Product Description

With a demonic blend of malice and affection, Stephen King says farewell to Castle Rock, Maine, the town he put on the map. By the author of CARRIE, THE SHINING, NIGHT SHIFT, THE STAND, PET SEMATARY, MISERY, IT, THE DARK HALF and FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #155993 in Books
• Published on: 1992-10-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 800 pages

Sunday Telegraph
‘You can’t help admiring King’s narrative skills and his versatility as a story-teller’

Review
‘An incredibly gifted writer, whose writing... is so fluid that you often forget you’re reading’ (Guardian )

‘A sophisticated literary craftsman...his work anatomises...the social fabric of small-town American life' (Observer )

‘You can’t help admiring King’s narrative skills and his versatility as a story-teller’ (Sunday Telegraph )

Guardian
‘An incredibly gifted writer, whose writing... is so fluid that you often forget you’re reading’

Customer Reviews

The bad guy isn't believable
This book is more about the scariness of human nature than the scariness of things external to us, and this makes it a great book. You think again and again about what your own response would be to the kind of temptation that the characters in this book are presented with, and you probably find yourself worrying more than a little.

My big problem with this book is that the bad guy, Leland Gaunt, is not believable. What exactly are his motives? In the first part of the book we are led to believe that he is just a mischief-maker, and this I could accept. But then it turns out that his powers are incredible and that his motives are much more malign, and this is where I can't accept things.

Let's face it, this guy is so powerful that he could start WW III without even working up a sweat. So what's he doing setting up shop in a small New England town and messing with the heads of the local yokels? It doesn't make sense, and this spoils what would otherwise have been a really great book.

An Essential Horror Story...
After reading The Shining I was very quick in wanting to explore more of Stephen King's mastery and see what his other stories had to offer. I managed to get a handful including Insomniac, The Tommyknockers, The Dark Half and 'Salems Lot. However the first one that really grabbed my attention was this story i'm reviewing right now.

Needful Things is set in the town of Castle Rock, Maine, and a new shop of the title's name has just opened, and folks are intrigued by what the store has to offer. Business is flowing for the owner Mr Leland Gaunt, but soon all these happy customers will find they are paying for more than just their possessions.

This story is fantastic in the way that mixes affection with the malice of the whole theme. Much like The Shining, there is almost an elemental of reality in here, and I find the concept of seeing how far people will go to have their needful thing just spectacular.

There's dozens and dozens of characters throughout each with their own identifying features including the three main characters - The Sheriff Alan Pangborn, the girlfriend Polly Chalmers and the charming yet mysterious Leland Gaunt - and with such a huge story its just manageable to remember them all.

Of course, since this is a Stephen King novel, the violence here is absolutely of the richter scale, old grudges come to heads, friendships fall apart and religious beliefs become more than war of words. The images are really good, spot on in fact, that it can paint an image of these scenarios in the reader's mind.

I think as I went through the book, I felt a mixture of happiness, terror, sadness and curiosity, but there was a moment where I didn't feel hooked and did not enjoy it.

Buy this now ! :-) after all 'EVERYTHING IS FOR SALE'

Little shop of horrors!
By far one of Kings best novels, I first read this when i was about 16 and when i re-read it this year, it was even better!

I love the continuity of the Castle Rock inhabitants and the intrigue, excitement and gossip the new shop causes is so lifelike in it's depiction of how a small town community would react. It starts off almost sickly sweet as Leland Gaunt and his velvet jacket seduces all of the towns residents. Then with a sudden sadistic twist theres suddenly treachery, murder and, possibly the best scene in the book, a graphic bloodbath consisting of two of the female characters and some very sharp kitchen implements!

Kings style is so unique and enthralling i couldn't put it down either time i read it. Combining fantasy and horror with some well known characters this book is a must read.