The Marriage Act by John Marrs — ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5
I always get excited to pick up a new John Marrs book because I love how original his ideas are, and The Marriage Act definitely had a really interesting premise.
It is set in a near-future world where married couples can sign up to a government-backed scheme designed to make marriages happier, stronger and more successful. In return, they receive lots of benefits — but the rules are strict, the monitoring is intense, and leaving the programme is not as simple as it sounds.
As with all of John Marrs’ books, the concept is clever and slightly unsettling. I loved the idea behind it and could really imagine parts of it becoming possible in the future, which made it feel quite thought-provoking. The book follows several different characters and relationships, showing how the scheme affects people in very different ways. The problem being I didn’t find any of the characters engaging enough to want to be rooting for- and this is where it fell down for
me
However, although I enjoyed it overall, this one did not quite hit the mark for me in the same way that The One did. There were definitely plenty of twists, drama and moments that kept me reading, but I found some parts a little harder to connect with and it did not have me as completely hooked as I was hoping.
John Marrs is still one of my favourite authors for a clever, fast-paced and slightly dark thriller, and I will absolutely keep reading everything he brings out. I loved the Passengers and also The One and this is in opinion not as good as either The Marriage Act is a good read with a brilliant concept, but for me it was a solid 3-star book rather than one of his stand-out favourites.
