The New One by Evie Green ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

What would you do to save your family? What would you give up to have your family back? Honey and Ed Trelawney love their daughter, but she is out of control and they can't take much more. When she runs from the trailer at 3 am to meet some guy, they wonder if it would be better if she never came back - but still, they go after her. The car shows no signs of slowing and in an instant, their lives are changed forever.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

March 2023; Berkley; 978-0593439234
audio, ebook, print (400 pages); science fiction 

I don't read a lot of science fiction, but The New One is what I would call science fiction light. It is mostly a family drama with some advance technology. I was drawn to this novel because of the artificial intelligence that was being used. AI has been in the news a lot lately and the timing of this story seemed perfect.

The story is really well written. It flows well and the pacing is good. There's a big plot twist that had I been paying closer attention I might have seen coming but I was just so caught up in the story that I didn't notice the detail. But when I realized it, I was like wow.

While I'm not sure if science would really work the way it does in the book - there's human cloning involved. It is an interesting concept but the book skims over the science and focuses more on how an AI-powered clone interacts in the real world.

There is some mystery surrounding the whole thing. I was suspicious from the start. The Trelawneys are a poor, uneducated family. They live in a caravan - they live in England so I think it is like an RV. Ed works in a restaurant, but Honey works whatever jobs she can pick up - cleaning offices, picking crops, etc. They are desperate and when VitaNova dangles not only the best medical care but a whole new life in Switzerland they don't ask too many questions. But the reader has plenty.

I'm not sure how I feel about how the book ended. It was a little rushed which tempered the sense of danger. I think it was a missed opportunity to build more tension. Instead, we learn the danger that VitaNova poses and in just a few pages the story is over. 

I just looked at the page count, which is 400 pages, because I thought it was a short book. I read the ebook in big chunks and I can see where the author/publisher might not have wanted a 500 pages book, but I think the reader would have appreciated a bit more time exploring the danger - I know I would have.

Overall, this is an excellent book. It definitely provides a lot of food for thought and would be great for a book club. 

Buy The New One at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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