我們是著了什麼魔？原本如此的快樂！那麼為什麼，我們會以所擁有的一切為賭注，投入這場豪賭，決定生小孩？

1999年的一個星期四，即將滿16歲的凱文，在校園內射殺了9個人。他的母親艾娃在一連串寫給丈夫的懺悔信中，回溯懷胎前的猶豫及懷胎後生下凱文，一直到兒子成了殺人犯的整個過程。這位母親自兒子一出生起就討厭他。凱文隨著成長所展露出的毀滅性格更是令她心生畏懼。艾娃試圖從回顧中釐清自己所應背負的過錯與導致這樁慘劇的原因，到最後竟發展出始料未及的結果……

在這本描繪扭曲母性的精彩小說裡，以校園慘案兇手母親的角度，尖銳地探討美國文化與青少年犯罪之間的關聯，更藉由凱文這個極端的例子，碰觸了一個極為敏感的問題──母親無法接受自己的孩子。作者不時在書中展現精闢的見解，讓讀者對艾娃在譴責與同情之間擺盪。故事接近尾聲時出現懾人心魄的驚悚、扣人心弦的領悟，在讀者內心留下巨大衝擊。

Eva never really wanted to be a mother; certainly not the mother of the unlovable boy who murdered seven of his fellow high school students, a cafeteria worker and a teacher who tried to befriend him. Now, two years later, it is time for her to come to terms with marriage, career, family, parenthood and Kevin’s horrific rampage in a series of startlingly direct correspondences with her absent husband, Franklyn. Uneasy with the sacrifices and social demotion of motherhood from the start, Eva fears that her alarming dislike for her own son may be responsible for driving him so nihilistically off the rails.Adapted and directed by Lynne Ramsay (Morvern Callar,Ratcatcher), the film ofWe Need to Talk About Kevin stars Tila Swinton (I Am Love) and John C. Reilly (The Aviator), with Ezra Miller (Californication) as the eponymous teenage murderer.