Paperback
Published July 7, 2021 by Hodder & Stoughton.
I’m embarrassed, still, by how long it took me to notice. Everything was right there in the open, right there in front of me, but it still took me so long to see the person I had married.
It took me so long to hate him.
Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be.
And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband.
Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up.
Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty.
I loved the sense of creeping doom as I unraveled each drip of exposition.
At first I couldn't see how this and Upright Women Wanted could possibly be from the same author, but eventually similar themes around trust, betrayal, and self-loathing/-punishment emerged.
A big resounding YAY for The Echo Wife. This is absolutely the best book I've read this year.
Now, I'm not a sciencey type person so maybe there were things that someone with a science background would call BS over but, for me, the whole thing seemed plausible and, because of that, scary. I loved Evelyn's perspective and I'm glad we only got her POV. She had emotions but didn't allow them to overshadow her logic. And Martine... I loved her too. I loved the whole damn book. All of it. I don't believe I've ever read anything quite like it.
Now I need to find more books by Sarah Gailey. Because wow.
Massive thanks to Tor Books for inviting me to read this through NetGalley.
Full disclosure: I was provided an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I devoured this novel in about 4 sessions. I had enjoyed the author’s previous work Magic For Liars, and was excited when I heard the inspiration for this one was to get Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse “right.” I didn’t know what that meant exactly, but I enjoyed Dollhouse and was excited to see what that meant.
Wow, what a ride. Gailey does an incredible job of putting you into the head of the main character while still keeping key information from the reader until it’s absolutely necessary. The protagonist thinks of herself as an incredibly practical person, but it also becomes clear that it’s because she has had to learn to shield herself from so much, even to the point of lying to herself.
The book does a great job of rewarding you for …
Full disclosure: I was provided an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I devoured this novel in about 4 sessions. I had enjoyed the author’s previous work Magic For Liars, and was excited when I heard the inspiration for this one was to get Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse “right.” I didn’t know what that meant exactly, but I enjoyed Dollhouse and was excited to see what that meant.
Wow, what a ride. Gailey does an incredible job of putting you into the head of the main character while still keeping key information from the reader until it’s absolutely necessary. The protagonist thinks of herself as an incredibly practical person, but it also becomes clear that it’s because she has had to learn to shield herself from so much, even to the point of lying to herself.
The book does a great job of rewarding you for paying attention. Right about the time I started asking “wait, what about...” as I thought through the implications of this particular situation, the book rose up to answer just those questions. I’m avoiding a lot of details because I don’t want to spoil much, but suffice it to say this book takes a familiar sci-fi trope and follows it to places I didn’t expect, but make perfect sense in retrospect.
