The Family Experiment

Author: Marrs, John Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)Published on 27 February 2025 by PAN MACMILLAN (Pan Books) in the United Kingdom.Paperback | 480 pages196 x 131 x 31 | 322g John Marrs is not to be missed – Freida McFadden, bestselling author of The HousemaidFew writers do domestic suspense meets dystopia better than John Marrs – Lucy Foley, bestselling author of The Paris ApartmentThe books of John Marrs have become a quiet phenomenon . . . Thoughtful, well written . . . and alarming – Daily MailSome families are virtually perfect . . .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.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 . . .The Goodreads Choice Award 2024 runner up, The Family Experiment is set in the same universe as John Marrss bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act. A dark and twisted thriller about the ultimate tamagotchi - a virtual baby.Speculative fiction at its best – original, dark and wickedly clever – C. L. Taylor, author of Every Move You MakeHis best yet. Frighteningly plausible, gripping, dark, and so clever – Claire Douglas, author of The Woman Who LiedHurtles towards a chilling denouement - a truly thought-provoking, single-sitting thriller – Ellery Lloyd, author of The ClubChilling, inventive, horribly plausible and brilliantly addictive – C. J. Tudor, author of The Gathering