Book Review: The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

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πŸ’πŸ’πŸ’πŸ’(four stars as rated in wedding rings worn until death do us part, do us part, do us part, do us part…)

Evelyn Caldwell’s human cloning technology changed the world for everyone, herself included. When Evelyn’s catches her husband having an affair with a clone of her Evelyn is forced to keep it quiet or risk ruining everything she’s worked for. Now her ex is dead – murdered in self defense by his “new wife” – and the women must work together to cover it up or lose the things that matter most to both of them.


“Why would you ever cut the blooms off the rosebush?”

It was one of the only truly useful things she ever taught me: Stress stimulates growth. Sometimes, in order to make something develop in the right direction, you have to hurt it.

Sarah Gailey, The Echo Wife

You know that feeling when you’re reading a book and you think, “oh this is going to get made into a movie without question.” I felt that so many times while reading The Echo Wife that I may just go ahead and start my own studio and make the thing myself! It’s just such a gloriously original thriller that the idea of it not getting optioned feels a bit preposterous. I, for one, totally devoured this book and now consider myself an official member of the “Sarah Gailey is brilliantly talented in all ways” club. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys dark themes, LOTS of internal reflection on the part of the protagonist and morally ambiguous characters. To me, though, none of that felt tiring to get through, which is actually rather shocking considering that this book is far more character based than it is plot based. Especially for a thriller. From a literary standpoint, The Echo Wife is edited just beautifully and the flow of the thing itself is outstanding.


πŸ’­ Speculative
πŸ’€ Dark Content
🎲 Plot Twists
πŸ›Έ Sci-Fi/Fantasy

✨ Rep in this book: NB author

✨ Content warnings for this book: death of a spouse, death of a parent, murder, blood, medical stuff, adultery, domestic violence, confinement

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Image Description: flat lay featuring the book The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey. My hand is reaching into the frame of the photo and holding a tumbler of clear liquid (presumably alcohol) and ice to the left of the book. A string of pearls lingers near the top. The image has been shattered like a mirror so that the shards of the photo do not align quite right.

About the Author: Sarah Gailey

Hugo award winner Sarah Gailey lives and works in California. Their nonfiction has been published by Mashable and the Boston Globe, and their fiction has been published internationally. Their debut novel, Magic for Liars, was an LA Times bestseller. Their most recent novel, The Echo Wife, is available now. You can find links to their work at http://www.sarahgailey.com. They tweet @gaileyfrey. (Copied from the author’s personal website).


Personal note: girl on science fiction

The best part of science fiction (imo) is being asked to suspend your disbelief in order to entertain a false reality. It turns out, though, that there are a lot of people who don’t actually like that. Which is wild to me since, that is literally the POINT behind the genre? The Echo Wife asks a lot of disbelif suspension on the part of the reader. So, if you’re not ready to do that then this book will not hit the mark for you. On that note, if you can’t get on board with fake science then you probably should just mosey on out of the sci-fi genre and stay out of it forever. πŸ™ˆ

Best,

Sarah

Published by Sarah

My name is Sarah and I can't imagine my life without books. Actually, I can and it's terrible. I'm also into climbing, video games and bothering the nearest cat.

7 thoughts on “Book Review: The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

  1. You piqued my interest with this book Review xD
    Honestly it’s been years since I’ve read a Thriller ! I’m more of a Mystery & crime type of gal.
    Maybe I’ll pick it up,- amazing Review πŸ™‚

    Liked by 1 person

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