John Marrs introduced me to the world of speculative fiction and his thrillers, written in the near future, are the best that I have read with The Family Experiment being the most exciting yet.

The Family Experiment tells the story of a reality show with a difference.

Childless couples (and a single parent) who maybe cannot afford to start a family, compete to bring up a child, in a virtual world (the Metaverse) using VR headsets to interact with their children in front of millions of viewers who judge their parenting skills and can “vote” for their favourite.

Chapters alternate between the competing parents and although John Marrs references his other speculative thrillers: The One, Passengers and The Marriage act, The Family Experiment is a stand alone, brilliant, work of fiction which once started, I couldn’t put down.
A definite Five Stars from me.

(I wrote this review a while ago but it seems to have disappeared)

**Rating: ★★★★★**

I always enjoy John Marrs' books, and *The Family Experiment* was predictably great! The concept is fascinating, though I'm not sure if I would be so keen to participate myself.

The story takes its time to introduce us to the families, but the progression is well worth it. Marrs masterfully reveals little tidbits of information throughout the book, keeping me hooked as each family's secrets slowly came to light. Discovering these hidden aspects was incredibly satisfying.

One of my favorite elements was the mixed media format, with advertisements and social media threads interspersed throughout the narrative. It added a unique and modern touch to the storytelling.

While I loved the book, I would have appreciated more information about the world they live in. Despite this, *The Family Experiment* is a captivating read that I highly recommend to fans of thought-provoking and well-crafted stories.

In the not so distant future tech and AI have taken over, cost of living is horrendous, the NHS barely exists (context indicates that it mainly only helps kids under a certain age), and having a child via IVF is prohibitively expensive. Enter the Metaverse and their groundbreaking new endeavour: a virtual child. Due to be rolled out nationally it opens with a televised competition where the public vote for the best family. The family that wins gets to either keep their virtual child or £250,000 to have a real child of their own.

This was a fascinating concept and while it took a while to get to know the families I loved the progression and how little tidbits of information were slowly revealed throughout the book. All the families had secrets and finding those out was so satisfying. I also really liked the mixed media format with advertisements and social media threads dotted through the book.

The only thing is I wish that the ending was a little more rounded out, it felt a little incomplete. I also would have liked more detail about the world they're living in. What year is it, what has changed, what caused these changes?

Another fab book from John marrs as part of his speculative thriller series.
Really loved how unique the storyline in this book is (as are most of his other books!)
I'd definitely recommend reading these in order though so there's no spoilers from previous books

An unusual storyline which, at first, seemed to me to be too far fetched ….. until it wasn’t. I really enjoyed the different characters and their back stories and had no idea where this was going.
A riveting read

wow, wow, wow!
I absolutely loved this! Full of twists and turns that will leave you shook and questioning your own morale's.
John Marrs is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors.

John Marrs is the king of futuristic novels, how he comes up with these ideas I don't know! I am obsessed with his work and can't wait for more!
I recommend John Marrs to EVERYONE!

The UK is at breaking point thanks to a soaring population, overcrowded cities, and economic crisis. Many people can’t afford to live, let alone start a family and raise them. But there is a new way to raise a family for those who long to do so: meta children. For a monthly subscription, clients can create a virtual child from scratch, accessing them through a VR headset. To launch their new initiative, the company behind the Virtual Children has created a reality TV show following ten couples as they raise their Virtual Child from birth to eighteen, which will be condensed into a nine-month period. The winners will then pick their prize: keep their Virtual Child or try for a real baby.

Dark, menacing, unsettling and twisty, The Family Experiment is the latest gripping thriller from John Marrs. Set in the same universe as his previous books The One and The Marriage Act, this is a masterclass in speculative fiction. Expertly written, skillfully plotted and cleverly constructed, he combines heart-pounding tension with complex family relationships and moral and social issues facing us today. What makes the things that Mr. Marrs writes about in his speculative thrillers so compelling, is how deeply uncomfortable and terrifyingly plausible they are. With how far technology has come and the soaring cost of living, I can imagine a world where ‘tamagotchi children’ exist as an alternative to flesh and blood. Personally, I find it all deeply unnerving and only like the idea as a way to get an idea of what parenthood is like, not as a substitute for living children.

A bingeable thriller filled with twist after twist, The Family Experiment keeps you guessing until the very last page. Complex, clever, surprising and unnerving, this is a must-read for any thriller lover.

John Marrs' writing has a way of just grabbing me from the offset and never letting me go and in his newest novel, it has happened once again. Brilliant!

Rating: 4.5

The Family Experiment has so many things going for it:
- Short chapters
- Trippy plot
- Mixed media
- Fast-paced
- Immersive audiobook

The chapters are delightfully short. The plot is wild, fast-paced and supported by a mixed media format (which I always enjoy). The audiobook is so immersive, with music so that the ads (such as webuyanyavatar.com 😂) sound like real ads and the messages have a sound similar to the WhatsApp message sound. This book is like The Hunger Games but for people wanting to start a family. This is my first John Marrs book and it was a wild ride.

the family experiment is a sci-fi thriller that i could not pit down! john marrs manages to immediately capture your attention with the idea of meta-children. this idea sounds wild but is so well thought out! there came a point when i sometimes forgot that the children were not real, just like their parents. marrs also added great plottwists i did not see coming and the way it ended was nothing i ever expected!! this is the first book by john marrs i‘ve read but it definitely won’t be my last!

Argh!! it was so good to be back in John Marrs' nightmarish alternative telaitt. Set in the same world as the One and the Marriage Act, this latest installment looks at the possibility of a cyber child
Absolutely terrifying in its plausibility. I could t put it down!

When you read the synopsis of the book out loud your first thoughts are maybe hmmm not for me. I don’t do sci-fi, sounds a bit far fetched. Well if anyone can pull off a story that 10-20 years ago you never thought could possibly happen and make the reader feel like this is tomorrow’s world then John Marrs can.
The story follows several couples all hoping to win the family experiment. But of course with all reality TV shows each couple has a back story and how is this story going to affect their chances of winning the family experiment. You can’t help but love and then in turn hate almost every single one of them. But also you fall in love with these AI children. Such a very clever book, written in such a way I would honestly believe the author has time traveled to the future to write it. Loved it

In the fairly near future, the cost of having and raising children has risen to such exorbitant levels that having a family has become an unattainable dream for many couples. That is until a groundbreaking new reality show offers contestants the chance to raise a child to adulthood - in the metaverse. Each child will experience an accelerated childhood, undergoing a development leap of months or years every month, until they turn eighteen after nine months. The winning couple - as voted for by a viewing public who can follow the families 24/7 - must then choose to keep their virtual child, or delete them for a chance to have a real baby.

I've previously enjoyed The One and Passengers by John Marrs, and The Family Experiment takes place in the same universe. There are multiple call-backs to his earlier works, but I wouldn't say that it's essential to have read any of them in order to enjoy this title. Like Black Mirror in book form, Marrs' novels take place in a speculative, dystopian near future which take elements of our current society, such as online dating and electric cars, and follows them to a frightening conclusion. The Family Experiment is a timely look at the inexorable march of Artificial Intelligence, and the possibilities and perils of the expansion of the metaverse - as well as an examinationof how we consume reality televisionand celebrity culture. As compelling as it is chilling, the book takes current problems such as limited NHS funding for IVF, the cost of living crisis and the soaring cost of childcare and posits what could happen if we continue along this trajectory. It is also a knowing commentary on the mining of human art in order to develop AI - how far might developers be willing to go in order make AI behave authentically - and what might be the human cost?

Interspersed with content such as extracts from the rules of the show, news reports and online chats, the book mirrors the structure of the show, divided into the nine months of the virtual children's lives. The story unfolds at pace, switching between the different couples (and one single man) and their experiences. In the show, the couples have been selected to represent a varied cross section of the population, and this is effective in differentiating them from each other in the book (though I did keep getting two couples confused to begin with). Each couple has a secret and some omniscient presence seems to know what they are and be willing to use them against the couples, though we have to wait till the big finale to see how it all shakes out. The short chapters, constant twists and reveals mean the book flies by, and I loved feeling constantly wrong-footed. All in all, another highly entertaining, thought-provoking offering from John Marrs, which is sure to delight existing fans and capture some new ones too.

Thanks you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

4 out of 5 stars

John has done it again. How this man can create so many twists and turns in so little pages fascinates me! He’s so addictive! I’m yet to be disappointed and no one will with this one either

Highly highly recommend

I have enjoyed every John Marrs I have read and this ok was no different. This book is brilliant from the first page and keeps you guessing right up until the end. It’s so well written that it has you questioning whether this could be our future. The mixture of characters in this book were brilliant, there were some you love, some you hate and then the ones that you almost feel sorry for. As always this book is dark and the twists are gobsmacking! The short chapters with those quality last liners making you want to read on is something I love about all John Marrs books! 5 star all round for me. It was unique, dark and captivating! Keep them coming JM!

This book was absolutely fantastic! Easily my favourite John Marrs of all time! I absolutely loved the concept of this plot and the twists it took me on!

Cleverly dark and thought-provoking.

With the Family Experiment, John Marrs once again makes us say,'Oh come on, that's daft' followed quickly by 'oh, well yes, I could see how that could happen'. And then leaves us feeling a bit uncomfortable! Because he has this knack of taking what's happening today and going straight to the extreme. And yet, it still seems very plausible. In this book, a social media t.v show launches a 'social experiment'. Ten couples are given virtual children that they can bring up in the metaverse via a VR headset. Over nine months, their 'child' grows from birth to adulthood. Viewers of the show can vote for who is to be tested and let the contestants know how they feel instantly about their decision with emojis that are instantly visible to the parents. They can even go into that metaverse and view the show close up. Without the 'parents' knowing. And the prize? The chance to keep their virtual child or risk it all for a real child. The losers see the child they've raised erased.

Something that struck me about this was that as a parent, you always feel a bit judged. So frankly, the idea of emojis appearing every time you made a decision was frankly nauseating. But everything about this book is just a little bit disturbing. Without getting too spoilery, this is a world where emotions have been monetised and every facet of life can be on show. So basically, present day on speed.

This is probably the best book of the year so far for me. I'm notorious amongst friends for having read loads, but never being 100% sure if I've read something. Within a day or two, I'll have forgotten what I read. But these books from John Marrs always leave an impression on me, make me think about the world as it is now, how it could become. How would I react? Would I watch and comment with the masses, or stay above it all? Who knows? What I do know is a mainstream book that makes you think quite so deeply is a rare thing.

I am in the minority here I am almost certain but I didn’t love the storyline of this one. It’s written extremely well, as are all of his other books but this just fell flat for me. I will always read books by this author but the plot felt just a little too close to home so I couldn’t connect with it.

"The Family Experiment" by John Marrs is a masterclass in world-building and plotting, with a premise that's both outlandish and uncomfortably plausible.
In a world where the UK is overcrowded and poverty-stricken, the concept of virtual children has become a viable option for those desperate to experience parenthood. The story follows ten couples as they take part in a reality TV show, where they raise virtual children in a condensed nine-month period. The prize is the chance to keep their virtual child or risk it all for the chance of a real baby.
Marrs' writing is, as always, exceptional. He has a way of crafting plots that are both believable and unsettling, and this book is no exception. The world-building is complex and detailed, and the narrative jumps between several characters in a way that's both disorienting and addictive.
The characters themselves are well-developed and relatable, even though they're all competing for the same prize. Marrs does a great job of exploring the themes of desperation, technology, and social conformity, and the story takes some genuinely surprising turns.
One of the things that sets this book apart is its ability to balance the unbelievable with the scarily realistic. At times, it's easy to forget that this is a work of fiction and not something that could happen in the future. Marrs' writing is so convincing that it's almost like looking into a mirror.
If you're looking for a sci-fi thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, then "The Family Experiment" is worth a try. Just be prepared for a slow burn that erupts into a truly unsettling climax.