Needful Things By Stephen King

 

Needful Things

By Stephen King

 A new store pops up in Castle Rock, Maine called Needful Things where you can always find what it is you need.

The store is run by a man named Leland Gaunt who has a way of knowing what his new customers need from his store. Some of them want to feel better physically, some want to feel better about themselves, some just need fulfillment. Through the objects they find there, Leland strikes bargains with them. In exchange for what they get he asks them to play "pranks" on others in the community. These pranks lead to violence, turning neighbors against neighbors.

Sheriff Alan Pangborn has to deal with all of this, discovering that Needful Things is the common denominator in all that is going wrong in Castle Rock. He has to meet this evil force head on.

I really liked this story, which included a lot of characters and character mentions from previous Castle Rock stories. The premise of "buyer beware" and "you get what you pay for" were worked really well in story form. King had me interested in all of the characters and their interactions with the others. Leland Gaunt was a great antagonist. He was mysterious and conniving, and just the right amount of creepy. Though this story had me giggling over some of King's over the top horror descriptions, it was a fun book to read with a serious question being asked. There is always a human cost to everything, cheap or free. King said this is the last of the Castle Rock stories, but I'm not so sure.

Characters form previous stories in this one were: Ace Merrill from "The Body" novella, and Alan Pangborn from The Dark Half. There were mentions of Sheriff Bannerman from The Dead Zone and Cujo, Pop Merrill from "The Sun Dog," Joe Camber from Cujo, Cujo himself, Thad Beaumont from The Dark Half, and Frank Dodd from The Dead Zone, as well as Shawshank Prison from "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption."

I loved it and am giving it 4 stars.