Review: The Perfect Wife

The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

J.P. Delaney's The Perfect Wife turned the now-familiar stereotypes of the family/woman's thriller on its head and I loved it for that. The integration of technology and philosophical ideas of what constitutes humanity or a soul made for a fascinating read.

As with Delaney's earlier novel, The Girl Before, the pacing is fast and the writing is seamless. The mystery pulled me in and kept me entertained, especially with the dual narrative perspective. Part of what I loved about this book as well were the side plots and complications: Delaney's description of Tim and Abbie's son Danny and his Childhood disintegrative disorder as well as the attempts to treat or manage his autism were fascinating and added an additional layer of empathy and complexity to the family relationship.

The ending was okay: it was satisfying, but fell into the trope of a barrage of plot-twists raining down one after the other. I like the moral ambiguity and questions raised by some of the plot twists, but because they came so fast and furious, they were a little forgettable.

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