This was one of those books that as I read it, I couldn't decide if I loved or hated it. Then when it was finished I wanted everyone around me to read it so we could discuss it.

Twisting, turning, thrilling. Confusing, frustrating, it was all of the things. I did enjoy it. I would recommend it. But it also drove me crazy.

There was some content that was way too triggering for me. I think this would be a better read for people who don’t get scared or creeped out easily. Not the right read for me at all.

The Need was a very "seat of your pants" type of book. I didnt sleep well for days! Good pace of storytelling.

A well-written story that could read like nonfiction.

The Need tells the story of an archaeologist, Molly. She is married and the mother of two small children. She spends dividing her time between work, caring for her children which in turn leaves her exhausted. Then to make matters worse there are several discoveries at work that are perplexing.

Overall, I truly enjoyed reading this book and I hope to read more by this author in the future!!

The Need by Helen Phillips is a book that I was really excited to get to after seeing a bunch of rave reviews for it. Of course, I still kept putting it off and putting it off until I finally decided I needed to get it off my shelf and see what the fuss was all about. Well, I think the thing that has me most torn about the novel is the writing style, although the story itself is a strange duck as well. I didn't really understand quite what was going on or how everything with the intruder could have worked out. I feel like I missed a major theme and a bunch of metaphors since I couldn't comprehend the story. In other words, this is a book that was too smart for me and in turn one I couldn't fully grasp.

One of the things that saved me a bit with The Need was the audiobook which is narrated by Alex Allwine. I was definitely a fan of Allwine's narration and being as I had already listened to her narrate other books; I was really happy to have her as the narrator for this one. Even though I didn't understand what was going on half the time, I enjoyed listening to her and she kept me going. I will say there is definitely something about Phillips' writing that drew me in, and that combined with the oddness of the story had me strangely captivated. There are science fiction elements to the plot as well and while the synopsis calls it a speculative thriller, I didn't really get much of the thriller part. Overall, just an odd experience for me and a book that I would recommend to the right person (ESP if you like speculative fiction), and it might hit mothers differently than it did me since I have no kids.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Need by Helen Phillips left me shooketh.

I need to talk about it! Let’s be a virtual, completely unorganized, and informal book club on this one.

This book really grabs me in a way that not many books do. It’s called a “subversive, speculative thriller” in its description. Sold!

It begins with a thrilling element. Molly is home alone with her two young children when she hears a sound. Oddly, the intruder seems to know an awful lot about her.

I shan’t tell you more, for t’would spoil the story! And it’s a mighty fine story, indeed.

There are a lot of conflicting emotions within Molly. The part that struck gold for me was remembering the emotions I felt when my own children were young. The bone-deep fatigue that feels like it will never go away. The agony and ecstasy of parenthood.

“She and David had a running joke about how they both feared their kids at night the same way that, as children, they’d feared monsters under the bed. Beasts that would rise up from the side of your bed, seize you with sharp nails and demand things of you.”
― Helen Phillips, The Need

It makes it easier to understand some of Molly’s questionable choices.

The Need is such a compelling, exquisitely complex book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advance e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I adore the concept and twist here, this was a fun read and while others may have found the ending unsatisfying, I think the ambiguity of was successfully chilling. I'm also grateful for the way review and media attention on this book helped draw focus and give platform to other works of "motherhood horror," a subgenre I am most interested in seeing more of!

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I was not a fan of this book. I kept reading to see if it got better, but I disliked it. I apologize that I can't leave more positive feedback.

This one was nominated for goodreads best horror and it piqued my interest to open. Made me realize I am not having children.

I tried to read this book and it is just not my genre, and I didn't enjoy the style of writing. I gave up reading it.

Molly is home alone with her four-year-old and newborn when she’s sure she hears it: someone inside her house. Shaking it off, she tries to convince herself that it’s just sleep deprivation and weird things happening at work that are making her extra jumpy. Maybe there were more to those death threats than anybody thought. Or maybe Molly is just losing her mind.

On the surface, The Need by Helen Phillips is a story about the anxieties of parenthood. Yet, as the story progresses, it becomes clear that Molly is working hard to maintain the other aspects of herself, trying not to let the identity of mother engulf her completely. Perhaps there’s something wrong with this, perhaps there isn’t; Phillips isn’t here to argue that. What she does draw attention to is the pressure of having to do it all, to be everything — to be perfect — on complete physical and mental exhaustion. If Molly can’t even trust herself with her children right now, how can she expect to be able to trust anyone else? Trust what’s real and what’s not?

Speculative and lyrical, The Need by Helen Phillips is a thought-provoking look into the terrors of motherhood and womanhood with an ending I never saw coming. A must-read for fans of The Dreamers by Karen Thomspon Walker and The Farm by Joanne Ramos.

The Need is a new take on an old science fiction theme - what if there are multiple universes, each slightly different, and what if counterparts from two universes meet? The twist here - a grieving mother who has lost her children finds herself in a parallel universe where her children are still alive, as is their mother. I found very engaging the author's treatment of how the two mothers with common memories try to coexist.. But I found the ending a bit confusing .Definitely Worth reading but don't expect the book to tie up many of the remaining loose ends.

"And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness she called Night."

'The Need' is one of the best and most unforgettable books I have read this year! A dreamy, eerie and speculative story that explores motherhood and touches on the supernatural, this book is a real page-turner.

Written in short chapters, 'The Need' is the story of Molly, a paleobotanist who is working on an excavation site. The scientists at the site have begun to unearth very strange objects at the site that all seem to be unrelated: a Bible, an Alotids tin, a Coke bottle. The artifacts have begun to attract crowds of tourists, and tours are given every day. What is the meaning behind these ordinary yet off objects?

"Every time she saw the Bible, even there beneath the glass, Molly experienced the same dangerous charge, that buzz in her fingertips a month ago when she first carved away the dirt around it."

Certain members of the crowd begin to frighten Molly, as the public does not seem to be as excited about the artifacts as Molly is. In addition to being pressured at work, Molly is overwhelmed at home with the constant demands of motherhood. Molly's husband is traveling for work for most of the book and their two young children are exhausting Molly.

The author's best writing is when she describes the brutality and the beauty of motherhood. Molly is constantly exhausted but completely devoted to her children. When a masked intruder breaks into their home one night, Molly's entire world is turned upside down.

“She wondered if other mothers experienced it, this permanent state of mild panic, and worried that perhaps they didn’t, that perhaps something was wrong with her. What a phenomenon it was to be with her children, to spend every moment so acutely aware of the abyss, the potential injury flickering within each second.”

'The Need' is part thriller, part science fiction and all imagination. Parts of the book reminded me of Blake Crouch's 'Dark Matter' but the writing here is dreamy and lush. I also felt that this story was almost painfully real! The conclusion is like nothing I have ever read.

Even though this book has its dark and eerie moments, there is still plenty of humor to lighten the mood. There are also powerful messages about motherhood and marriage. I literally flew through this book in two days which is very unusual for me. Although I may not have agreed with Molly's choices in the book, I applaud the author for the incredibly creative plot and very beleivable characters.

'The Need' is definitely among my top favorite books this year. It is unique and beautiful and thought-provoking!

*Thanks to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review of this title.*

This book wasn't what I thought it would be. Instead of a home invasion story, I was reading a tale of doppelgangers and other dimensions. This book is a good addition to stores with those themes.

I loved Phillips’ The Beautiful Bureaucrat and thought it was just the right amount of weird. I thought I was going to feel the same about The Need and did at first, but it ended up getting too weird for me. The beginning has the same “WTF is going on” vibe as The Beautiful Bureaucrat…that coupled with very short chapters had me dying to know what was happening and quickly turning the pages. There was a strange otherworldliness mixed in with regular life and spot-on observations about motherhood. It was an odd combination, but it worked for me. Then, things went sideways. It’s hard to elaborate more than that without spoiling things, but the ending was so confusing that I mentally checked out. There were some weird religious elements and absolutely no resolution (which often doesn’t bother me, but did this time). I feel like this book was one big allegory for motherhood…showing the soul-crushing tediousness alongside the immense joys and how mothers struggle to balance the two. And, I would’ve loved that, but then the ending just made no sense at all.

An amazing and totally original story line. I found myself wanting to reread it immediately after I finished it. Recommended for readers that can handle a more intricate plot.

This book started off well, I was intrigued and engrossed and couldn't read fast enough.
And then...it just got weirder and weirder and I guess I'm not smart enough to figure out what was going on because I just did not get it. I do have an interpretation of the ending, but even so, it fell flat because the author just tried to hard to make it esoteric and that's where she lost me.
I suppose it can be considered a metaphor/allegory about motherhood. But it didn't need to be as strange as it got to be in the end. I just felt like the author tried to do too much-make it sci fi, make it speculative, make it an allegory, and yet she doesn't fully achieve any of those thing in my eyes.
If you like I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Ian Reid or Ill Will by Don Chaon (which MANY people do), this is the book for you. Otherwise, you might want to give it a skip unless you are in the right mood. It's pretty short so it's a fast read

This was not exactly what I had hoped for- the story just wasn't cohesive for me. So much potential, but it fell flat

Thank you to #netgalley and #helenphllips for the read

Molly hears what sounds like footsteps in her home. It might be an intruder, but it might just be normal house noises. She is home alone with her young children, and she will do anything to keep them safe while trying not to overreact, because there’s no need to frighten the kids if the noises amount to nothing. What begins as an everyday fear, noises in the night, slowly escalates with each brilliant twist and turn of the story into a thrilling exploration of a mother’s greatest fears. Nearly every anxiety parents feel, particularly mothers, is explored in this novel making it a terrifying read for anyone with children, or even those who worry about things that go bump in the night. I highly recommend it.