Book Review - The Family Experiment by John Marrs

Title: The Family Experiment (Dark Future # 5)
Author: John Marrs
Genre: Science Fiction/ Thriller
Published: 2024
 
Description: 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 change or a real baby…
 
Review: I have already read “The One” (book one) and “The Marriage Act” (book four) in this series by John Marrs. They can be read out of order, because they are all different stories, with new characters. They are only set in the same universe. An alternate, not so distant future. Events from the other books are always briefly mentioned in the other stories. “The Passengers” is the second book and “The Minders” is book three. I still need to read those.
 
With “The Family Experiment” we enter a dystopian future in which virtual parenting is a thing. The book follows several participants in a reality show who are raising a virtual child. Whoever wins, can either keep their virtual child or win money to raise a real child in the real world. Because in this future it’s become nearly impossible to have a child and raise one, because of the economic crisis.
 
The set-up of the story is very similar to the other two book I read. We follow several POV’s/ storylines of people dealing with the same situation. Regular chapters are interspersed with adds, news bulletins and social media responses, and we also get some scenes from the past. You don’t really get to know what these ‘flashbacks’ have to do with the rest of the story, but the mystery of this makes it more interesting.  
 
The book has many unexpected plot twists. The suspense is compelling and the way each contestant is dealing with the situations is fascinating. The characters are very different, so it’s easy to follow. The amount of characters might be a bit overwhelming for some readers, especially if you’re not used to reading from multiple perspectives.  
 
John Marrs is known for building tension and ends his chapters often in cliffhangers. This makes you want to keep reading. It’s a very fast paced book. I found this book very original and it deals with AI and the dangers of it.
 
If you have enjoyed “The One” or “The Marriage Act”, or are a fan of the anthology series “Black Mirror”, you will most likely enjoy “The Family Experiment” too.
 
Rating: 4,5/ 5