through the Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. Despite what it may seem, she’s pretty normal.At Tor.com, Mactas tagged five novels in which maternal instinct helps to drive the plot, including:
The Need by Helen PhillipsRead about another entry on the list.
This one may hit too close for some—especially parents—which is probably what makes it so terrifying. The Need follows Molly, a mother of two, who begins to hear and see things that may or may not be there in her home. But soon her nightmare is realized when she discovers an intruder in her house. This isn’t your typical “someone’s in my house who isn’t supposed to be here” thriller. Instead it plays on reality and forces readers to imagine worse-case scenarios, bringing with it all the kookiness of Stephen King’s The Outsiders and merging it with all the panic in the 2020 film adaptation of The Invisible Man. The story explores the lengths a mother would go to to save her children, the split second decisions that can change your life, how your identity changes once you have children and the immense grief that accompanies you if you lose them.
The Need is among Michael J. Seidlinger's top ten terrifying home invasions in fiction.
--Marshal Zeringue
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