Needful Things by Stephen King
As I find myself in a Steven King phase, it seemed fateful that I stumbled onto Needful Things during an impulsive visit to my local Oxfam book shop. The blurb promised devils and deals and nothing more had to be said.
Set in the late 20th century, the sleepy town of Castle Rock, Maine finds itself a novel tradesman. Leland Gaunt is a charismatic and disarming tradesman who seems to hold obscurely rare objects in his wares that speak to each of his customers’ deepest darkest desires- be it baseball cards, holy relics, or orgasm-inducing Elvis sunglasses. These are items of such bespoke value that one might expect extortionate prices. Well, the prices are astronomical but not in the material plane, instead Mr Gaunt charges his customers to play ‘harmless’ pranks.
Mr Gaunt guides each of these pranksters like heat-seeking missiles targeting the one kink in their humanity and in a small sleepy town, such pranks lead to paranoia, escalation and eventually doom. Each poisoned purchase sows the seven deadly sins into each of their owners converting even the most benign individuals into malignant beings.
With extensive character building and setting a backdrop of religious turmoil between Catholics and Baptists, King sets the stage for an incredible sociological experiment on the cruelty of human nature. And just as Mr Gaunt watches from under his wonderful green awnings observing his handiwork, the reader sees how each person’s human nature latches the blame onto whoever is easiest to blame. Wrath wins out on all and Castle Rock is destroyed.
Idiosyncrasies
Although the plot is quite predictable due to the elaborate stage setting that King troubles himself with, there are a few idiosyncrasies that I found amusing.
Going against popular culture, Leland Gaunt isn’t a demon that possesses. However, it could be argued that the pranksters were in a fugue state temporarily disconnected from their humanity which could be considered to be a form of possession.
Literally taken, Leland Gaunt is a pacifist. He did not participate in any of the pranks directly nor did he harm or kill anyone by his hands. Ironically, supposedly holy god- fearing men such as Reverend Rose and Father Brigham bloodied and dirtied their hands. In fact, the main protagonist who drives away this fearsome devil is Sherriff Pangborn who conjures up mysterious supernatural forces to ward off Leland Gaunt in the end, not the Catholic or Baptist Priests.
Having read ‘The Shining’ and finding myself halfway through his ‘It’, a common theme in King’s novella is his penchant for strong character backgrounds; this can make certain parts of his book drabby and slightly laboured, but it pays dividends in the grand finale when the readers emotionally invested in the outcome for the protagonist. In Needful Things, the protagonist is Castle Rock as a town. We wonder what will become of the town and all its inhabitants.
Although a predictable novel, in 1991 I’m sure the idea of devils, deals and unabashed religious cynicism would have thrilled, excited and shocked the contemporary audience.
The Swashbuckler's Tales 