The Family Experiment
A Novel
-
-
4.2 • 52 Ratings
-
-
- $2.99
Publisher Description
From the bestselling author of The One, the BookTok sensation now re-released with exclusive content in The One Expanded Edition, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted speculative thriller set in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, about the ultimate "tamagotchi"—a virtual baby.
Some families are virtually perfect…
The world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the 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 called The Substitute. 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.
Don't miss other suspenseful reads from John Marrs (you'll never see the twists coming!): The Marriage Act The Vacation The Family Experiment The One
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This dystopian thriller touches on so many hot topics, you may break a sweat. In a near-future world where economic inequality has gotten so bad that only the most wealthy can afford to have children, a new reality show debuts. Six sets of parents raise lifelike AI babies, programmed to age from birth to 18 in a nine-month period. The winners will get to either keep their humanlike AI child or take home enough prize money to afford a child of their own. Naturally, each of the couples (and one single dad) have horrifying secrets, sociopathic tendencies, or both. Author John Marrs has a brilliant sense of pacing and a knack for didn’t-see-that-coming plot twists that repeatedly knocked us sideways. The Family Experiment is a thoughtful and unsettling listen that will linger in your thoughts.
