‘The Perfect Wife’ has intriguing plot

‘The Perfect Wife’ has intriguing plot

“The Perfect Wife” (Ballantine Books), by JP Delaney

Some couples seem to be perfect for each other, but can any relationship achieve perfection?

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Tim Scott believes that his wife, Abbie Cullen-Scott, was the perfect wife, the perfect mother and that they had the perfect marriage. And that’s what he tells her. But this Abbie may look like his wife and possess her memories, but she isn’t human. She’s a “companion robot,” manufactured by Tim, founder of Scott Robotics based in San Francisco.

JP Delaney’s third psychological thriller, “The Perfect Wife,” puts – almost perfectly – a high-tech spin on the stories of Frankenstein and Pygmalion with a tinge of the Stepford wives. Delaney includes just enough technology while keeping the focus primarily on the characters.

Abbie wakes up in what seems to be a hospital, having a dream about when she and Scott became engaged. But as Scott explains, that wasn’t a dream but “an upload” and that she is a “cobot” with carefully curated “memories” that don’t include what happened to the real Abbie. But Scott gave this new Abbie an intelligence – no matter how artificial – and the ability to eventually render emotions. She’s stunned to learn that Abbie disappeared in a surfing accident five years earlier.

The intriguing plot leads to a chilling and surprising finale that perfectly caps “The Perfect Wife.”

Associated Press