Name: Kym's review of The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
Item: The Echo Wife
Rating: 5
Author: Kym

Sarah Gailey

A dark and suspenseful novel of lies, betrayal, and identity - perfect for fans of Big Little Lies and Charlie Brooker's Black Mirror. It was meant to be an evening to honour and celebrate Evelyn Caldwell's award-winning, career-making scientific research - but Evelyn has things on her mind.Things like Nathan, her husband, who has left her for a younger, better, newer woman. A woman who is now pregnant - but shouldn't be - and is strikingly familiar. Too familiar to be a coincidence.A woman who shouldn't exist.The Echo Wife is a propulsive new novel from an international rising star about identity, murder, and the choices society forces women to make.

The Echo Wife

Sarah Gailey's The Echo Wife is a non-stop thrill ride of lies, betrayal, and identity, perfect for fans of Big Little Lies and Killing Eve. Evelyn Caldwell’s husband Nathan has been having an affair — with Evelyn Caldwell. Or, to be exact, with Martine, a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn’s own award-winning research. But that wasn’t even the worst part. When they said all happy families are alike, I don’t think this is what they meant...

Megan BV

My gown was beautiful. It was the kind of garment that looks precisely as expensive as it is. I did not hate it, because it was beautiful, and I did not love it, because it was cruel.

Interesting conceptually, and I really wasn't sure where it was going to go. While the book is labelled as Sci-Fi and it leans on/uses science a lot, the themes align with domestic thrillers more, which is where I think some of the qualms from other readers arise. 

I appreciated the implicit navigation of so many different forms of abuse. The ending took me by surprise but felt very fitting, and I feel like we already have a roadmap for the "post-book story" from what we were given, which is clever. If you read, try to avoid any spoilers or context. 

Elizabeth

Interesting conceptually, and I really wasn't sure where it was going to go. While the book is labelled as Sci-Fi and it leans on/uses science a lot, the themes align with domestic thrillers more, which is where I think some of the qualms from other readers arise. 

I appreciated the implicit navigation of so many different forms of abuse. The ending took me by surprise but felt very fitting, and I feel like we already have a roadmap for the "post-book story" from what we were given, which is clever. If you read, try to avoid any spoilers or context. 

Allison Dempsey

** spoiler alert **
           This book made NO SENSE. Evelyn invented clones to… serve as body doubles for politicians? A respected scientist and teacher goes missing for five months and people think that “he went on a solo retreat to the mountains to recharge before the baby came” was a valid excuse? The science here went from 0 to 100 with barely any exposition. 

It would have been a way better book if Evelyn herself had turned out to be a clone. I was expecting that to be the answer as to why Martine was able to get pregnant - she was the “real” one and Evelyn was a clone. Instead that was left unanswered.

Cody Degen

Colleen

3 Stars
 
*Creepy and thought-provoking but introspective and slow*


I saw an interview with the author a few months ago and was intrigued by her description of The Echo Wife. It sounded like a creepy, suspenseful novel dealing with identity and betrayal. And it is all of that. But it also lacked that extra oomph needed to make it shine. 

The premise is straightforward. A brilliant scientist discovers that her husband is having an affair. Not only that, he stole Evelyn’s research on cloning and used it to make a clone of her – with some tweaks to make her “perfect” and that is who he is having the affair with. (Not a spoiler; that’s in the publisher’s description.)

Not surprisingly, there are some big The Stepford Wives vibes in the story although it is a unique story. I do wish that the book had started earlier in Evelyn’s story. I have trouble connecting with characters when they are already at rock-bottom when I’m introduced to them. I would have enjoyed the ride of her finding out the whole thing about the affair with her clone rather than being told about it after the fact.

The story was slow-paced and introspective. It was essentially a monologue of Evelyn retelling what happened to her. This did lead to the story being very introspective and a bit meandering at times. I would have expected a career-focused scientist to be more analytical and streamlined in her thought process. But Evelyn wanders down lots of rabbit trails in her narration, and her stream-of-consciousness was hit-or-miss at times in regards to how engaging it was. Certainly, it delves into fascinating reflections on identity, judgement, and emotional abuse as well as the controversial subject of cloning. This would be a great bookclub read to spark interesting conversations.

But the story was also a little anti-climactic. Slow-burn is fine, but I need stories to build up to something. I need that crescendo to really feel invested. But there is almost no action in this story. That in turn led the book to feel a bit monotone.

Overall, I loved the premise but wanted more from the ending. But I’d still recommend it if you don’t mind the slower pace and meandering monologue or if want something to spark interesting debates.


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 3 Stars

Once I started I couldn’t put it down. It’s definitely one of those that’s best to go into without any preconceptions. It’s a thriller told from the perspective of a woman whose husband has recently left her. 

The writing is brilliant and it was scary because it felt so real. I highly recommend this book. 

The acknowledgments section from the author also put so much into perspective and made me cry a little.

Oh my goodness. This book.

Once I started I couldn’t put it down. It’s definitely one of those that’s best to go into without any preconceptions. It’s a thriller told from the perspective of a woman whose husband has recently left her. 

The writing is brilliant and it was scary because it felt so real. I highly recommend this book. 

The acknowledgments section from the author also put so much into perspective and made me cry a little.

Didi Chanoch

The Echo Wife is Sarah Gailey's quietest book so far. It is also their most devastating.

This story of a woman, her ex husband, and her clone that he left her for is complex, precise, surgical. This is a book about trauma, and how it shapes us. About how life shapes us, in general, yes. But mostly the traumas. The things that leave indelible scars. It's about parents and children and responsibility. About the lessons we learn, and how hard it is to unlearn them. How sometimes it's impossible. 

It is brilliant.

Ethan Hill

This was such a pleasant surprise! To be honest I forgot I had this on hold but when I finally got around to it it blew me away. Very well paced with very little extraneous narrative and some really clever themes that breathe new life into a stale sci-fi concept. Check it out!

I really liked this book. I felt very strongly towards these characters, plus it had a good dose of criticism on how women are viewed. 

RaRie

“A trippy domestic thriller which takes the extramarital affair trope in some intriguingly weird new directions.” - Entertainment Weekly I’m embarrassed, still, by how long it took me to notice. Everything was right there in the open, right there in front of me, but it still took me so long to see the person I had married. It took me so long to hate him. 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 both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up. Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Fraser Simons

This was surprisingly… well, not “fun”, as it’s kind of heavy and involves loss of agency and misogyny and death—but certainly engaging and interesting in its framing in the interrogation of those issues. 

Basically, our protagonist here has pioneered the creation of clones, who are both more advanced than you typically see, so maybe reflective of what we now know of the possibilities regarding gene therapy and science behind stuff? No idea, I am not up on these technologies. Regardless, she has chosen work over her husband, who is an asshole, but their relationship is expounded on and is far more complex than is initially divulged to the reader. 

Because, as she discovers her now estranged husband has a clone of her, and is now planning to marry her, things go sideways in her life rather quickly, spiralling her into memories of her life with him. This creates the duel narrative. The unfolding present day thriller spiral, and the reflections on her life she hasn’t really allowed herself to dwell on, which characterizes her and her husband and grants much more context to the fallout of the relationship. 

While murder and betrayal ensue, we discover the psychology behind the choices being made in the present, all while a foil of herself is present, forcing her to constantly regard herself as though looking in a mirror; noticing the unnoticeable. 

Very consumable and fast-paced. I found it clever in it making a pretty straight forward thriller much more compelling and nuanced, while making it all but impossible to make the reader reflect on systemic issues themselves and the hypocrisy of workplace dynamics and gender dynamics. I was pleasantly surprised with this one.

Jeff Brown 

I thought this was going to be more sci-fi-ish. It is in that involves the development of clones. But is more of a domestic semi-suspenseful/sci-fi mix. A mix that works.

Evelyn is a renowned scientist in a male-dominated field. If that wasn't enough to harden her -- she was mentally abused by her parents, mainly her father. She thought she was happily married, until her husband divorced her. She dove deeper into her clone development -- while her ex-husband stole her research from her to develop a clone like Evelyn, tweaked to remove what he saw as Evelyn's faults and his desires, such as having children. That clone was named Martine.

Evelyn met Martine, not looking for a friend, but looking for what her ex-husband felt she was missing so badly that he had to make a tweaked clone of her.

Martine desperately called Evelyn one day to come over to her house -- for the first of a few WOWs.

There were negatives. Mainly, there was too much going back to Evelyn's childhood for a few pages at the first of many chapters, disturbing the flow. And, to me, the ending was a little milder than expected.

But it was a very good read. Recommended. 4.25 stars.

Cheryl Hedlund

This is a study of cycles of abuse and trauma in a creepy psychological thriller. I hesitate to use the word thriller, because this is not fast paced. It starts out with a sci-fi twist on the cheating spouse trope. Evelyn is a research scientist who has developed a cloning process and is perfecting it for practical use (security doubles for politicians, intelligence operations, etc.) Her husband, Nathan, stole her notes and has been having an affair with Martine, a clone of her that he has designed to be the kind of woman he always wanted. The kind of woman Evelyn can never be. Pliant, domestic, kind, with a maternal instinct.

You think you know what to expect. You think you know who you will side with. But as the layers of the characters are revealed, things get much more complicated. This looks closely at domestic abuse, family secrets, generational trauma. It also dissects misogyny and gender roles. We get a close look at the process of creating these clones. They are products for use, neurologically programmed, violently injured to mirror the scars and imperfections of the original, and in the end discarded as waste. The possibility of their status as persons is never a consideration.

This was an unsettling read in the best way. The tone and atmosphere was dark. The ending had a disturbing edge for me. It got under my skin.

Sahi K

It’s definitely more of a 3.5 for me. 

I decided to pick this one because I really enjoyed one novella of the author, Upright Women Wanted. While that was a lot of fun, this book is a whole collection of WTF moments. 

Considering this is my first book with clones, I understood whatever basic scientific information that author wanted to give us. And despite the subject matter of this novel, it is less of a sci-fi and more of a character driven story of two women who’ve been betrayed by the same man. While one of them is full of anger and regrets and wonders who exactly knows the real her, the other woman just wants the agency to be able to make her own decisions and be proud of them. The struggles they go through together until they form a very unique kind of relationship is very fascinating to read about. It was also interesting to contemplate if cloning would become a reality in our future and what kind of moral and ethical dilemmas we would have to face. 

In the end, this was both mind blowing and mundane at the same time. Interesting concepts and characters make this an enjoyable thriller, but the ending kinda didn’t live up to my expectations. However, if you enjoy futuristic stories that’ll make you think while also entertaining you, then I would totally recommend this book.

Sunyi Dean

W O W

Brilliantly done. Amazing characterisation is the foundation for this book, that and the incredible writing. Definitely one of my top reads of the year so far.

Thanks to the publisher an author as this was a free arc received on goodreads and it was amaze balls!

###

Slightly longer review: 

I read this in one sitting and thought it was phenomenal. 

Not so much for the ideas (clones haven't been a bold new idea since the 1930s, contrary to what the litfic crowd would have you believe...) or the "bUt WhAt iS a HoOmAn" musing (also not new), but because the characters are incredibly well done and the personal story arc is riveting in a macabre, darkly humourous way. 

Straight up thriller readers and the Purity Litfic crowd won't like this much but it's a great bit of upmarket spec fic. Some of the Goodreads reviews called it a cross between Killing Eve and Westwold, and I think that's pretty accurate for feel.

Jennifer

Sarah Gailey's The Echo Wife is a fast-paced psychological thriller about identity and role of women in society. While this is a thriller, the scientific elements in the novel also tells a haunting story about the implications when the scientific advancement crosses the moral boundaries. By attending to the details, Gailey made the mystery / thriller aspect of the novel very engaging to read. For example, Evelyn's scientific discovery felt really believable in which gave a lot of shock values in which the story about the clone unfolds.

I'm not going to give away too much about the plot but I think the pacing is the strongest asset of The Echo Wife as it provides momentum to the plots (I often find myself wanting to find out what's really going on). And in terms of what happened, I was pretty satisfied as I was left guessing most of the way in this wild ride.

On the flipside, I do have a few concerns with this book. I think from a technical point of view, I found Nathan's characterisation quite lacking in terms of the dimensionality. So while the plot as a whole was pretty enjoyable to read about & surprised me, I found the ones which involve Nathan to be more predictable since he didn't really have a character arc. I also wasn't completely sold into the novel due to the graphical content, so I think it's one of those books where knowing the content warnings beforehand would be helpful. The triggering warnings of this novel include: murder, violence, blood mention, vomiting, corpse, and death

To sum it up, The Echo Wife is a fast-paced Sci-Fi / thriller that both shocked and surprised me. If you're into the mystery/thriller genre and could put up with the major content warnings, this book will definitely give you quite some adrenaline rush!

(3.5 stars out of 5)

Olivera Mitić

Melissa Deitrick

Wow. I did not expect this to 5 stars but here we are! This was an extremely quick read for me and I had to slow myself down from destroying it in a day. I related a LOT to Evelyn, her mannerisms, and thought process (which is pretty rare seeing as she’s...we’re very uhmmm...yes. 

Anything I thought was going to happen took a different turn and really just what a great sci-fi novel to get me out of my slump!

Jelke Lenaerts

I received a galley of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This book has content warnings for abuse and mention of abortion.

This book was very different from what I expected going in and that's in a good way. I was expecting this book to more of a mystery but it was way more light sci-fi and just our main character reflecting on her life. I quite enjoyed it. I really liked our main character and her interactions with the other characters. I like how this book kind of goes into the grey morals that come with clones. It isn't always easy and not every situation is the same. I thought it was interesting. There isn't too much of a plot but it works really well. I also loved the writing and therefore will definetly check out more by Sarah Gailey in the future.

Ruth Parker 

This was a sci fi thriller book which made me question right, wrong and my own ability to make choices to benefit myself or others. I enjoyed this story a lot, although I felt like there was more opportunity to make it thrilling at points. For me this was much more a simple sci-fi story with elements of contemporary, rather than heavy sci-fi or thriller but I enjoyed it a lot. Would recommend to those who enjoyed The Perfect Wife by J.P. Delaney.

Ruby Huber

This book has a narrator that is SO UNLIKEABLE like she is detestable if you knew her irl you would make up an excuse to skip hanging out with her every time she’s the worst.... and yet..... I love it, and I didn’t think I was gonna be so down with clones but I actually had a lovely time.

Kayla Smith

Usually, when it comes to shorter books like this I want more. For this one, I thought the ending actually dragged on quite a bit longer than it needed to. However, I enjoyed most of this book so 3.5 stars!

Simon Harrison

Super premise. Unsympathetic protagonists make it a challenge to finish. The narrator is incapable of any form of positivity or joy, I expect deliberately so, but it makes the book quite boring

Angelique Cather

This book was far different than I thought it would be. I expected it to have suspense and action and it doesn't have either. Martine and Evelyn accomplish exactly what they set out to do with no hiccups. There is never a threat of being caught or something in the plan going awry. Any action that does take place happens in the background and the reader just gets to see the aftermath but doesn't actually read about any of the action while it is taking place. The book also has very minimal world building and character development. The majority of the story takes place at Evelyn's lab which is located in a city. Thats about all the world building there is. The only character that has any character development is Martine who over time starts to be able to override parts of her programming. Evelyn has hints of character development but these never come to fruition. She is, for the most part, the same person she is at the beginning.

Trigger warnings: (view spoiler)[cheating, murder, knife violence, blood & gore, pregnancy (hide spoiler)]

While I have loved the Gailey books I picked up previously, I was hesitant about picking this one up. This is because - based on the synopsis - this felt as though it was going to be much more domestic fiction than science fiction. And I was right on the money. 

The Echo Wife has a fascinating premise. I truly enjoyed the way Gailey explored the sci-fi elements, in particular the idea of a clone taking over one's marriage. However, the science elements are very minimal, rather acing as a platform for the plot and a background for the main character, Evelyn. 

Once you look past these elements, this is very much a domestic fiction story - two women and unlikely companions working together to solve an unlikely domestic situation. 

I still adore Gailey's writing style. The way she depicts strong female characters which care little about acting 'softer' for societal comfort is often a highlight in her books. The Echo Wife is no different - both Evelyn and her clone, Martine, show their unique strengths that come across raw and authentically. 

Overall, this was never going to be a favourite book of mine. But it's a fantastic story in its own right and I have no doubt many readers will love it.


  Note: Review copy (audio) received via Libro.FM. This does not impact opinions within this review.


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Happy reading! ❤

Becca Futrell

3.5 rounded up!

The last quarter of this book won me over.

Kym &
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

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