Clones and affairs and death, oh my! Dear readers, I’ve a feeling we aren’t in the real world anymore…
Evelyn Caldwell is at the peak of her professional career. She has just been awarded the Neufmann Prize, honouring her innovative work in genetic cloning. In particular, she is renowned for developing the “Caldwell Method,” as it has come to be known: a way to program the clone’s personality. Her personal life, however, is a completely different story. Years into their marriage, Evelyn and her husband Nathan begin to drift apart. Consumed by her work, she doesn’t think much of it, until one day she learns Nathan is having an affair with a woman named Martine. Correction: a clone named Martine. A replica of Evelyn herself.
Evelyn attempts to bury her sorrows in her work as she adjusts to the new “normal” of separating from her husband and living alone. Then, one day Evelyn receives a frantic call from Martine. Something has happened — an emergency — and Martine needs Evelyn’s help.
The emergency? Nathan is dead.
What begins as a seemingly straightforward story unspools from here, evolving chapter by chapter with unexpected plot twists and surprising revelations. Evelyn is accustomed to creating clones to be used for research, organ harvesting, even body doubles; but not clones intended to be used as real people. Not clones which are a mirror image of her, fine tuned to modify all the imperfections Nathan never liked. And certainly not clones she must help, must work alongside to resolve a dilemma after their shared love has died.
Threaded throughout the main narrative, Gailey also flashes back to Evelyn’s childhood, as well as the earlier days of her relationship with Nathan. This technique not only provides insight into how Evelyn became the woman she is today, but it also creates some interesting and surprising parallels for readers between her past and the present.
Gailey has done it again, creating an utterly unique sci-fi thriller. Equal parts unsettling and unputdownable, readers will cringe as they tear through this eerie tale, unable to look away from the ethical monstrosity that is The Echo Wife. Gailey raises question after question in their treatment of genetic cloning: How far away are we from a future that looks like this? Could something like this ever really even happen? If so, what are the ethical implications? The legal implications? Where do we draw the line between scientific advances and playing God? Should man be allowed such power? Is it “right” or “wrong” to disrupt the balance, to manipulate the fragile sanctity of life? This query and debate could go on and on, as Gailey provides an incredible amount of food for thought here.
Subtly scary and hauntingly realistic, Gailey has written with a quiet horror which slowly settles in, scratching at the back of the reader’s brain long after the last page has been turned. The Echo Wife is sure to be a genre-bending hit in early 2021 with fans of speculative fiction and thrillers alike.
The Echo Wife is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of February 16th 2021. Many thanks to Tor.com Publishing for providing me with an advance copy of this fantastic book. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
Will you be picking up The Echo Wife? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
The Echo Wife is a non-stop thrill ride, perfect for readers of Big Little Lies and enthusiasts of Killing Eve and Westworld
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 the Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up.
Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty
When they said all happy families are alike, this can’t be what they meant…
