I received a gifted galley of THE NEW ONE by Evie Green for an honest review. Thank you to Berkley Publishing and PRH Audio for the opportunity!
Rating: 4 / 5
Publication Date: 3/28/2023
THE NEW ONE begins with a horrible accident. Tamsyn and Ed have a rebellious teenage daughter Scarlett. As they are attempting to keep her home and she is attempting to get away, she is struck by a car and left comatose. With insurance about to run out and no other recourse, someone offers them a miracle. Scarlett’s medical care will be provided free of charge, they will be given unlimited cash and a new home… The only thing they must agree to do is taken in a duplicate copy of their daughter.
Initially a bit wary, but willing to do anything to keep their daughter alive, Tamsyn and Ed agree. They are surprised to find how real and lovable this replacement is, a perfect combination of human clone and AI. But what happens when Scarlett wakes up and disrupts the newly happy family?
This was a fun mix of sci-fi with a bit of thriller and mystery thrown in. The company behind this miracle procedure is of course not entirely on the level and Tamsyn and Ed have been targeted as desperate parents willing to do anything no questions asked. While I did guess some of the twists along the way, I didn’t get all of them and the author did manage some surprises.
In addition to the thriller / sci-fi plot, the author does include some interesting conversations about what makes a person who they really are. The technology proposed here is of course fiction, but also a little scary. When discussing their daughter’s duplicate, they have the option to tweak her personality. While her parents love her, wouldn’t it be nice to have a daughter who wasn’t quite so rebellious? There were some times where characters acted a little out of character in my opinion, some of which can be explained by the extreme circumstances, but some felt a little on the convenient side. This did not, however, impact my enjoyment.
This was a really fun ride and a quick binge read on audio. I appreciated that we got two narrators to help with the POV shifts as well on the audio.
THE NEW ONE is available now!
DG Reads 