The Family Experiment by John Marrs #Netgalley #TheFamilyExperiment @panmacmillan @johnmarrs1 #bookreview

 

The Family Experiment by John Marrs

Published by Pan Macmillan

Publication Date: 9th May 2024

My thanks to the publisher for allowing me access to this book prior to publication via NetGalley. All opinions are my own and are unbiased.

Book Description:

Some families are virtually perfect . . .

The world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, breaking point has arrived. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families let alone raise them.

But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality tv show. It will follow ten couples as they raise a Virtual Child from birth to the age of eighteen but in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child or risk it all for the chance of a real baby . . .

Set in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate 'tamagotchi' - a virtual baby.

My Thoughts:

My first piece of advice regarding this book: read the author's other speculative fiction books in order prior to diving into this one, it will make far more sense and you will understand the characters personality traits and how their life experience influence decisions they make. 

So, in order: The One, The Passengers, The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment.

It's been a few months since I read The Marriage Act, and even longer since I've read the other books, so I had to dig deep to recall some of the returning characters but this didn't spoil my enjoyment of this latest book from John Marrs. In a nutshell, this novel follows the contestants who have been signed up for a reality TV show called The Family Experiment. As detailed in the description of the book, these 11 people are the chosen ones who are competing to have a virtual child of their own, with cameras following their attempts to nurture a child from birth to 18 years of age, but condensed into a nine-month period. Viewers get to vote on the highs and lows of their experiences, the losing competitors have their "child" dissolved into the millions of pixels that construct them. Harsh, and heartbreaking in equal measure.

It quickly becomes obvious that not everyone is cut out to be a parent, and that some of the contestants have their own agenda, whether that is as the couple they are part of, or as individuals. The cash prize is all that some of them are chasing, whereas for others it's a way to raise their own on-line profile and popularity. Is there a single one of the contestants who signed up with the pure intention of having a child of their own, which would not have been possible otherwise? This is just one of many questions you'll be asking yourself along the way.

The chapters gradually peel back the layers of secrets, lies, and deception that seem to be an inherent part of the contestants lives and there are shocks aplenty along the way as we have come to expect from Mr Marrs. For me this book worked so much better than its predecessor and, with hindsight, it feels to me like the author had to create the world needed for this novel by writing The Marriage Act. As a series the whole thing works brilliantly and my intention is to re-read the whole series from the start at some point as it is so impressive and I want to try and pick up on some of the more subtle details which I'm sure I missed on my first reading of the books. Knowing how the world is going to progress in future books will make the earlier books feel completely different a second time around, I think.

I would say that this would make for a brilliant TV mini-series, but having experienced Netflix's attempt to televise The One, I know I would be disappointed so I'll stick to reading the books and trying to encourage everyone to share the experience with me.

About the Author:

John Marrs is an author and former journalist based in London and Northamptonshire. After spending his career interviewing celebrities from the worlds of television, film and music for numerous national newspapers and magazines, he is now a full-time author. His books include No1 bestseller and Netflix series The One, The Passengers, award winning What Lies Between Us and The Good Samaritan.

Follow him at www.johnmarrsauthor.co.uk, on Twitter @johnmarrs1, on Instagram @johnmarrs.author and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/johnmarrsauthor.