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2.71 AVERAGE
2.71 AVERAGE
The Need
by Andrew Neiderman
Horror? Psychological Thriller? It is hard to categorize this book. It is an interesting idea, a race of being both male and female in the same body. The male sucking the life out of humans to feed the females youth and beauty.
All the tension building elements are presented in the prologue and first chapter. Told in first person past tense, the story starts with a murder (Clea’s human lover Michael) and a confession. The rest is flash back as Clea confesses that she and her brother Richard are one and the same. He has killed her lover and she intends to never let him surface again.
She tells the skeptical detective everything - starting with the fact that she is of a ‘race’ called Androgyne. The detective is willing to listen skeptically because he is pursuing her brother for several murders.
She tells her story by going all the way to the beginning - her childhood in this case, insisting on the fact it is relevant. She describes her first transformation in great detail and reveal that Androgyne males feed on human women - draining their life directly like an incubus.
She tells her half of the story and conveniently, Richard’s part is recorded as a diary he kept. After reading about Richard’s first kill described in his own hand, Clea realizes the detective isn’t believing a word and Richard is trying to escape.
She leaves but the detective comes to her home and thy continue the story over dinner then back to back home. She spins a sordid tale that involves her brother’s jealousy and distain for all ‘inferiors’ as the Androgyne refer to human. It is also revealed that Michael was lovers with both Clea and Richard. The detective though skeptical just can’t help being drawn in to the salacious tale. To the point of the obligatory seduction of the detective (ostensibly to ward off Richard, but seriously just to get them in bed). There are minor points of action interspersed throughout her story telling but they don’t really add much.
The story is short and easy to read, but it suffers from a lack of sympathetic character. He poor dead Michael is sleeping with both brother and sister. The detective is sleeping with a woman he thinks is crazy. And Clea while guilty some time over her brother’s kills, actively participate in the murder of a rival. And worse than that by the end of the book literally nothing has changed except that Clea loses all remorse and embraces her life with her brother. The detective thread is just plot devise to describe details of the Androgyne.
by Andrew Neiderman
Horror? Psychological Thriller? It is hard to categorize this book. It is an interesting idea, a race of being both male and female in the same body. The male sucking the life out of humans to feed the females youth and beauty.
All the tension building elements are presented in the prologue and first chapter. Told in first person past tense, the story starts with a murder (Clea’s human lover Michael) and a confession. The rest is flash back as Clea confesses that she and her brother Richard are one and the same. He has killed her lover and she intends to never let him surface again.
She tells the skeptical detective everything - starting with the fact that she is of a ‘race’ called Androgyne. The detective is willing to listen skeptically because he is pursuing her brother for several murders.
She tells her story by going all the way to the beginning - her childhood in this case, insisting on the fact it is relevant. She describes her first transformation in great detail and reveal that Androgyne males feed on human women - draining their life directly like an incubus.
She tells her half of the story and conveniently, Richard’s part is recorded as a diary he kept. After reading about Richard’s first kill described in his own hand, Clea realizes the detective isn’t believing a word and Richard is trying to escape.
She leaves but the detective comes to her home and thy continue the story over dinner then back to back home. She spins a sordid tale that involves her brother’s jealousy and distain for all ‘inferiors’ as the Androgyne refer to human. It is also revealed that Michael was lovers with both Clea and Richard. The detective though skeptical just can’t help being drawn in to the salacious tale. To the point of the obligatory seduction of the detective (ostensibly to ward off Richard, but seriously just to get them in bed). There are minor points of action interspersed throughout her story telling but they don’t really add much.
The story is short and easy to read, but it suffers from a lack of sympathetic character. He poor dead Michael is sleeping with both brother and sister. The detective is sleeping with a woman he thinks is crazy. And Clea while guilty some time over her brother’s kills, actively participate in the murder of a rival. And worse than that by the end of the book literally nothing has changed except that Clea loses all remorse and embraces her life with her brother. The detective thread is just plot devise to describe details of the Androgyne.
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A species of human that develop into a male and a female identity and then shift back and forth between the two either voluntarily or not forms the basis for this rather lengthy character study. You get the idea that the author may be excited by this possibility but equally repulsed; the central question is the murder of a lover that both "versions" of the same person shared. The rather dimwitted stud of a murder investigator who is receiving all this information is portrayed with such inconsistency and lack of real interest that the tension is gone halfway through. You don't get a feeling of bigotry in favor of the gender binary but the book sure doesn't make sense in a world where trans or non binary people exist. Is this the "erasure" the kids are always going on about? it sure doesn't feel good to read.
The supernatural part of The Need was not at all what I initially expected upon taking in the cover and reading the summary. I was expecting vampires, maybe succubi. Which the androgyne basically are I guess/incubi. But its a unique take. At least to me anyway. Which I appreciated.
As soon as the Evil Eye was mentioned and that it could take on different forms I knew immediately it was the detective. Only question I have is why did he want Richard, why not just kill Clea? To keep up pretenses?
Overall though this was just ok to me.
As soon as the Evil Eye was mentioned and that it could take on different forms I knew immediately it was the detective. Only question I have is why did he want Richard, why not just kill Clea? To keep up pretenses?
Overall though this was just ok to me.
A pointless mass of silliness and sex attempting to be a deep and mysterious odyssey of myth. The most intriguing line throughout the novel is suddenly and vapidly snipped in three pages, leaving one feeling as if they've wasted their time wading through the rest of the ridiculousness that calls itself a novel.