Needful Things

Did You Know?

• In the notes to Nightmares & Dreamscapes, King suggested that his short story "It Grows on You" (originally written in 1973, and published in revised format in 1993) could serve as a sequel to Needful Things.
• The 1993 film adaptation directed by Fraser C. Heston received generally negative reviews from critics, with an overall rating of 32% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Plot summary

A mysterious shop called Needful Things appears in Castle Rock, Maine, and quickly draws the townspeople's interest. Its owner, Leland Gaunt, is a friendly old man who claims to be from Akron, Ohio. He always has exactly what each customer wants, from a rare Sandy Koufax baseball card to an Elvis Presley picture, a carnival glass lampshade, or a piece of petrified wood supposedly from Noah's Ark. The prices are very low, but Gaunt requires each buyer to play a "prank" on another resident. During these transactions, customers fall into a trance and become extremely compliant, later forgetting anything strange about the experience. Gaunt knows all the old grudges and secrets among the townspeople, and he uses the pranks to push those conflicts further.

Gaunt identifies Sheriff Alan Pangborn and his girlfriend Polly Chalmers, who runs a sewing shop, as the two most likely to suspect and oppose him. He avoids Alan but gives Polly an ancient charm that eases her severe arthritis pain, which also gives Gaunt control over her. A local boy named Brian Rusk trashes the home of Wilma Jerzyck, who hates Nettie Cobb, Polly's housekeeper. Alcoholic Hugh Priest kills Nettie's dog. Nettie and Wilma then stab each other to death in a public fight, raising tensions across town. Other feuds grow as Gaunt exploits personal secrets and motives.

Gaunt hires John "Ace" Merrill, a small-time criminal, as his assistant. He gives Ace high-quality cocaine and hints at buried treasure to help Ace pay off his drug debts. Ace's first job is to pick up crates of pistols, ammunition, and blasting caps from a Boston garage. Gaunt soon sells these pistols to customers, claiming they need them to protect their purchases.

The truth comes out: for centuries, Gaunt has tricked people into buying worthless junk that magically looks like whatever they treasure most. Buyers become so paranoid about their items that they eagerly purchase the weapons Gaunt offers, plunging the whole town into madness and violence. Ace starts to realize his employer is supernatural, but Gaunt keeps him under control with threats and promises of revenge against Alan and Castle Rock.

Characters

Alan Pangborn serves as the sheriff of Castle Rock and is the central hero of the story. He previously appeared in Stephen King's novel The Dark Half. By the end of the book, he resigns from his position as sheriff. Leland Gaunt is likely a demon wearing a human disguise, with the film version strongly hinting he is Satan.

For centuries, he has roamed the globe, deceiving people into trading their souls to him, often for worthless items that appear to be their deepest desires. His scheme ultimately fails, and he is driven out of Castle Rock without the souls he had gathered. Brian Rusk is an eleven-year-old boy who becomes the first customer of the shop Needful Things, purchasing a rare Sandy Koufax baseball card. A prank Brian carries out results in the deaths of Nettie and Wilma.

Overcome by guilt, Brian falls into a deep depression and eventually shoots himself with his father's gun in front of his younger brother Sean, warning him to stay away from Needful Things. Patricia "Polly" Chalmers is regarded as the town's most eccentric resident. Though originally from Castle Rock, she is seen as an outsider after living in San Francisco for many years before returning. She suffers from arthritis that causes intense pain in her hands.

When she accepts a magical amulet from Gaunt that eases her pain, she becomes vulnerable to his manipulation. Gaunt turns her against Alan by fabricating evidence that Alan investigated the death of her infant child in San Francisco. Polly eventually realizes Alan is innocent, destroys the amulet along with the spider-like creature inside it, and persuades Alan not to kill Ace. Norris Ridgewick is a deputy and Sheriff Pangborn's most trusted ally.

He trades a prank on Hugh Priest for a Bazun fishing rod from Gaunt, which leads to the deaths of both Priest and Henry Beaumont. After being assaulted by Keeton, Ridgewick tries to kill himself, but when he sees how worthless the fishing rod truly is, he helps defeat Gaunt. Later books show that Ridgewick eventually succeeds Pangborn as sheriff of Castle Rock. John "Ace" Merrill is the town's resident troublemaker and small-time criminal, recently released from prison.

Gaunt hires him and convinces him to murder Alan. Ace is ultimately shot and killed by Ridgewick while going after Polly, though neither Alan nor Gaunt notice his death. Ace also appears in King's novella The Body.

In popular culture

In the 2014 Rick and Morty episode "Something Ricked This Way Comes," the Devil runs a shop called Needful Things that peddles cursed merchandise. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and its Hearts of Stone expansion introduced Gaunter O'Dimm, a character partly modeled on Leland Gaunt. Like Gaunt, O'Dimm is a supernatural being who enjoys granting wishes that lead to human misery. The title for the series Stranger Things was selected because it resembled the sound of Needful Things, and the show's logo drew from the cover of King's novel Firestarter.