Helen Phillips's 'The Need' brings us into the frenetic world of Molly, a paleobotanist struggling with the juggling act of motherhood and career while experiencing disturbing anomalies in her reality. Amid artifacts at her job that seem to defy the known timeline, and in the isolation of her home where she cares for her young children alone, Molly's world begins to crumble when an unsettling intruder with knowledge of her deepest secrets forces her into a confrontation with her most profound fears. This speculative thriller takes a profound and harrowing dive into alternate universes, the visceral experiences of motherhood, and the fragility of reality itself. As Phillips expertly blurs the lines between the mundane and the extraordinary, 'The Need' becomes a profound exploration of the dualities of motherhood—ecstasy and dread, ferocity and languor, transcendence and banality—in a narrative that races toward a formidable conclusion.