Needful Things

With over sixty novels and counting, Stephen King has delivered numerous frightful classics, but in context and comparison of such a masterful career, some novels have been passed over and forgotten all too easily. One such hidden gem is Needful Things, released in the nineties and picked up for a lousy tv-movie adaptation and then largely forgotten.

Castle Rock—a frequent setting of King’s—has a new business in town. Mr. Gaunt opens his store, Needful Things, without much pretense or promotion. The gossip and foot traffic of the small town soon flood through the doors. The antique shop is special; no matter what the customers are come looking for…Mr. Gaunt mysteriously has what they really, truly want. And he doesn’t charge much. Like some Godfather from hell, Gaunt only asks a favor in return, and you don’t want to disobey, you don’t want to be in his debt. These small favors are wielded to turn the townspeople against each other…until Castle Rock is at war with itself.

I make no claims that this should be lauded with the greats of the genre or even of King’s career. It has nothing on The Shinning or Misery. But it is still an enjoyable scare that I believe got lost in the mix, overshadowed by his other works. The novel has an above-average runtime—as usual, King can get lost in the tangents and subplots—but what stuck out to me was the simplicity, the straightforward message of “Be Careful What You Wish For.” The people are victims of their greed and malice. The danger comes from feeding inner demons and delights. Perhaps what I enjoyed most was the feeling of nostalgia. With its eerie atmosphere overtaking a simple setting, Needful Things reminded me of something Rod Serling would open and close on the old Twilight Zone series. Ever since the Fourth of July, all-day marathons, I am a big fan of the classic tv series, and I appreciated King’s return to a similarly scary and sentimental set-up.