By Joelle Charbonneau

Kaylee Dunham needs a kidney for her brother – and Gina needs tickets to a concert, and Ethan needs a new computer, and Jake needs a home gym. Everyone needs something. But what’s the difference between a need and a want? When a new social networking site appears in Nottawa, every teenager quickly jumps on board with the seemingly harmless premise: enter what you need, and the site will ask you to carry out a request before you receive your need. But if you really need it, no price is too great… right?

The idea behind this book really pulled me in. An intriguing mystery, an exploration of teenage motivation, and a really cool cover? Sign me up!

While it did deliver on most of those things, I definitely had a few problems with it. First off, however, I did really enjoy reading Need. It was fast paced, exciting, and kept me guessing on who was running need, what every “fulfillment request” from the site would lead too, and what its purpose was. The plot was well put together, and I couldn’t stop reading. I really liked a few of the characters and it was a great look at how people behave when confronted with moral questions such as the ones that surface throughout.

Unfortunately, some of my biggest problems lie in those same characters. None of them had any solid, complex motivations. Even the main character, Kaylee, was lacking in realism. All she wanted was a kidney for her brother. Which is sweet and all, but it was literally the only thing she cared about. I found myself bored with her constant worry for her brother, instead of charmed. I never even learned what grade she’s in or what she likes to do, let alone what keeps her going in life outside of the kidney search.

It was like this with every character. They all had a single interesting (or not interesting) thing that defined them. Sure, it made their need requests make sense and drove their actions, but whose purpose in life to get a new computer, and why are they so obsessed with it that they’re willing to commit crimes and ruin people’s lives for that computer? They just became unbelievable pretty fast, and I couldn’t find myself really invested in any of them, even if they were mildly likable (at times).

Even the motivations for the villain didn’t make sense (won’t say anymore on that for spoilers’ sake). And some of the twists didn’t have any setup at all. Nate was totally great and trustworthy the whole time and honestly probably my favorite character (I totally shipped him and Kaylee), and then suddenly he was lying to her and acting suspicious. He felt like a completely different character at the end. I was even apathetic towards Kaylee’s brother! He was funny at times and likeable, but he seemed like a cardboard cutout who’s only purpose is to give Kaylee a reason for living.

The book also went a little overboard with how evil some of the characters ended up. There were at least two sociopathic narrators, and I’m pretty sure the villain had some issues as well, though everyone behind the project has to probably be the same way to come up with something so sick. And some of the kids barely even thought through some of the stuff the site asked them to do! I promise you; teenagers are really not that stupid. I would’ve liked them to be a little more skeptical of this random online request telling you to do this crazy stuff in exchange for extremely expensive stuff.

Overall, it was a fun read, though there were some issues with the way it represented teenagers and portrayed the characters. It kept me engaged all the way through. Maybe it’s not perfect, but I’d recommend it to anyone looking for an exciting, thought-provoking thriller.