The Marriage Act: The unmissable speculative thriller from the author of The One

Product Information

If you're a Librarian and want to process requests, please refer to our Librarian Manual to ensure edits are performed in line with Goodreads policies.

For help with these queries or to submit general questions, comments or feature requests, try Goodreads Help or use the Contact Us form.

As someone who easily gets frustrated with too many people I have to remember, I have to admit it took me until about 50% in this one to keep them all straight. It's not only the marriage as such, it is also the laws that dictate how and where you can live, and if the marriage fails, what the consequences are. Marrs builds on techno-dystopian ideas explored in prior books (there are Easter eggs connecting this outing to both The One and The Passengers) to craft a scarily plausible world. Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published. Overall, another immersive well written and well thought out novel that is thought provoking as well as entertaining.

The Marriage Act could have been used to make some really interesting point, about policy-making, about surveillance, about patriarchal institutions… but instead, there was no critical thought to accompany the concept, beyond “Wouldn’t be scary if the government used Alexa to listen to our marital spats? Say “I Do” to one and you will get greater personal tax allowances, a nicer home with access to top schools for your children, and access to NHS for speedier healthcare among other things. Short chapters, alternating between the couples and those enforcing the law, keep the story hopping!The two elements that makes his books so enjoyable is his skillful use of multiple viewpoints, and the fact that he makes the improbable feel almost possible. The effect of continuous monitoring and AI extends beyond the constraints of the four couples' relationships and bleeds into everything from social media and work to their children's education and personal finances.

But four couples are about to discover just how impossible relationships can be when the government is monitoring every aspect of our personal lives, monitoring every word, every minor disagreement…And it will use every tool in its arsenal to ensure everyone will love, honour and obey! The Audite listens to conversations and dispatches a relationship expert to help when things seem rocky, and recommends divorce if it is deemed untenable. The perfect partner is what they say, but when the marriage act becomes the rule of the land, we begin to see the cracks in the philosophy. In a world that is increasingly dominated by the influence of social media, technology, AI and surveillance, John Marrs’ narrative has a strong argument to make. It’s actually scarily plausible and it doesn’t take much imagination to make that leap into this world of surveillance and intrusion.It is forbidden to copy anything for publication elsewhere without written permission from the copyright holder. The Goodreads Libra Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog.