Book Review: The New One

THE NEW ONE | Evie Green
03.28.2023 | Berkley
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

For Tamsyn and Ed, life is tough. They both work long hours for very little money and come home to their moody, rebellious daughter, Scarlett.

After a tragic accident leaves Scarlett comatose and with little chance of recovery, Tamsyn and Ed are out of options until a lifeline emerges in the form of an unusual medical trial. In exchange for the very best treatment for Scarlett, a fully furnished apartment, and a limitless spending account, the family must agree to move to Switzerland and welcome an artificial copy of their daughter into their home.

Suddenly their life is transformed. Tamsyn and Ed want for nothing, and the AI replacement, Sophie, makes it feel just like having their daughter back–except without all the bad parts. Sophie is engaged, happy, and actually wants to spend time with her parents.

But things take a turn for the worse when Scarlett makes a very real recovery and the family discovers that the forces behind their new life are darker than they ever could have imagined.

I’m always on the hunt for a thriller with a unique premise, so when I heard about The New Ones, I knew it was one I wanted to check out. What I found within the pages was something much twistier and way more clever than I was expecting! 

This is going to be a hard book to talk about without spoiling any of the details, so I’m going to keep things a bit vague and go with a pros and cons list review.

Pros:
📚 The premise! I love the mix of humans and AI being forced into the same living situation and watching how both choose to interact.
📚 The characters! Everyone felt very genuine and their reactions to different twists or reveals were on point.
📚 The ending! What a ride! I was absolutely glued to the pages at the end of this book wondering what exactly would happen.

Cons:
📚 The pacing. Things started very slow for me with this book and it wasn’t until around the second half that I felt things really started to pick up. I still loved the story the entire time, but it took me a while to get into everything because of the pace. 

A huge thank you to Berkley for my gifted copy!