Book #46 of 2016:
Needful Things by Stephen King
Needful Things is better than The Tommyknockers, but not as good as ‘Salem’s Lot – two other Stephen King novels that share its same basic story structure of a supernatural presence slowly corrupting and effectively destroying a small town. The fact that Needful Things is set in Castle Rock, home to several earlier King stories, lends a certain weight to the proceedings, although this is hampered by the relatively small number of recurring characters.
The larger problem is that the book’s villain never really seems like a plausible threat. He sells people their hearts’ desires in exchange for their promises to commit acts of mischief around town that set other residents against one another, but King doesn’t do a very good job of justifying why certain purchases – like a porcelain doll or a framed picture of Elvis Presley – would have such an effect on people. In fact, it’s clear at several points that the fiendish shopkeeper is actually hypnotizing his customers into buying from him, which weakens whatever the novel is trying to say about human weakness and culpability. A stronger story would have toned down the supernatural elements and had the Castle Rock residents make the Faustian bargains that ruin their town with clearer eyes.
★★☆☆☆
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