Truly a gruesome and horrifying experience, in needful things, king creates great characters, alan pangborn, norris ridgewick, polly chalmers, nettie cobb, hugh priest, ace merrill, john lapointe, and maybe the best villian he has ever created in leland gaunt. The setting of needful things is a fictional town called castle rock, maine as in stephen kings novel. He was portrayed by kiefer sutherland, who also played the caller. It is run by a seemingly kindly old man named leland gaunt and happens to have something that each of the main characters wants. Danforth buster keeton in the books is an unpleasant person throughandthrough, even before he goes crazy. The girl who had left on a greyhound with a bun in her oven was now a woman of almost forty and had been back, living and doing business in town, for four years, and no one even knew the sex of the child that had caused her to leave. Needful things is the 30th book published by stephen king. King has stated that needful things is all of the greedy, negative parts of the decade distilled down into one store a father to his men. Leland gaunt opens a new shop in castle rock called needful things. Character profile for ace merrill from needful things page 1. Needful things has this in spades, and its my favorite kind of king story. Needful things a wonderful new store has opened in the little town of castle rock, maine. It is the first novel king wrote after his rehabilitation from drug and alcohol addiction.
Gaunts cocainefuelled hired hand in this novel is ace merrill, last. The story is set in the small fictional town of castle rock, maine, where a new shop named needful things opens, to the curiosity of the townspeople. Needful things is, occasionally pointedly, about the dangers of greed and materialism. Pop merrill major character in the sun dog was the uncle of ace merrill major character in needful things. Here are all the easter eggs so far from misery, stand by me, salems lot, and more.
He quit writing pure horror stories and tried to be. Stephen king needful things audiobook stephen king. This is the first novel king had written while sober 1. Needful things character ace merrill makes a cameo in the skeleton crew short story nona. He has a personal vendetta towards the local sheriff alan pangborn, for getting him arrested. She wants to scream, but his tongue is hurled in her mouth and she can only claw into his smooth satin back, pumping her hps as the horns thunder into my way. What do you think of needful things by stephen king. As satire it is far from comedic but is very effective. King locates his hokey our town in maine, but as ever its really consumerville, usa, with everyones life festooned with brand names. The town of castle rock has had its fair share of bad luck over the years gruesome murders, rabid dogs and the like but its still a nice, pleasant small town.
Much more pronounced in the book than the movie, though. Part two brings forth ace merrill and he is a delight and adds much depth to the list of negative characters in the book. The proprietor, leland gaunt, is a charming elderly gentleman who always seems to have an item in stock that is perfectly suited to any customer who comes through his door. Here are all the stephen king references and easter eggs in. All the stephen king easter eggs in castle rock season 2. Nov, 2019 castle rock is back on hulu, and many of the season 2 characters come directly from stephen kings books. Merrill, reginald marion pop used to run the emporium galorium, a junkshop. Anyway, ace is apparently in the needful things novel. Leland gaunt was a good villain because, though he was supernatura. John ace merrill is the primary antagonist in the body. I have an idea that whats in there is stolen property. Castle rock season 2 will include an origin story for. So when king calls a novel needful things, you know hes not.
Needful things by stephen king goodreads share book. Whatever your hearts secret desiresexual pleasure, wealth, power, or even more precious things its for sale. Stand by me, as well as a secondary antagonist in the novel needful things. The population of castle rock was 1,280 by 1959 and around 1,500 in needful things. If alan already dealt with gaunt, then ace survived the ordeal. And even though every item has a nerveshattering price, the owner is always ready to make a bargain. All the easter eggs we found in castle rock season 2. Gaunt eventually hires petty criminal john ace merrill as his assistant, providing him with highquality cocaine and hinting at buried treasure that. People always knew ace merrill would come to a bad end.
Ace merrill was suddenly hurled over the woman in the streetit was polly chalmers, and norris had time to think he should have knownwith the back of his head spreading and flying outward in clumps and clots. Merrill returns in the novel as the secondary antagonist, and has done time in prison for his criminal lifestyle. He was portrayed by kiefer sutherland, who also played the caller in phone booth, david in the lost boys, bob wolverton in freeway, freddie lee cobb in a time to kill. Here are all the easter eggs so far from misery, stand by. Ace was the town bully from the body and played by kiefer sutherland in stand by me and also a character in needful things. The book was published by viking in october of 1991.
King has stated that needful things is all of the greedy, negative parts of the decade distilled down into one store. All things considered, like the tommyknockers, needful things is an enjoyable book if you can choose to ignore its flaws, which abound, and which occur to some degree in a lot of kings stuff from this time period. Needful things is a 1991 horror novel by american author stephen king. Kingworld veteran tim robbins place pop merrill in castle rock season two.
The story starts out in first person with the narrator. And you can go further, given that ace was a major character in the body, while the former sheriff george bannerman prepangborn was a character in both the body, cujo, and the dead zone. Whether castle rock is based primarily on needful things or not, the book definitely seems like something that fans would. John ace merrill is the main antagonist of the novella the body from different seasons and, consequently the novellas film version, stand by me, as well as a secondary antagonist in the novel needful things. Contentsshow biography the body in the story, they are mainly just bullies for gordie lachance and his friends. John ace merrill is the main antagonist of the short story, the body, 1986 film adaption stand by me, and the secondary antagonist in needful things. I according to the cover, it is the last castle rock story. All castle rock season 2 stephen king easter eggs from misery. His nephew ace says something spooky happened to his uncle before that firesomething like on the twilight zone. Of course, ace wasnt even around when his uncle bit the dust. Needful things character ace merrill makes a cameo in the. Ace merrill, the bully from your body, is becoming from prison shawshank, naturally and eventually become gaunts righthand person. According to the book cover, needful things was the last castle rock story.
All castle rock season 2 stephen king easter eggs from. Whats interesting is that kings john merrill also spent time in shawshank, as revealed in needful things, which is basically the main inspiration for castle rock. Leland gaunt is the main villain of stephen kings horror novel needful things, as well as the 1993 film of the same name. I think youd better ace had been staring at gaunts subtle but steady transformation from businessman to monster, his. Gaunt is the proprietor of the store needful things, a this n that shop that seemed to have an item perfectly suited for anyone who ever came in.
How the hell did i miss that the entire time i watched season 2. I wouldnt put it into my top five king novels of all time, but it was an enjoyable read, nonetheless. The reason for this being that, whilst i love stephen kings writing style, i found that needful things was just a little too long. This book shares a ton of similarities with the tommyknockers, that disaster of an alien book written just beforehand during whose creation king was for the most part coked straight out of his gizzard. Here are all the stephen king references and easter eggs. The publication of needful things marked a distinct turning point in kings writing. Mar 06, 2018 gaunt is a pretty obvious satan standin, okay, but i could have done without the scene where ace merrill catches him eating an uncooked rat. John ace merrill is the main antagonist of stephen kings short story the body, its 1986 film adaptation stand by me, and the secondary antagonist in the novel needful things. In men like ace merrill, the only urge stronger than the urge to dominate is the need to roll over and humbly expose the undefended neck when the real leader of the pack puts in an appearance. The old horrormaster in top form, this time with a demonic dealer in magic and spells selling his wares to the folks of castle rock, scene of several king novels including the dead zone, cujoand how many others. The story is set in the small fictional town of castle rock, maine, where a new shop named needful things opens.
The one stephen king book castle rock fans need to read. Needful things 1992 read online free book by stephen. Needful things quiz 10 questions author corrieclown2. Whether castle rock is based primarily on needful things or not, the book. Ace merrill, an aging hood who works for gaunt, runs across a bit of bizarre graffiti. Gaunt had taken from the window display and put into his hands. Maybe the people gossip too much, but its a charming community. Season 2 also features pop merrill played by shawshank redemptions tim robbins, a character mentioned in needful things, as well as his nephew ace, who is. Castle rock is back on hulu, and many of the season 2 characters come directly from stephen kings books.
Whatever your hearts secret desiresexual pleasure, wealth, power, or even more precious thingsits for sale. Hes dead by the time of aces appearance in needful things, though not of. Alan pangborn first instance of many of sheriff alan pangborn in the book. Spray painted on a rundown old garage is the phrase yogsogoth rules. John ace merrill is the main antagonist of the novella the body from different. Ace merrill whose uncle pop merrill appears in the short story the sun. An 1991 stephen king novel in which a new store with the strange name of needful things opens in a small town called castle rock. All things considered, like the tommyknockers, needful things is an enjoyable book if you can choose to ignore its. There are entire characters herein that serve zero purpose. The story is about a shopkeeper who runs his business by exchanging goods for money and mysterious deeds performed by the customer. Dec 11, 2019 season 2 also features pop merrill played by shawshank redemptions tim robbins, a character mentioned in needful things, as well as his nephew ace, who is a major character in needful things.
Aug 01, 2018 while the character ace merrill was made popular by kiefer sutherland. May 03, 2016 i still have my original copy of needful things, which i loved at age 19. Miller, barbara babs part of the ash street bridge club. A new shop named needful things opens in the town of castle rock, maine, sparking the curiosity of its citizens. This is the book where king cleaned out his basement, threw all his old tricks. Obviously, castle rock is taking kings stories and putting its own spin on them. These practical jok leland gaunt opens a new shop in castle rock called needful things. That said, the lesserknown novel needful things is a clue for castle. The distribution company castle rock was named after it when it released stand by me 1986. In castle rock as in the books, hubie marsten is a mobster who. Ace lived most of his life in castle rock, maine except in stand by me, in which castle rock is located in oregon.
Its the only book in the show window, i assure you, mr. He is driving around town in a magical car blowing things up, while gaunt is distributing free firearms to his best customers, who use them to shoot up the area. Then elvis turns her head toward him and speaks in that syrupy midsouth drawl. While the character ace merrill was made popular by kiefer sutherland. I still have my original copy of needful things, which i loved at age 19. Castle rock was also the setting for the dead zone 1983, cujo 1983, and the dark half 1993. Needful things 1992 read online free book by stephen king. As an 40 year old adult i have dropped my 5 star rating down to a 44. Anyone who enters his store finds the object of his or her lifelong dreams and desires. Im a huge stand by me fan and just discovered ace from castle rock is the same ace as ace from stand by me. Needful things his first book written after conquering his own addictions, this is a compelling story of how far people will go to satisfy their appetites james. After doing his time, merrill worked in drug gangs but found himself no richer.
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