Perfect People book review

Perfect People by Peter James
Published by Macmillan Pages: 484
Goodreads

When a young couple join a fertility programme run by a clinic in America they little suspect that the happy day that follows is the last day of mankind's evolutionary supremacy. Mankind is facing its greatest challenge: obsolescence.Longlisted for the 2012 Wellcome Trust Book Prize.

Perfect People was recommended to me by one of my best friends and I’m glad I gave it a chance, it was something completely different than what I had read in the past. I thought there was something weird about the entire thing but I was also intrigued by the story and the kids that obviously were centre stage all the way through. I don’t know whether I would be able to love my children if they were born the way the twins were and also the challenges that came with it which is something that is talked about in this book. I think this book handled this very well, I don’t think it shied away from the grief that the family faced and how having the new babies affected them. There would have been a lot of books that wouldn’t have had shared the same opinion as this one did and I really appreciated that.

If I’m being completely honest, the characters bore me a little bit. I kinda wanted there to be a little bit more substance to both them and their hobbies, I kind of felt that they gave way to these small children and I recognise that the children become a huge part of their lives but I firmly believe that it shouldn’t have been the only thing that made them interesting. The hardest part of this book was the fact that the parents weren’t interesting people and there was some of the story where I actually couldn’t work out what they were there for. I wish that we would have seen more of the children growing up and had more of their perspective because I think that would have taken this book to a whole new level.

I think the best bit of Perfect People was definitely the twins and watching their interactions with one another. I thought it was fascinating to see how they manage to outwit all of those around them and come up with their own language. I loved learning about the different ways they distract themselves from being too smart for their own good. I wish that we had seen more of the behaviour because it was my favourite part of the book, and I think it was underplayed.

Apart from the parents being the most boring people ever born the worst bit of Perfect People would have to be the ending and the way that it all ends. I didn’t really understand what happened or why it all happened, I think the ‘twist’ ending was well done but the drama that surrounded it baffled me. I don’t really get why everything ended the way it did, I was expecting something else and that would have made more sense than what actually happened.

I would recommend the story purely because it’s an interesting concept but I do think there could have been better execution and better parents. I did enjoy it was just expecting something different and better.

Have you read any books like Perfect People where the concept was perfect but the execution just wasn’t there? Let me know in the comments.