The Echo Wife

October 19, 2020
This creepy, exhilarating science fiction outing from Gailey (Magic for Liars) dissects an unconventional affair that violates both a couple’s marriage vows and scientific integrity. Dr. Evelyn Caldwell is startled to discover that her husband, Nathan, has been seeing another woman—and even more shocked to learn that the other woman is a clone of Evelyn herself. Nathan created Martine to be everything Evelyn isn’t: attentive, submissive, and family-oriented. Adding insult to injury, Nathan used Evelyn’s own research to do so. An explosive confrontation among the three ends in Nathan’s murder, leaving Evelyn and Martine forced to work together to cover up the crime. It’s a situation that is not entirely unfamiliar for Evelyn, whose troubled past is teased out bit by bit. The women slowly discover that Nathan was hiding more secrets than either of them knew, forcing Martine and Evelyn to think on their feet in order to save themselves and the odd little family they create along the way. Gailey’s story unspools as a series of dark reveals that leave both the characters and the audience reeling. Readers won’t want to put this one down.

Starred review from November 1, 2020
Gailey's latest (after Upright Women Wanted, 2020) is a razor-sharp psychological thriller. Evelyn, the scientist who unlocked the key to creating clones, is still hurting from her divorce from the emotionally abusive Nathan. The worst part? She can't tell anyone the thing that finally broke them apart: the woman he's living with and engaged to, Martine, is a clone he created using Evelyn's own research, which if discovered, could ruin her. It's not just any clone, either. Martine is a reprogrammed clone of her. This is a twisting thought experiment about both the creation and the humanity of clones. Evelyn is a fascinating character, a brutal, practical scientist who often grates at the reader with her stubborn refusals to apologize--a ""strength"" she learned from her cold father. The Echo Wife is a slow burn, but the emotional intensity simmering under Evelyn's skin and the revelations that spin out of the plot are well worth the investment. Gailey's expertise with suspense and their success in presenting the reader with impossible choices about the ethics of cloning, biological programming and editing, and of Evelyn's specific, difficult situation, will leave the reader thinking about the novel long after the final page.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.