Now available for the first time in a mass-market premium paperback edition—master storyteller Stephen King presents the classic #1 New York Times bestseller about a mysterious store than can sell you whatever you desire—but not without exacting a terrible price in return. “There are two prices for this. Half…and half. One half is cash. The other is a deed. Do you understand?” The town of … understand?”
The town of Castle Rock, Maine has seen its fair share of oddities over the years, but nothing is a peculiar as the little curio shop that’s just opened for business. Its mysterious proprietor, Leland Gaunt, seems to have something for everyone out on display at Needful Things…interesting things that run the gamut from worthless to priceless. Nothing has a price tag in this place, but everything is certainly for sale. The heart’s desire for any resident of Castle Rock can easily be found among the curiosities…in exchange for a little money and—at the specific request of Leland Gaunt—a whole lot of menace against their fellow neighbors. Everyone in town seems willing to make a deal at Needful Things, but the devil is in the details. And no one takes heed of the little sign handing on the wall: Caveat emptor. In other words, let the buyer beware…
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Leland Gaunt, the proprietor of Needful Things, steals the show. Classic King with a great ending to boot.
This is my all time favorite. This book is about your deepest desires. Those desires are boxed in and placed in a secret place in your heart so you can never reach them. For if you were ever to give in to your deepest desire you would be in hell, and hell will make you a devil.
Worth it to read every time! The build up is perfect!
Classic King! Twists and turns with every page. Will not be able to put it down
Excellent book. Long but keeps you wondering what’s going to happen next and how it’s going to end.
A wonderful and under appreciated dark satire about desires. I could hardly put it down which was a problem because it’s heavy! ; )
One of his best
Another great book by Stephen King
Reread this book recently…still one of my favorites. Love the pre-tech story about what people find important.
4 ½ stars. It loses a point because he’s really long winded in backstories and we don’t always need ALL that info, but he gains half a star bonus because the way Gaunt’s eye color changes depending on who he’s talking to really hooked me and was the first subtle hint that something was wrong.
This is a long book, but I rather enjoyed it. King seems to be an author you either love or hate and I’m clearly a fan. The whole thing bookends in a lovely way with the last chapter the same as the first but in a different town and the store has a different name. Needful things has an ensemble cast and you have to follow several story lines before the conclusion. I have found that books like this require a time when you can read them pretty fast or I tend to forget who everyone is. If that’s also an issue for you, you’ll want to read this when you can dedicate your time to it. The way the relationships intertwine is worth remembering.
King is (in my opinion) great at weaving storylines together. The way he can show fifteen different events at the same time in a way that, not only makes sense but is compelling, is an art. Also, he has a woman in bed humping an framed Elvis photos, which I find absolutely hilarious.
If you like Stephen King and longer books, this is one I’d recommend. His combined universe is fun to me, and I like the way he casually drops other books in (Cujo is a fun reference). It probably wouldn’t be the first book I’d suggest of his, he has a style and it’s better to see if it suits you on a shorter book, in my opinion, but I did enjoy this and if you like what he writes, this one is a good one.
Truly one of a kind. There is nothing like Needful Things. Truly captivating.
One of King’s better books, in my opinion. An excellent story about how easy it is to get the less appealing parts of a person to come to the surface.
Great writing at its best.
It speaks to all of us who covet things.
My favorite Stephen King book. Still. After decades of reading his work.
I struggled with giving this book a 3 star or 4 star rating. Here’s why;
Stephen King is a master at taking seemingly average characters and placing them in extraordinary circumstances. He’s gone on record, numerous times, about how much he enjoys ‘trapping’ characters in an event and seeing how they escape-if they escape.
Needful Things runs with this idea, in this case a cast of characters’ very home town being their place of entrapment. When a new store opens in town, the offers inside seem far too good to be true. Unfortunately for the town’s inhabitants, they’ll soon learn the true cost of their very hearts’ desire.
I would have given this book a 3 star rating because, although I like the large cast of characters, I found it getting very repetitive with how each towns-person went through their own hardships. Everyone would enter the shop Needful Things, they’d be talked into whatever treasure gleamed at them, and they’d have to do some ‘trick’ to earn said item. Every single person follows the same steps, so it just got kind of monotonous to me. At least their own personal experiences with their individual artifacts were different enough to be interesting.
But then I rose the rating to a 4 star because I loved the clever nods to other stories of Uncle Stevie’s that took place in or around Castle Rock. Cujo, Dead Zone, The Dark Half, IT, and more are referenced in some great ways. Being a follower of the greater universe of SK’s work, I really appreciated it.
I still recommend this book. The villain, Mr Gaunt, is a clever character and a great personification of the sort of dark powers out there that King manages to dream up.
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When I was younger, I wrote, but what I wrote was always just for me. I wish I had some of those writings now. But one character I created kind of consumed me, and I found myself needing to create an end to the story. That’s how I see this for Stephen King. He created Castle Rock and the people in it and shared them with us in numerous stories. I can imagine he became obsessed with these characters to the degree that he felt he needed to put an end to them and make “Castle Rock’s final story.” Therefore the story becomes the struggle between them and him, and in the end, the characters win. As they always do and we as writers, are at their mercy. In the story, it gives you the idea that the shop owner is the devil, but I see it more as Stephen himself as the devil of their world and consequently, this character represents King himself.
One of my favorite Stephen King books. Be careful of your darkest desires and wants.
The characters in this story are so likable, one can relate to the “needful things” the characters desire. But with need comes greed and a not so fair trade off!
Classic King!