5.0 (2 ratings)
Family Experiment
A Novel
The Goodreads Choice Award 2024 runner up, The Family Experiment is a dark and twisted speculative thriller set in the same universe as John Marrs's bestselling novel The One and The Marriage Act, about the ultimate "tamagotchi"--a virtual baby.
Some families are virtually perfect...
The world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the breaking point has arrived. 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 subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality TV show called The Substitute. It will follow ten couples as they raise a virtual child from birth to the age of eighteen but 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...
Don't miss other suspenseful reads from John Marrs (you'll never see the twists coming!):
Some families are virtually perfect...
The world's population is soaring, creating overcrowded cities and an economic crisis. And in the UK, the breaking point has arrived. 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 subscription fee, clients can create a virtual child from scratch who they can access via the metaverse and a VR headset. To launch this new initiative, the company behind Virtual Children has created a reality TV show called The Substitute. It will follow ten couples as they raise a virtual child from birth to the age of eighteen but 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...
Don't miss other suspenseful reads from John Marrs (you'll never see the twists coming!):
- The Marriage Act
- The Vacation
- The Family Experiment
- The One
Pages: 384
ISBN: 9781335000361
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Available in: Hardcover, Paperback, Ebook
See all editions (9)Reader Reviews
5.0
2 ratings
Carol G.
Feb 12, 2026
The Family Experiment is sharp, clever, and totally unforgettable. If I could give it more stars, I would. I listened to the audiobook, and the narrators were perfect at bringing this unique story to life. There were quite a few characters at the beginning and I had to concentrate hard to follow at first, but soon they became characters with so much depth, I could not stop listening. I will definitely be reading all his books!
Cheyenne Joy .
Feb 8, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Family Experiment by John Marrs
Well, there goes another perfectly productive afternoon — straight into Marrs’ psychological blender. I told myself I’d just read a few chapters before tackling the laundry. Spoiler: the laundry lost. Meals? Skipped. Responsibilities? Ignored. My paperback might as well have been superglued to my hands because The Family Experiment absolutely owned me from the first page.
This book is John Marrs doing what he does best — poking at our shiny modern lives until something ugly crawls out. A futuristic “what if” that feels way too close to when, if you ask me. The whole idea of blending technology, morality, and human desperation is so sharp it actually hurts a little. Families being “matched” or built through cutting-edge systems that promise perfection — it’s the kind of premise that sounds both genius and horrifying.
I was amazed. Then petrified. Then both at once. Marrs somehow makes you question everything — technology, ethics, the illusion of control — all while you’re too busy flipping pages to process your existential crisis. It’s fast-paced, thought-provoking, and uncomfortably believable. That’s the worst (and best) part: it doesn’t feel like fiction, it feels like a glimpse of next year’s breaking news.
I finished it with my brain buzzing, my moral compass spinning, and a deep, slightly queasy respect for Marrs’ ability to make me love being this unsettled. An absolute must-read for fans — or honestly, anyone who wants to feel simultaneously entertained and mildly terrified about where humanity’s headed.
The Family Experiment by John Marrs
Well, there goes another perfectly productive afternoon — straight into Marrs’ psychological blender. I told myself I’d just read a few chapters before tackling the laundry. Spoiler: the laundry lost. Meals? Skipped. Responsibilities? Ignored. My paperback might as well have been superglued to my hands because The Family Experiment absolutely owned me from the first page.
This book is John Marrs doing what he does best — poking at our shiny modern lives until something ugly crawls out. A futuristic “what if” that feels way too close to when, if you ask me. The whole idea of blending technology, morality, and human desperation is so sharp it actually hurts a little. Families being “matched” or built through cutting-edge systems that promise perfection — it’s the kind of premise that sounds both genius and horrifying.
I was amazed. Then petrified. Then both at once. Marrs somehow makes you question everything — technology, ethics, the illusion of control — all while you’re too busy flipping pages to process your existential crisis. It’s fast-paced, thought-provoking, and uncomfortably believable. That’s the worst (and best) part: it doesn’t feel like fiction, it feels like a glimpse of next year’s breaking news.
I finished it with my brain buzzing, my moral compass spinning, and a deep, slightly queasy respect for Marrs’ ability to make me love being this unsettled. An absolute must-read for fans — or honestly, anyone who wants to feel simultaneously entertained and mildly terrified about where humanity’s headed.