"Needful Things" By Stephen King



Title: Needful Things

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 736

Published Year: 1991

Just like the cover of this book suggests, it is the last Castle Rock story that Stephen King has written. It would be kind of fun for him to revive the fictional town where he has spun nightmares, but I am not him and I am not as creative. Luckily for myself, I read Four Past Midnight before this one, and in that collection there were four novellas which one was a story about Castle Rock. While reading Needful Things more things made sense since I had read the story in that previous work of his. I have also seen the movie that was produced about this book, so while reading it, I had an idea of what was coming. I hadn't watched it in awhile though, and like books made into movies, the book in my opinion is usually better.

Now for the plot. A strange new shop opens in Castle Rock and the name of the store is Needful Things. According to the shopkeeper he has something for everyone and can make a deal with you even if you do not have the money to pay the going rate for the items you are buying. Soon people in the town are put up against each other as the shopkeeper offers part of the payment to be done in "harmless pranks". None of these pranks are done against someone that the person playing them already has an issue with so the fights between people escalate throughout the book all the way to the climax.

While started the book it was a little hard to get into at first for me since the action wasn't exactly immediate. Once the action started going, the book picked up and I didn't want to put it down. The words flew across the page and I was surprised at how much I was actually reading. I loved this book by the end and I am ready to read previous works about Castle Rock.

"Stephen King From A to Z" By George Beahm

Title: Stephen King From A to Z

Author: George Beahm

Published Year: 1998

Pages:251

Just by looking at the year that this book was published, you can tell that is it not entirely up-to-date. However, for someone that is curious about King in general, I find it a good starter book. The book is composed like an encyclopedia with various entries based on the author from his works, to his personal life and even his favorite authors.

After reading this I have found new authors to check out and see if I can find the same excitement from them that King does. For those of you that have a simple question or need a quick reference to something in the life of King, this book will help you out. I am personally going to keep it handy for those times where I need a back-up reference to his work.

"Weekend" By Christopher Pike





Title: Weekend

Author: Christopher Pike

Published Year: 1986

Pages: 230

Genre: Young Adult

Back when a Porsche cost $40,000 Pike wrote this book about guilt and accusation. A group of friends go to Mexico to stay in the Carlton Castle which their friend Robin has been living in since she drank poison at a party the year before where all that are going to Mexico were at. The poison caused her kidneys to fail and she has been living in the Carlton Castle which her father owns since she was released from the hospital. The weekend turns into a guessing game of who really poisoned her that fateful night and why that person did it. Each person is a subject as no one can remember exactly who was where and what they were doing at that party. As the story progresses, the group faces other challenges and messy situations that can only be overcome when the guilty party steps up and confesses.

As much as I love Christopher Pike's other books, I was kind of disappointed with the ending of this one. It just seemed to much of a "Happy Ending" and once I knew what was going to happen I had to convince myself to continue reading the rest of the novel. There just weren't enough surprises and shocking turns for me and some things when the book got done just seemed like they were not finished up.