One of them has it all. One of them wants it all. They can’t both win.
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Necessary People was named a Best Book of May by Cosmopolitan, Town & Country, Refinery29, Bustle, and Crime Reads • A Best Book of Summer by Thrillist and BookPage • A Best Book of 2019 (So Far) by Marie Claire • Book of the Week by People
Stella and Violet are best friends, and from the moment they met in college, they knew their roles. Beautiful, privileged, and reckless Stella lives in the spotlight. Hardworking, laser-focused Violet stays behind the scenes, always ready to clean up the mess that Stella inevitably leaves in her wake.
After graduation, Violet moves to New York and lands a job in cable news, where she works her way up from intern to assistant to producer, and to a life where she's finally free from Stella's shadow. In this fast-paced world, Violet thrives, and her ambitions grow—but everything is jeopardized when Stella, envious of Violet's new life, uses her connections, beauty, and charisma to get hired at the same network. Stella soon moves in front of the camera, becoming the public face of the stories that Violet has worked tirelessly to produce—and taking all the credit.
Stella might be the one with the rich family and the right friends, but Violet isn't giving up so easily. As she and Stella strive for success, each reveals just how far she'll go to get what she wants—even if it means destroying the other person along the way.
More Praise for Necessary People
“Delicious ... Thrilling ... I was so mesmerized by this story that I took the longer subway route to drinks more than once so I’d have more time to savor it..”
— Marie Claire, Best Books of 2019 (so far)
“I love a book that is smart as hell and impossible to put down and this is IT.”
— Jessica Knoll, New York Times best-selling author
“Fantastic...This stirring character study and treatise on the dark sides of ambition, friendship, family, and privilege will hook readers from the get-go.”
— Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Smart and stylish ... What begins as a sharp story about best friends—one who’s had everything handed to her, the other who has almost ruthlessly made her own way—develops into a darker tale of rivalry, hubris, and deadly desire.”
— Town & Country, Best Books of May
“An inevitable crime takes place, a cover-up and investigation ensue, and then things get...dark. By which I mean completely effed up. In other words, welcome to Necessary People, a juicy thriller that will make you side-eye your friends and wonder if they’re capable of ~doing crimes~.”
— Cosmopolitan, Best Books of May
“The center of Necessary People is a complicated friendship between the rich Stella and the up from rags Violet. ... Pitoniak is a shrewd observer of female attachment and ambition, and People both delivers interesting ideas and chronicles a shocking murder.”
— Crime Reads, Best Books of May
“A tantalizing exploration of female friendship and ambition ... An ample playing field for Pitoniak’s dark look at competition and destruction between girls.”
— Thrillist, a best book of summer
“Pitoniak is an astute social observer, and the novel—a literary thriller about class aspiration and young female ambition—is a twisting delight with a haunting punch. Deceptively nuanced, and impossible to put down, this is escapism with substance. ... Sheer pleasure.”
— Kirkus, starred review
“Take the simmering jealousy found in many female friendships, ratchet it up, and mix in some seriously Ripley-esque longings for upper-crust lifestyles, and you’ll land at Anna Pitoniak’s utterly enthralling novel ... Necessary People is an escapist thriller laced with substantive social commentary. A no-guilt guilty pleasure.”