Paleobotanist working a new dig discovers artifacts that are bizarre. The question of parallel universes and worlds colliding while dealing with alternative realities drive the plot of this story. The ending was disappointing.

The Need by [Phillips, Helen]

I thought this was very solid--good characters, unpredictable plot.



Review copy provided by publisher.

Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle ARC of The Need.

This is my first book by this author and the blurb caught my eye so I went into this with an open mind.

Molly is a paleobotanist excavating a site known as the Pit of various archaeological items that defy conventional explanation or categorization.

At the same time, she is an overworked, exhausted, sleep deprived mother of two children under the age of five; her husband is a struggling musician who takes off when he gets a gig so, no surprise here, she does everything.

One night, Molly discovers an intruder in her house who seems to know everything about her. Her every move. Her secrets. Her life.

Who is this person? What does she want?

I don't want to give anything anyway because for me, this was the best part. The only good part.

After the reveal of the intruder, the story quickly fell apart and I wonder if its because the author was not sure where she was going with it.

I don't mind novels that break genres; most do.

The blurb had me anticipating a sci-fi Twilight Zone, X-Files-like kind of tale; not unlike something Blake Crouch would write.

And the possibilities were there!

What is the Pit? A portal to a multi-verse? A link to infinite worlds and lives and tragedies?

Why did this intruder show up and not manifestations of Molly's co-workers?

What about the bizarre Bible Molly found? What does that mean?

The writing is good but scattered, as if the author wasn't sure what she was trying to say:

Motherhood is hard, regardless if you have a full time job or not, and no one truly understands how hard overworked you are. Well, duh.

There is a lot of summarizing of the endless tasks that all mothers face; the demands for your attention, the wails of your children, the comfort and love and support they constantly need.

Mothers are humans too and all this neediness takes a toll on Molly. Life would be easier without children, but joyless and loveless, to an extent, she realizes.

There are more questions than any kind of answers:

Is it this exhaustion that summons the intruder?

What is Molly's connection to the Pit?

Who are these zealots who visit the site? What is their purpose?

There are many themes running throughout this short novel but nothing is touched upon, perhaps glossed vaguely but in a mild manner that didn't freak me out.

I wasn't even creeped out until the intruder showed up and then she proved to not be the adversary I hoped for.

I wanted madness, danger, confusion and some answers; I don't mind a vague ending, but an explanation or two wouldn't hurt.

Also, there's no sense of place.

Where is Molly working? Where is the Pit located? How did she come to work here?

There is also no background on Molly. Why did she become a paleobotanist? Does she enjoy it? What does she hope to gain from working this site?

I was not impressed with Molly, as a character and as a scientist.

She was frazzled, yes, because she has two young children and a demanding, stressful job with have drawn fanatics, but I caught no hint of how smart she is nor does she have any plan to figure out what the Pit is and why the intruder is here.

Instead, she does a lot of worrying about her children (fair enough) and wandering back and forth from her work site.

Perhaps the intruder is there to remind Molly that her children are a gift, in any multi-verse and she should be grateful.

I'm not sure since we don't know much about the intruder, either.

How did she get here? How long has she been here? Also, what the fudge is going on here?

There was great potential for The Need to be dark dangerous and downright frightening; instead, it was a slow paced story about a lackluster main character who seems not entirely interested in deciphering the reason this intruder has come into her life.

Or maybe its because she's just exhausted, like I was after reading it.

I did 'need' a break when I was done.

So begins The Need, a sharp and haunting exploration of the joys and perils of modern motherhood. Molly is a paleobotanist who spends her days working at a fossil quarry where she sometimes unearths artifacts that defy understanding, including a controversial Bible that has recently attracted gawkers and conspiracy theorists. By night, she cares for her two young children—four-year-old Viv and one-year-old Ben—while her musician husband is away on tour. She’s frazzled, sleep-deprived, and it seems the edges of her reality blur more each day.

When she hears an intruder in the house, Molly is desperate to keep her children safe. She confronts the figure in the deer mask—and discovers that this stranger knows everything about Molly and her family. Molly fears the most sinister motives even as she reluctantly, terrifyingly, acquiesces to the intruder’s demands. What happens once she learns the true identity of the trespasser is chilling and otherworldy.

This was a different type of story. It had a touch of creepiness and oddity. There were a few confusing parts but had a thrilling and shocking storyline.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of The Need by Helen Phillips
Pub Date: 09 Jul 2019

A slow start to this story, but boy did it pick up. Thanks to the author Helen Philips, NetGalley, and Simon & Schuster for comping this book. Very enjoyable!

This taut novel is a brilliant fever dream about motherhood and identity. It’s a perfect combination of thrilling page turner and cerebral, literary transcendence.

I hesitate to reveal too much about the plot because you should definitely go into it knowing as little as possible, but I will say this: it’s about an exhausted mother of two young children who works at a fossil quarry where she has recent unearthed a handful of strange items that appear just a touch removed from the world we know. One night, she is putting her children to bed when she is confronted by a masked intruder in her home. How these two storylines intersect is surreal and fascinating.

I had a similar feeling reading this as I had reading (and watching) Annihilation. The tension and dread are palpable, heightened by a constant sense of the uncanny: the strange terror and awe of the world not behaving the way you expect it to.

Duality is a common theme throughout: the mundanity of motherhood vs. the extraordinariness of outside circumstances, alienation vs. togetherness, anxiety vs. joy.

The prose is urgent and expertly paced, further ignited by Phillips’ linguistic playfulness.

This book haunted me in the best way, and will remain in my head for quite some time.

From page one, "The Need" sucked me in. I couldn't stop reading as the story of Molly and her children Viv and Ben developed.

The book starts with a home intruder and progresses in a dreamlike way, alternating between present and past. As I read, I couldn't distinguish reality from fantasy, which kept me guessing until the last page.

"The Need" does include some cursing and sexual content as it discusses themes of motherhood, grief, pain, and need. It's going to be a book I think about for the next few days.

There is no doubt Helen Phillips is a powerful writer. There are aspects of this story I'm still thinking about and wondering if I missed something. The protagonist is written with great care to show the strengths necessary to raise two young children while working at an archeological dig that has uncovered some disturbing materials. To complicate matters just a bit more her husband is a musician who often travels out of the country. Is it possible something found at the dig is affecting how Molly,the protagonist, sees herself or is she catching glimpses of another existence?

When I read the preview of this book, I was not expecting it to have a science fiction element. I was a bit put off by this aspect of the book. I generally do not read this genre. I was able to get past this sometimes disappointing aspect of the book, and did enjoy the plot and characters. That being said, I am still not a fan of science fiction.

I received an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am so glad that this author brought her Gothic weirdness into this feminist take on mothering. It’s like the best of both worlds. Heartily recommended for all the moms out there whose minds may be getting away from them

The Need by Helen Phillips is a strange nightmare of a novel.

from description: From the award-winning author of The Beautiful Bureaucrat, comes a subversive genre-busting thriller about a woman who grapples with the complex dualities of motherhood—joy and dread, tenderness and anxiety—after confronting a masked intruder in her home.

Real, supernatural, science fiction, psychological? I never could decide. Toward the end, I began to find it tedious, but kept on hoping for more enlightenment. The Need reads like a bad dream and has the same open-ended feeling of being unable clarify or interpret with any genuine understanding. That wispy feeling of trying to remember, interpret, and understand an eerie nightmare.

Maybe that was just me. I've never been particularly good at being able to synthesize dreams, to meld the elements into a coherent whole. I ended up with the same vague emotional reaction to something that failed to emerge as a comprehensible description.

Read in Jan., blog review scheduled for June 24.

NetGalley/Simon & Schuster
July 9, 2019. 252 pages.

A thrilling "grabber" that was compelling and intriguing. It was unusual in a good way with a touch of sci-fi. Good pacing and fast read, I enjoyed it. Thanks for the free copy!

The Need
by Helen Phillips
I am afraid I found this novel such a bizarre story. It seemed I was the left under-whelmed. How I finished I haven't a clue. Maybe I was just banging my head o keep going. Sorry, it did not creep me out, just an odd feeling I was in the twilight zone for four hours.
Thank you, NetGalley for an advance copy for my honest opinion and review.

Strange and wonderful! It is hard to describe this book with spoilers, so I'll just say that it is highly imaginative and does a great job of describing the joys and irritations of motherhood and marriage. Definitely a novel I will have to read again after letting the ending sink in.

You know that feeling when you've had the weirdest dream? And then when you are waking up, in that midst between total sleep and total alertness, you are left wondering if the dream was really happening? This novel was just that.

It was such a bizarre story and I am still trying to figure it out.

Although the writing style was very interesting and a nice change from usual, I couldn't get over the storyline and really had to push myself to finish this one. If you are really interested in the human psyche and twisted schizophrenic tales, you might really like this one. For me? Not so much.

“The Need” is quite possibly the most authentic yet unnerving book I have read in some time. My mind can’t even reconcile the details in this cosmic story about a young mother who is sleep deprived, exhausted, and enveloped in a duplicitous world where time is fluid and questions don’t have answers. A scary, thrilling, and shocking storyline about a loving Mommy dealing with the mundane tasks of raising small children while trying to ascertain how to deal with a doppelgänger who wants to share her life. Am I making sense? No matter...you need to read this book so we can discuss. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 Thus was an ARC from NetGalley but my observations are my own. Look for this book in the near future (July). #thriller #otherworld #timewarp #creepy #foreboding #motherhood #bookstagram #book #books #theneed #helenphillips #avidreader #wow #beautifulbookcover #paleobotany #portal

The Need switches between Molly’s unusual work life and her distressing home life. This combined with the science fiction aspect, makes it an unforgettable read. This book was intriguing and It pulled at my mind, compelling me to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next. But it was a bit confusing and creepy for me at times. All in all it was a good read. It held my interest and kept pulling me back into the story. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this book in exchange for an honest review.

An extremely interesting premise that combines a domestic story about the trials of motherhood with a more fantastical premise. The idea of this book reminded me of a TV series I won't name for fear of giving away the early twists, but it took the seed of that similar idea and took it on a much different path. It asked intriguing questions about who is right, who is wrong, which person is actually the villain in the scenario (it seems obvious at first, but then you have to ask 'what if I was in this person's shoes?'). I wish there had been a bit more about the artifacts and where they came from, but in the end the unanswered mysteries don't really matter that much. A very quick read, with short cliffhanger chapters that will keep you reading long after you mean to put the book down.

A tad confusing...maybe I’m just tired from the business of my own life...I’m still processing this story. I’m giving it 4 stars for the unique premise and for genuinely creeping me out at times.