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Cover of Needful Things by Stephen King

Needful Things

Stephen King

  • 698 pages · about 12 hours
  • First published 1991
  • 67 editions
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1 About this book

Needful Things is a 1991 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It is the first novel King wrote after his rehabilitation from drug and alcohol addiction. It was made into a film of the same name in 1993 which was directed by Fraser C. Heston. The story focuses on a shop that sells collectibles and antiques, managed by Leland Gaunt, a new arrival to the town of Castle Rock, Maine, the setting of many King stories.

Gaunt often asks customers to perform a prank or mysterious deed in exchange for the item they are drawn to. As time goes by, the many deeds and pranks lead to increasing aggression among the townspeople, as well as chaos and death. A protagonist of the book is Alan Pangborn, previously seen in Stephen King's novel The Dark Half.

  • Thrillers
  • Horror
  • City and town life
  • Good and evil
  • Consumers
  • Practical jokes
  • Violence
  • Police

2 What to expect

A long Stephen King novel about a new shop in a small Maine town, whose charming owner sells each customer the thing they most desire in exchange for a small prank on a neighbor. The pranks feed old grudges, and the book is a slow, darkly comic study of greed and resentment turning a town on itself. It has a large cast, builds gradually and grows very violent.

Good for readers who want: small-town horror, dark comedy about greed, and a slow-burning story.

3 About Stephen King

Born 1947

Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror fiction and has also explored other genres, among them suspense, crime, science-fiction, fantasy, and mystery. In a career spanning six decades, he has written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in collections.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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