Stephen King, known as the master of horror, is truly masterful at scaring people!  His secret is that he takes ordinary, everyday things and turns them into things of nightmares-like a car in Christine, or a dog in Cujo, changing them into evil personified. Even in his books where he has stepped out of the horror genre, like The Green Mile or The Shawshank Redemption, he is able to describe evil and its consequences with an accuracy that is chilling in its simplicity.

In Castle Rock, Maine, Leland Gaunt opens a store called Needful Things. Here he sells things that people truly need at unbelievable prices. Things like an amulet that will prevent arthritis pain, or a Sandy Koufax baseball card in mint condition, all things that reflect the inmost desires of the people of Castle Rock.  Eleven year old Brian Rusk, whose absentee mother allows him enormous freedom, is one of Gaunt’s first customers and soon becomes the proud owner of the rare baseball card.  Polly Chalmers, owner of the You Sew ‘n Sew shop and who suffers from chronic arthritis pain among other things, soon becomes the owner of the amulet. Little by little Gaunt’s reputation spreads throughout the town and people begin coming in to get their own needful things.  Everyone, that is except, Sheriff Pangborn. Its’s not that he is not attracted to the store or what Gaunt has to offer, but Pangborn who is still grieving for his wife and son who died in a driving accident cannot shake the feeling that something is seriously wrong with Gaunt and the things that he offers. Slowly the dehumanizing price of these needful things becomes apparent as the town begins to fray and then crumble and everyone’s’ nightmares become reality.

Each of the characters, and there are many in this book, are carefully and fully developed.  King takes time to tell us their stories helping us see their motivations and what drives them to make the choices that they make.  In Leland Gaunt, King, creates a character that you love to hate.  His callousness, the way he gloats over the pain of others and his love for creating chaos are apparent early on and are a key part of the way that King builds his suspense, since as a reader you are resisting Gaunt even as one after another of the towns people succumb to his needful things.  Although at some level this book speaks to a culture of rampant consumerism, I think it also speaks to the deep longings of the soul that we often try to either stifle or feed with things that do not satisfy. King cautions us to be aware of the consequences of not dealing with these longings honestly before they either consume us or we become dehumanized by our attempts to feed them.  King is able to speak to the human condition with metaphors that allow us to see the truth and catch glimpses of our own capacity for evil which is what is truly scary about his books.

Brenda’s Rating: ****1/2 (4 1/2 Stars out of 5)

Recommend this book to: Keith, Ken, Marian, Lauren and Sharon

Book Study worthy? Yes

Read in paperback.