If you couldn’t pay, or refused to pay, you would remain needful for ever.” “Because in America, you could have anything you wanted, just as long as you could pay for it. Every customer is desperate to secure said object, but certain it’s something they could never afford. And every single visitor finds within the shop the fulfillment of their deepest and most treasured wish in the form of an object on the shelves of the new shop. Leeland Gaunt a visit at his curiosity shop, Needful Things. Regardless, nearly everyone in town ends up paying Mr. In a town this size, change is rare and is made much of, though the citizenry is sure to feign disinterest no one wants to seem too excited, as that would reveal a lack of restraint and refinement to others in town. The story opens with townspeople whispering excitedly over the opening of a new shop. “Love, the simplest, strongest, and most unforgiving of all emotions.” Whether that willful ignorance has any impact on the events of this book is for the reader to decide.

But as with all small towns, they’ve done their best to sweep the weird under the proverbial rug and pretend that it never happened. It’s the setting of The Dead Zone, Cujo, and The Dark Half, all of which took place prior to this book. Needful Things was no exception.Ĭastle Rock is a quaint little town that has experienced it share of weird. King is a master of the slow burn, of stories that so gradually develop their tone of impending doom that you find yourself suddenly frightened with no way to pinpoint what it is exactly that is scaring you. Originally billed as the last Castle Rock novel, you know going in that things probably aren’t going to end well. It was quite the introduction, let me tell you. Though I’ve visited through film and the novella Gwendy’s Button Box, Needful Things marks my first novel-length journey into Castle Rock. And I’m happy to report that I started it off with a bang. This year, I kicked my King-a-Thon off a little early. For the past few years, October has been for horror in general and Stephen King in particular.

But autumn is without a doubt the season that dictates my reading the most. Summer is for rereads when I’m feeling lazy and new-to-me realms of fantasy when I’m not. Spring is for fiction that builds my faith and fantasies that build intricate worlds in my mind.

Winter is for classics and childhood favorites and romances. I got a tale to tell, it isn’t gonna cost a dime!Īre you a seasonal reader? I sure am. “Ladies and gentlemen, attention, please!

Needful things book review