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Needful Things (1991)



Before reading: This is another one of King's books that I had heard of but knew nothing about. During my time reading all of King's work I have learned a little bit about this one, however. I know that it is supposed to be the last of the Castle Rock tales, it is the sequel to Sun Dog, and it is about a shop. However, that is all that I know. I am excited to see what it is all about. 

After reading: I don't know if I'm crazy or if that was really good. That was one of the most enjoyable King books, in my opinion. I've seen many comments by people saying this one is their favorite or they consider it a hidden gem and I can see why. I really enjoyed this book and I'm a little sad it's over...like over over. Like Castle Rock is over...or is it? Let's discuss!

First and foremost, I really enjoyed the epigraph. It was super fun and intriguing and set the story up in a really creative way. We also went back to it at the end of the book, but I'll discuss that later. Now, if you've followed my blog and read my other posts, you know that I have a conspiracy that JK Rowling read all the King books and used them to create Harry Potter. Leland Gaunt is the main villain...Gaunt? As in Voldemort's mothers last name. Coincidence? I think not. Yet, I digress. Boy oh boy is this book chock full of references (duh). There are too many to go through them all but one that stuck out at the beginning was a Sun Dog camera in the display case. Sneaky sneaky. Is it the Sun Dog? I think it just might be. Piggybacking off of Sun Dog the clock read four past midnight...cheeky. 

Speaking of there being a lot of references...I'm not sure you can really read this one without reading all of the Castle Rock lore. I mean, you could, but would you fully get it? I think you'd still be able to enjoy it and understand it, but I think you'd be missing out on a lot. After reading it I think you specifically need to at least read The Dark Half and The Body before picking this one up. I, at first, was thinking probably even The Sun Dog but after reading the very last page, you might as well just read Four Past Midnight in its entirety. Because there is so much to Castle Rock and so much lore already built up, it was interesting that this was our first entire town ensemble piece of the town. King does this type of story so so well and it seemed like a masterpiece coming after The Tommyknockers. I've mentioned several times before that I love King's character and world building so I really enjoy these town ensemble books that he writes. 

I'll wrap this up with some random and extra notes I had put down. I looked it up and saw there was a movie of this book made in 1993 which apparently isn't horrible. But if someone doesn't pick this up as a limited series, I will lose my mind. It is so cinematic and chaotic, it would be so good to see the entire story played out in television format. King threw in a lot of his oh-so-popular foreshadowing in here. Do you like his foreshadowing or find it cringey? I find myself gasping but also laughing each time. I noticed that it mentioned Castle County being the smallest of Maine's sixteen counties. If you're from Maine you have it engrained in your brain that Maine only has sixteen counties. This had me thinking, which county doesn't exist in the Kingiverse? After a Google search I discovered it is Oxford County, sorry Oxford. I wanted to at least mention that this book had three "parts" and each were named. I give King an A+ on the names for each of these parts. 10/10. Finally, Gaunt is so similar to The Dark Man while definitely being his own character. I have a strong feeling we will meet him again. Now finally, the end. The end! We circled back around and went into The Library Policeman?! This whole book was a rollercoaster for King fans. 

If you couldn't tell, I very much enjoyed this book and could probably go on talking about it for way too long so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead. I would recommend going through and reading all the Castle Rock books, if you haven't already, and then reading Needful Things. It is like a little reward when you understand all the references. I'm sad to see Castle Rock go but hope we do meet again. 

Put away your handcuffs because we're about to read Gerald's Game!

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