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Necessary People  By  cover art

Necessary People

By: Anna Pitoniak
Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson
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Publisher's summary

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)

What listeners say about Necessary People

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Impressively Uninventive

Wow. I saw this book at the front fiction tables of more than one respectable NYC bookstore and thought it must be half decent. NOPE. Idiotic dialogue, characters have the depth of inflatable pools and they are somehow all simultaneously irritating beyond belief!! Predictable plot line despite the illogical relational behavior of each character. I kept listening PRAYING it would take a turn for the compelling or sympathetic, but I gave up with an hour left to go because I decided my brain deserves better than this garbage.

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47 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Nothing going on here

I kept waiting for a plot. I made it through 9 chapters on a road trip thanks to the easy listening provided by the narrator. If you enjoy sharing in a character's stream of consciousness this one is for you.

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39 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Easy to follow

The book was fair. It was an easy listen, but it lacked suspense and there was only one climaxing moment that fell flat. The main character started off as someone to be pitied and quickly turned into a narcissist psychopath to me. I felt as though I was listening to someone's diary as the book was from one person's perspective.

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37 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
  • M
  • 08-11-19

Probably better read

I returned within minutes and bought on Kindle. I’m sure it’s going to be a good story, however if it’s going to be on Audible it really needs to be somewhat abridged. Too many “she said,” “I said,” he said.” That just grates on me. I find it dishonest to listen to an entire book and return it, but if I don’t like something within the first chapter or two, I’m out. I usually pick this up in the sample and mused it on this one.

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30 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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15 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • LC
  • 05-31-19

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.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

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.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent!

I loved the cut throat girl power vibe this book channeled. It was nice having relationships be a footnote for once, and for the focus to be on the ambitious women. More of this, please!

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

WOW!

A little slow at the beginning. Twists & turns, I had so much anxiety! I would definitely recommend.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Lifestyles of the rich and despicable

I really enjoyed this story of dysfunctional friendship, ambition, and how the wealthy are different. Needless to say, the rich in this story are terrible people, although every character in this story has varying degrees of questionable morals. There are wonderful discriptions of New York opulence and atmosphere. If you like flawed characters, this is a good story. The narrator was terrific.

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6 people found this helpful