy as to what could come in the future. I think this really came through in the second half as more things unravelled and there were more existential elements for consideration that did genuinely get me thinking about my own views or lack there of.

I think intrigue was the main feeling I had during this one, I felt intrigued about the morality and the world however the set up meant it didn’t really go deeper than that. I very much felt like a spectator of the tv show as appose to really knowing any of the characters and that prevented me being as invested as I could be.

I thought the best part of the book was probably the middle, I found the start a little chaotic and the end portion almost trying to do too much. I wish the whole story had the steady consistency of the middle portion as by the end it was just trying to do a bit much to me.

Overall this was an eerie read however I just felt it a little bit too much of the same and would have loved a bit more depth to the characters to let me really connect

My review of The Family Experiment by John Marrs.
Set in the same futuristic dystopia as The One and Passengers (both are referenced), five couples have the chance to adopt a metaverse child. At the end of the Experiment they can keep the child, or it is deleted and they win money to start a family of their own.
One by one, the families are eliminated. They all have back stories, cleverly woven into the story. And at the end of the Experiment, once the winner is announced, we read about what happens in the aftermath.
An excellent read.

Within the confines of this book, I embarked on a journey into a world where reality and artificial intelligence intertwined in captivating ways. The narrative took precedence, leading me through a maze of suspense and intrigue.

As I delved deeper into the story, characters receded into the background, allowing the plot's intricacies to take center stage. Despite their flaws, they propelled the narrative forward, each twist and turn adding to the immersive experience.

The fusion of futuristic AI concepts with our own reality provoked contemplation, challenging my perceptions and inviting me to explore the nature of consciousness and existence in a thought-provoking manner.

While the climax may have diverged from conventional norms, its impact was profound. As the story drew to a close, I found myself reflecting on the author's ability to defy expectations and craft a conclusion that resonated deeply.

In this book, there were no fantastical adventures, but through its pages, I embarked on a compelling literary expedition that expanded my horizons and left me with a renewed appreciation for the power of storytelling to provoke thought and inspire imagination.

Wow, what a book! This is like nothing I’ve read before and is so clever and unique. It is set in the future where AI plays a huge role. It’s very well written, memorable and addictive.
It’s one of my favourite reads this year and is definitely worthy of 5 stars.

John Marrs is a genius. His latest book The Family Experiment is insanely addictive.
Imagine being desperate for a child and are given the opportunity to take part in an experiment where you can create your own virtual child.
Well in this book, this is exactly what they do!
An interactive reality show where couples create their own virtual child, programmed by AI. The prize is to keep your virtual child or win prize money to have one in the real world.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was very cleverly written, and you know that any book by John Marrs will be an absolute belter!
I was so hooked to this story and found myself racing through it. Pure brilliance.

Thank you to NetGalley, John Marrs and the publisher for an early copy of this fantastic book.

Wow. This is a rollercoaster of a read. Set in the same world as previous novels The Passengers, The One and The Marriage Act, author John Marrs has taken his readers to another level with this book introducing a game where “parents” compete in the virtual world to most successfully bring up an AI child.

The book follows the trials of each of the families as they struggle to compete in the game and win by becoming the most popular parents and ultimately be the ones who can choose to keep their “child” or win a cash prize. As we find out about the competitors, we see dark pasts emerge and they slowly become eliminated from the game, along with their AI progeny.

Absolutely fascinating to read and the level of detail that the author has given the reader is so absorbing I was hooked and could not wait to see how the AI children would progress and how the families would cope with the loss of their “child”, if eliminated. The stories and backgrounds of each in the real world made all of the competitors seem very real and the accompanying online chat room was full of individuals who felt they could praise or vilify based on their watching experiences.

As someone who has read and enjoyed all of this author’s previous books and apart from reading these and having no knowledge of AI this makes the possibility of it and the outcomes that it may bring scarily real. So well written and addictive I couldn’t put it down. The interwoven stories of the competitors and the final reveal is very powerful.

Highly recommend reading this for all who enjoy a thriller. Would suggest reading the other books set in this world prior to get a feel of the meta verse and the characters.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

John Marrs is back with his latest book in the AI universe, and what a book it is!!
My mind exploded reading this one! The way that the story is told from each of the parents point of view really gives them their own voice and individuality. It is a very clever book, full with tension that sometimes has your heart in your mouth. I felt my jaw dropping at some of the twists and turns. I felt I became very invested in one character in particular all the way to the end. Speaking of the end, well wasn’t that a fab way to finish it off! All rounded off very well!! The surprises just kept on coming.
What I found horrifying about this book was that nothing in this book was beyond the realms of possibility, which makes it more scary. It is a very thought provoking, and shows us that we should not step out into that big wide world blind.
What I love the most about Marrs’ books is that with every one he always brings something different to the table. I loved all the little Easter eggs that were thrown in from his other books. Clever, very clever John Marrs has a very intelligent mind, and I can not wait to read more of his work!!
Thankyou to the wonderful people over at Netgalley and Alan Macmillan for sending me this book to read and review! It was fab!

I am already a huge fan of this authors work, particularly their speculative fiction books, so I was really looking froward to this one.

The Family Experiment comes after The One (DNA matching technology) The Passengers (self-driving cars) and The Marriage Act (smart marriages) and, while they are not a series as such, there is reference to these other stories so I would personally recommend reading these first, plus they are all brilliant!

This story was the one that pushed It the furthest for me, with the focus being on AI children and giving couples the opportunity to have a child in a 'metaverse' as part of a reality gameshow, with a very attracive prize for the ultimate winner. Following several of the contestants who are all participating for the own reasons, we find out hmthat they all have secrets that they don't want to be revealed to the world. But someone does know there secrets and we get to see how far will they go to make them known?

This was another excellent thriller in this 'series' and it is up there with the best of them. I did feel a bit uncomfortable with some of the situations and outcomes with regards to the 'children' but I am pretty sure that is the point. As the author states in the acknowledgements, this is something that could happen in the not too distant future and this gave a great insight, plus a brilliant story!

A group of couples sign up for a reality TV show in which they raise a virtual baby in the metaverse watched by millions. What could possibly go wrong? Well, everything, obviously.

Each couple has a reason for wanting to raise a virtual baby, and a secret to hide which means they really shouldn't be doing it on a livestream. At first I found it difficult to keep track of who was who, but once I was about a third of the way in I was hooked, the pace swept me up completely and I found it difficult to put the book down. The final twists and turns were shocking and brilliant, especially what happens behind the door on the left (IYKYK) and really got me thinking about how AI works, and whether the world really does need virtual babies.

I highly recommend this gripping, thought-provoking book. Although if you are sensitive about children (albeit virtual ones) being in harm's way in a story, read with care.