John Marrs presents us with another action-packed science fiction mystery thriller. “The Family Experiment” combines my favorite pastimes: reading, technology, and trash TV. Set in the future, where AI has largely taken over, companies are developing a Metaverse and the ability for humans to have MetaChildren. As part of the company’s pre-launch of MetaChildren, they stage a reality competition where individuals compete to raise their MetaChild for viewers to vote on who is the best parent or parents. The winner wins a cash prize and the opportunity to keep their MetaChild, while the losers walks away with nothing and their MetaChild deleted from existence.

While this may seem futuristic and straightforward, the backstory on how MetaChildren were created and the individual competitors’ stories are far from ordinary and keep readers gripping to uncover the truth behind the scenes.

This novel evokes the vibe of Black Mirror, and at times, it’s not hard to believe that AI and MetaChildren are too far from our future. Will society be able to keep up with this technology? Will it be used for good, evil, or something else entirely? Only time will tell, but for now, we have Marrs’ novel to explore the fictional possibilities that AI and MetaChildren bring to his story. Give this one a read!