The Need

Author: Helen Phillips

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 272

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: July 9, 2019

Book Description: When Molly, home alone with her two young children, hears footsteps in the living room, she tries to convince herself it’s the sleep deprivation. She’s been hearing things these days. Startling at loud noises. Imagining the worst-case scenario. It’s what mothers do, she knows. But then the footsteps come again, and she catches a glimpse of movement. Suddenly Molly finds herself face-to-face with an intruder who knows far to much about her and her family. As she attempts to protect those she loves most, Molly must also acknowledge her own frailty. Molly slips down an existential rabbit hole where she must confront the dualities of motherhood: the ecstasy and the dread; the languor and the ferocity; and the banality and the transcendence as the book hurtles toward a mind-bending conclusion. In the Need, Helen Phillips has created a subversive, speculative thriller that comes to life through blazing, arresting prose and gorgeous, haunting imagery. Anointed as one of the most exciting fiction writers working today. The Need is a glorious celebration of the bizarre and beautiful nature of our everyday lives.

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars

Review: The Need is one of the most intriguing books I have read, since probably Phillips last book. I started this last night and finished first thing this morning, I absolutely needed to know what happened. This is speculative fiction at it’s core.

Molly’s husband is a musician and on tour, leaving her alone to care for her two young children along with a nanny. Molly is an anthropologist an oversees a site where they have found relics that have caused somewhat of an uproar. When she is at home she lovingly cares for her children. At night she begins to hears noise and then she meets the intruder. What happens from there is extremely strange, but oh so good.

Helen Phillips is such a rich imaginative writer. With each book that she writes, I quickly put this on my To Be Read Stack. This book does not disappoint. I am not sure this book will be for everyone, but if you are willing to take a chance I would highly recommend this one.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book, for an honest opinion.