The Family Experiment

By: John Marrs

Narrated by: Clare Corbett, Clifford Samuel, Eilidh Beaton, Joshua Riley, Justin Avoth, Thomas Judd, Nneka Okoye

From the acclaimed author of The One and The Marriage Act, The Family Experiment is a dark and brilliant speculative thriller about families: real and virtual.

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.

©2024 John Marrs (P)2024 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

The ending...!!!

This ending could have gone so many different ways, and they picked the worst one. It should have left a cliffhanger; we didn't need the ending. Great performance and storytelling. I enjoyed this book and still recommend it.

So astute about human experience

This author is so gifted at representing complex psychologies and encouraging readers/listeners to ask meaningful questions about what it means to be a parent ing and attachment, about “real” vs real life, and about deception in families and couples. So thoughtful, clever, and exciting to read ! S. LAMB (author, The Not Good Enough Mother)

Not Bad

I enjoyed this title. The ending was simple but I guess that’s okay. Some times simple endings are necessary. I wish I would have read this title instead of listening to the audio book.

Ended this Universe with Due Justice

Loved how all of the stories came together and am blow alway and John Marrs’ ability to come up with such creativity!

Such an interesting concept!

I honestly didn't think that I would like it, but I loved it! I love how the book is written and how the voice actors perform everything. I love how the story ties up in a beautiful bow at the end

Our potential future

Unique story & good narration. This is the best book I've listened to in quite some time!

Lot of good plot twists

Really interesting story that takes place in the same world as John Marrs other books, The One and the Marriage Act. Initially I didn’t feel much of a connection to these different couples but as time went on I really got invested into their stories. Some of the twists really caught me off guard. Great listen! I will definitely get The One and The Marriage Act this year too.

AMAZING!!!

John Marrs just out did himself which I thought was impossible! This book was outstanding! I am left speechless and have no idea what I can read /listen to next that could come close. LOVED IT!

He’s done it again

Amazing book. How the author comes up with these stories is beyond me but loved the book and story lines and the performers

Entertaining and written well!

This book has it all! it's modern, scandalous and written well. There are lots of characters and narrators to bring them to life. The plot is interesting and there is depth to the stories.