--- description: Find out why 'The Need' by Helen Phillips made the list. title: The Need: The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadf4adc032ab29a2/698a407209208f82c141ab84/TheNeed.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 03, 2023 # The Need by Helen Phillips by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Helen Phillips’ [dazzling and disturbing 2019 novel](https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2019/5724595/the-need/ "undefined") opens on a classic scene: a young mother of two is home alone when she hears the footsteps of an intruder. The frightened woman, a paleobotanist named Molly, gathers her infant son and toddler daughter and hides in the bedroom. But as she quiets her children, Molly starts to question what she’s heard, and whether it may only exist in her head. As Phillips reveals, Molly has been existing in a bubble of anxiety ever since she became a mother, and that bubble is about to burst. In cutting prose, she unravels an expertly paced, genre-blending thriller about the terrors of parenthood and the strength of a mother’s love. —_Annabel Gutterman_ --- ### More from TIME --- **Buy Now:** _The Need_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781982113179 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://amzn.to/45rblPj "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309245/the-need-helen-phillips/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309245/the-need-helen-phillips/"},"headline":"The Need","datePublished":"2023-10-03T12:01:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:21:21.927Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309245/the-need-helen-phillips/","keywords":["Books"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadf4adc032ab29a2/698a407209208f82c141ab84/TheNeed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltadf4adc032ab29a2/698a407209208f82c141ab84/TheNeed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309245/the-need-helen-phillips/","name":"The Need"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How We Chose the 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time","description":"Here's how TIME created its 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books list. There are books from 15 different countries, and no author appears on the list more than once.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bNzuDcsg/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-10-02T16:54:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bNzuDcsg.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309245/the-need-helen-phillips/","duration":"PT1M35S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/best-mystery-thriller-books/6309245/the-need-helen-phillips/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```