The Need

By Helen Phillips,

Book cover of The Need

Book description

***LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION***
Named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time

“An extraordinary and dazzlingly original work from one of our most gifted and interesting writers” (Emily St. John Mandel, author of The Glass Hotel). The Need, which finds…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Need as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

One of my favorite hair-raising tropes is the hostile doppelgänger, and this one really delivers! After sensing an intruder in the house, Molly, a young mother, encounters a menacing double who calls herself “Moll” and claims to be her from an alternate reality, one where she has no children—which prompts her to claim Molly’s.

What makes this book so tense and creepy is Molly’s unreliable POV as she wrestles with her anxiety, exhaustion, and protectiveness over her two young children. Is Moll the manifestation of a psychotic breakdown? Does Molly want to vanquish her or trade places? The prose is…

From Chin-Sun's list on distressed women.

Want books like The Need?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 75 books like The Need.

Browse books like The Need

Book cover of Rosemary's Baby
Book cover of The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish
Book cover of The Border of Paradise

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,187

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in New York City, anxiety, and psychosis?

New York City 1,143 books
Anxiety 211 books
Psychosis 34 books