Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by chelseagreen
Needful Things by Stephen King
4.0
A slow burn with a very explosive finish, as is to be expected from Stephen King.
I enjoyed it but not quite as much as I enjoyed It, Salem’s Lot, & The Shining. I didn’t find it as scary as Pet Sematary and the aforementioned. Also, the characters were a bit more shallow & less developed than I’ve come to expect from King… although maybe anything I read immediately after It (as was the case here) would have been a touch disappointing? Highly recommend It if you liked this book!
Anyway, I’m taking away one star for weaker character building, and maybe another half star for the slight plot hole that is this: Hypnotized people can’t give consent, and so I question the validity of the deals Gaunt made... Forgivable because they end up completing the required deeds anyway, but still, I would have found it much spookier and more compelling if they consented of sound albeit corrupted minds (as in The Shining or Pet Sematary) rather than plain old boring hypnosis.
However, it is a poignant & memorable tale and I’m glad I read it. Four stars feels right. I may reduce to my rating to three if it doesn’t age well on my mind, or raise it to five if I keep thinking about it favorably. (Does anyone else do that? Ok cool.)
I enjoyed it but not quite as much as I enjoyed It, Salem’s Lot, & The Shining. I didn’t find it as scary as Pet Sematary and the aforementioned. Also, the characters were a bit more shallow & less developed than I’ve come to expect from King… although maybe anything I read immediately after It (as was the case here) would have been a touch disappointing? Highly recommend It if you liked this book!
Anyway, I’m taking away one star for weaker character building, and maybe another half star for the slight plot hole that is this: Hypnotized people can’t give consent, and so I question the validity of the deals Gaunt made... Forgivable because they end up completing the required deeds anyway, but still, I would have found it much spookier and more compelling if they consented of sound albeit corrupted minds (as in The Shining or Pet Sematary) rather than plain old boring hypnosis.
However, it is a poignant & memorable tale and I’m glad I read it. Four stars feels right. I may reduce to my rating to three if it doesn’t age well on my mind, or raise it to five if I keep thinking about it favorably. (Does anyone else do that? Ok cool.)