If you are talking about INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE then, yes, you really do need to read it. But, if you do, I would highly recommend following it up with THE VAMPIRE LESTAT which I thought was even better. That book still amazes and thrills me when I read it and I have read it 3 or 4 times. The next book QUEEN OF THE DAMNED is almost as good. Then, IMO, everything she has written after that is pretty forgettable.