Needful Things
Published: October 1991
Author: Stephen King
Genre: American, Classic, Contemporary, Fiction, Horror, Literature, Media Tie-In, Rural, Small Town, Supernatural, Thriller
Check out the review of this book here:
Summary
In the little town of Castle Rock, Maine, a new shop called "Needful Things" opens, piquing the residents' interest.
Leland Gaunt, the proprietor, is a nice older man from Akron, Ohio, who always appears to have something in the store that is ideally suited to each client that walks through his door.
Considering the items – which includes a rare Sandy Koufax baseball card, a carnival glass lampshade, and a shard of petrified wood said to be from Noah's Ark - the prices are fairly modest, but he wants each buyer to perform a small trick on someone else in town.
When striking a bargain with Gaunt, each consumer enters a trance and becomes extremely convenient to control, later forgetting anything unusual about the experience.
Gaunt has comprehensive awareness of the individual townspeople's long-standing secret histories and disputes, and the pranks are his way of causing them to intensify.
Soon after opening his business, Gaunt characterizes local Sheriff Alan Pangborn and Polly Chalmers, Alan's lover and the owner of a nearby sewing shop, as "difficult clients" who are likely to question and meddle with him.
Gaunt avoids Alan and instead provides Polly with an alleged old charm that both cures her arthritic pain and gives Gaunt power over her.
Tensions in Castle Rock quickly rise after Polly's servant Nettie Cobb and her adversary Wilma Jerzyck kill each other with knives in a conflict prompted by local youngster Brian Rusk vandalizing Wilma's home and drunk Hugh Priest killing Nettie's dog.
Many more rivalries emerge, fueled by the persons involved's personal agendas and secrets.
Gaunt ultimately employs petty criminal John "Ace" Merrill as his assistant, presenting him with high-quality cocaine and implying the existence of buried wealth that may help him pay off a couple of drug traffickers.
Ace's first mission is to acquire boxes of handguns, ammo, and blasting caps from a Boston garage; Gaunt quickly starts selling the weapons to his clients as a means of protecting their purchases.
Gaunt has deceived innocent people for millennia, tricking them into buying useless trash that mysteriously looks to be anything they cherish or desire most.
They grow so concerned about their belongings being stolen that they readily buy the weapons he invariably offers and bargains away their souls until the entire town is engulfed in chaos and carnage.
Ace begins to mistrust his new boss's magical heritage, but Gaunt uses intimidation and threats of vengeance against Alan and the community to keep him in line.
Soon after, other incidents of violence occur at the same time, such as when gym teacher Lester Pratt fights Deputy John LaPointe, his fiancée's ex-boyfriend, and is ultimately killed in self-defense.
Hugh Priest and Henry Beaufort, the proprietor of a tavern, murder each other in a gunfight.
Brian commits suicide as a result of his guilt over his role in Wilma and Nettie's deaths, and town selectman Danforth "Buster" Keeton, who has been secretly embezzling thousands of dollars from public funds to fund his gambling addiction, attacks Deputy Norris Ridgewick before fleeing to his home and murdering his wife Myrtle with a hammer.
Ace eventually recruits Buster to help him in his efforts for Gaunt.
With the violence in Castle Rock intensifying, Ace and Buster use the caps Ace brought back to lay dynamite all across town.
Alan sets out to murder Ace after being convinced by Gaunt that he is to blame for the vehicle tragedy that killed his wife and kid.
Polly recognizes the wickedness in the charm she purchased and destroys it. Norris contemplates suicide after discovering that his prank on Priest resulted in the tragic gunfight, but instead decides to go to the police station for assistance.
As the explosives detonate, Norris injures Buster and Ace puts him out of his agony. Ace kidnaps Polly and insists that Alan hand up a stash of hidden cash that he purportedly stole. Norris murders Ace, leaving Alan to confront Gaunt.
Alan pulls Gaunt back and steals his valise, which holds the souls of his clients, using sleight of hand and magical novelties that come to life.
Gaunt exits the scene, his automobile transforming into a horse-drawn cart, leaving the survivors to contemplate an uncertain future.
The story concludes in the same way it began, with a first-person direct address announcing that a new and mysterious shop named "Answered Prayers" is set to open in a small Iowa town — an alarming indication that Gaunt is ready to restart his business cycle.
Useful Search Related Words & Keywords
Alan Pangborn, Amanda Plummer, Bonnie Bedelia, Castle Rock, Dark Half, Dead Zone, Ed Harris, Great Read, Human Nature, J.T. Walsh, Jack Cummins, King At His Best, Leland Gaunt, Max Von Sydow, New Store, Peter Yates, Salems Lot, Small Town, Town Of Castle
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