Necessary People

By: Anna Pitoniak

Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson

One of them has it all. One of them wants it all. But they can't both win.

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.

Written with propulsive intensity, Necessary People explores the dangerous fault lines of female friendships and plumbs the limits of ambition, loyalty, and love.

©2019 Anna Pitoniak (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"A complex, sharply written novel of female friendship and competition. The story of ambitious, brilliant Violet and her moneyed, beautiful best friend Stella is everything I want from a novel and more. Rife with plot twists and rich with insights, this is a book that will leave you desperate for whatever Anna Pitoniak writes next." (Julie Buntin, author of Marlena)

"Propulsive...Pitoniak's prose keeps a quick pace, and her characters and the TV-news setting ring true...Hand this to readers who like books exploring the dark side of female friendships, à la Megan Abbott, or fans of Tara Isabella Burton's The Social Creature." (Kathy Sexton, Booklist)

"A chilling mix of charm, danger, suspense and surprises... you think you know where this book is going--but you don't." (Lee Child)

lacking in suspense

It had potential to be more instense but it was written almost passively. The parts that should have had a lot of excitement were very dry.

Meh

Really not my kind of book. It was like watching a soap opera. A little bit of mystery and surprise tied in. I’m impressed that I finished listening to the whole thing

Some truth behind the plot

If you have ever felt overshadowed by a friend, sibling, co-worker, etc. then this story will resonate with the feelings that come with trying to cast your own shadow outside of the one you have been planted behind.

Some of the story in the beginning did drag on to where I asked, “why is this important”? But, as we go further in, you understand why that makes sense and how everything comes together.

Nasty People

narrative was good. characters out to get each other kept my attention til the end

Intensely interesting....a gripping novel!

This book was fantastic! The story keeps building and makes you look at yourself and what kind of allowances you give the narrator. I was shocked at how many allowances I provided. I cannot recommend this book more strongly than to say, "you need to read this!"

Good story. Kept me entertained.

I liked it although the characters frustrated me only because I could relate to the situation of the friendship. Not sure if I liked the conclusion or not, but I stayed entertained the whole time.

Unexpectedly great

Best book I've heard in months! So glad I went in blind with this one. Very entertaining.

Up until the end, it was really good

I really hated the ending of this book. Sorry, I'm sure most of you will love it. I won't say more so as not to give it away, but I was really disappointed in how it turned out.

I enjoyed the book

I am being forced by audible to write a description to leave my star review for my notes later.

Surprisingly good

This caught me off guard as an excellent story; I expected the typical predictable story but this story grabs you & just keeps going!