Book Review

The Need (Expected Publication Date: July 9th, 2019)

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 too 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; 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.

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My Thoughts…

It hurts my heart to give a book a negative review, which is why I am so choosy when it comes to accepting or requesting books to read. When The Need presented itself, I was thrilled. The book is gorgeous and the blurb on the back practically screams “READ ME!”, so imagine my disappointment when I started reading it, to find out that not only is it painfully slow, it also doesn’t make much sense!

I tried muscling through the existential puzzle that is the story. I told myself over and over, it will get better, there will be some exciting twist, but it never came.

I got three quarters of the way through, and decided enough was enough! Life is too short to force oneself to read something they don’t like. As bad as I feel for giving a DNF, it just wasn’t worth the time and boredome.

I’m sure there will be loads of 5 star reviews for this book, though I question how genuine they will be. This book seems like one of those kinds of books people feel they have to like because it’s uncool not to. Maybe I’m wrong though. Maybe some people will love it. The author is very skilled, so maybe it’s just me and this all boils down to personal taste.

Well, my personal taste says thanks but no thanks!

Rating… DNF

Available on Amazon