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The Family Experiment definitely posed many an ethical question!

It’s the most explosive. addictive reality show to hit British television �� live-streaming around the world �� welcome to The Family Experiment!

11 contestants �� 5 couples, 1 single parent �� each challenged to raise a virtual child in the metaverse from birth to 18 years.

Duration of the experiment �� 9 months, 9 life stages.

The viewing public will be there for it all �� watching, dissecting, judging, voting �� twenty-four-seven.

Only one family will win.

The losers�� meta-children will be terminated.

After all, they’re not real!

John Marrs�� latest futuristic techno thriller set in the same universe as The One (2016), The Passengers (2019), and The Marriage Act (2023) was certainly hard hitting and disconcerting, especially considering a version of this could potentially be our future given the alarming pace and rise in artificial intelligence, virtual reality, designer babies, and genetic engineering. Not to mention the global demand for the most controversial, dramatic and sensationalised reality TV possible, which I’m contributing to as shows like Selling Sunset and Married at First Sight Australia are my guilty pleasure. As a psychological suspense thriller, The Family Experiment more than met all my requirements - it was shocking, dark, exciting, fast-paced, addictive, and contained a multitude of gasp-worthy twists. As a drama it was chock full of toxic relationships, backstabbing and betrayal, emotional upheaval, and juicy secrets galore.

As mentioned above the nine months of the reality show unfolded in nine parts each containing chapters from the eleven parents/contestants POV’s. There were also flashbacks to twelve years earlier, breaking news stories, live chats from viewers at home, chapters following the fallout and outcry after the conclusion of the show, and narrators that need to remain anonymous.

During Part One which covered month one of The Family Experiment I struggled to keep all the parents and babies straight, which is rare for me. I think it was because the parents were dealing with newborns, and all the POV’s consisted of crying babies, nappy changes, etc, so not much to distinguish one from the other. But, once month two (nine months old) rolled around, along with the beginning of revealed past secrets, and relationship dynamics, I was home and hosed, and never forgot who-was-who, nor who was narrating after that. Also, in the opening chapters I struggled to get my head around all the technobabble being thrown around, as words like metaverse are largely outside my experience since I’m not an online gamer. I used to play The Sims in the early 2000’s, and the metaverse the meta-children inhabited in this novel, which their parents were able to visit, experience, create, and explore did remind me of that game, which helped me make sense of it all going forward. The age jumps, designing your dream home and dream life, and escaping-from-reality, were also reminiscent of The Sims and similar role-playing games. Of course, this virtual world was much more advanced, and realistic �� and of course, much scarier!

The audiobook was masterful �� performed to perfection. All the narrators excelled, and the bonus sound effects and music elevated my listening experiences. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

It seems John Marrs can do no wrong in my book no matter what genre he writes!