Needful Things by Stephen King

Uncle Stevie has just the thing for you

By a quick count, I figure I've read more than thirty of Stephen King's books at this point, which is about half of his output so far. I just now got around to reading 1991's Needful Things, and I'm sorry to say it's not going on my favorites list.

Review

The premise is simple and quite promising: A stranger comes to the small town of Castle Rock and opens a store, a kind of a curiosity shop to outward appearances. The owner (Leland Gaunt) always has in stock (or will soon) the one item that each individual who comes into the shop desires more than anything else. Of course, the real price of that item will be far greater than money.

The premise is simple and very promising: A stranger comes to the small town of Castle Rock and opens a store -- kind of a curiosity shop to outward appearances. The owner (Leland Gaunt) always has in stock (or will soon) the one item that each individual who comes into the shop desires more than anything else. Of course, the real price of that item will be far greater than money.

Introducing a supernatural or alien element into a small town and watching its inhabitants spin out of control is a plot device that King employs often and well. King excels at creating a large cast of characters, each with their own compelling back story, and playing them off against one another. A great deal of the novel consists of Gaunt snaring the locals with irresistible bait and thereby enlisting them in his scheme. When he trips the final switch on that scheme, the town erupts into an orgy of madness and violence that has you turning the pages as fast as you can.

The problem is that the scheme is so elaborate it takes a painfully long time to set up and entails a lot of repetition of the same elements. It's obvious from the beginning what kind of creature Gaunt is (there are no twists at the end). When reading a story about the supernatural you have to suspend disbelief to some level, but the final battle between Gaunt and the sheriff involves some less-than-believable elements that just seem silly.

King says he intended Needful Things to be not so much a horror story as a satire on 80s greed and consumerism. Clearly, the "needful things" are also a metaphor for addiction, and King is said to have just gone clean from all of his (except cigarettes) when he wrote this novel. Whatever the author's intentions, Needful Things ultimately doesn't come together as a fully satisfying work. 

The Store by Bentley Little

Bentley Little rarely makes public appearances.

The Store is the first novel by Bentley Little that I’ve read, but it probably won’t be my last. It reminded me a bit of Stephen King's books, and I’m a Stephen King fan. The King novel that especially comes to mind when you read the description of The Store is Needful Things. Both are about a new store that opens in a small town, offering a full inventory of Evil to the residents. That’s pretty much where the similarities between the two books end, though. 

Review 

While the nefarious store called Needful Things is a small curio shop, the store that comes to Juniper, Arizona, is a Big Box like Walmart or Target. Like Walmart in particular, the corporation behind The Store looks for small towns that don’t have pre-existing competition from other large, national chain stores. When The Store arrives, it’s the biggest thing around, and it quickly begins to drive the independent “mom ’n’ pop” stores and restaurants on Main Street out of business. The Store also quickly becomes the biggest employer in town. (New employees soon learn, however, that The Store’s HR department isn’t exactly up-to-date on enlightened workplace practices.) 

Protagonist Bill Davis is a telecommuting tech writer, so his fortunes aren’t as tied to those of local businesses as is the case with other characters in the story. A least, not that he realizes at first. He repeatedly goes before the town council to express his opposition to The Store’s exemptions from environmental requirements, its predatory practices, and more – but it soon becomes clear that the council is fully in The Store’s pocket. And, despite his opposition to their doing so, Bill’s own daughters take jobs with the store because it pays better than any other employer in town. 

As the story develops, The Store takes over more and more of Juniper, including the schools, the parks, and even the police department. Besides that, you really don’t want to meet The Store’s pallid, emotionless “night managers” because they have a simple solution for dealing with troublesome citizens who resist The Store’s plans. Without going into detail, let’s just say opponents end up becoming night managers themselves. Resistance truly is futile. 

Ultimately, in his effort to stop The Store’s reign of terror and free his daughters from their employment contracts, Bill confronts the owner. Like Leland Gaunt, the proprietor of Needful Things, the CEO of The Store (Newman King) might just be Old Scratch himself, or possibly one of his minions. He offers Bill a deal: take our training, become manager of the Juniper store, and you can do anything you want with it. The deal seems too good to be true, and, of course, becoming manager of his local Store and virtual dictator of his whole town presents Bill with temptations and challenges that make it difficult for him to hold on to his moral core. The devil knows his business. 

The book isn’t without flaws, including some plot holes and character inconsistencies that can be hard to swallow. But overall it’s a fun, fast read, that lingers with you.