The Family Experiment

<p><b>'John Marrs is not to be missed' – Freida McFadden, bestselling author of<i> The Housemaid</i><br><br>'Few writers do domestic suspense meets dystopia better than John Marrs' – Lucy Foley, bestselling author of <i>The Paris Apartment</i></b><br><br><b>'The books of John Marrs have become a quiet phenomenon . . . Thoughtful, well written . . . and alarming' – <i>Daily Mail</i></b><br><br><b>Some families are <i>virtually </i>perfect . . .</b><br><br>The world’s population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. A growing number of people can no longer afford to start families, let alone raise them.<br><br>But for those desperate to experience parenthood, there is an alternative. For a monthly fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch, accessing them via the Metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind MetaChildren has created a reality TV show. It will follow its contestants as they raise a MetaChild from birth to the age of eighteen, in a condensed nine-month time period. The prize: the right to keep their virtual child – or risk it all for the chance of a real baby . . .<br><br><b>The Goodreads Choice Award runner up, <i>The Family Experiment </i>is set in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel<i> The One </i>and <i>The Marriage Act</i>. A dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate 'tamagotchi' – a virtual baby.<br><br>'Speculative fiction at its best – original, dark and wickedly clever' – C. L. Taylor, author of <i>Every Move You Make</i><br><br>'His best yet. Frighteningly plausible, gripping, dark, and so clever' – Claire Douglas, author of <i>The Woman Who Lied</i><br><br>'Hurtles towards a chilling denouement – a truly thought-provoking, single-sitting thriller' – Ellery Lloyd, author of <i>The Club</i><br><br>'Chilling, inventive, horribly plausible and brilliantly addictive' – C. J. Tudor, author of <i>The Gathering</i></b></p>