Needful Things

Mr. Gaunt instructs Buster to steal a news van. Meanwhile, Eddie Warburton believes that he shoots Sonny Jackett, but he actually shoots Ricky Bissonette. Sonny is prepared for Eddie because he received a note from “Eddie” saying that he would steal the socket-wrench set. Sonny therefore shoots Eddie. Buster finds a huge cache of weapons and remembers the dynamite shipment. Lenore Potter thinks that she shoots Stephanie Bonsaint, but she actually shoots Melissa Clutterbuck.

Alan does a magic trick to win Sean’s confidence. Sean eventually tells him that Brian warned him never to go to Needful Things, saying that the store was poisonous. Sean also admits Brian’s declaration that Mr. Gaunt wasn’t really a man at all.

Ace Merrill drives around erratically, searching for buried treasure. He returns to Needful Things to demand answers. When he demands a gun, Mr. Gaunt lifts him into the air, threatening to slice him open. Thoroughly cowed, Buster and Ace work together to distribute the ammunition.

The tension between the Catholics and Baptists heats up. The Baptist meeting is interrupted when Don, the local butcher, enters the church, absolutely reeking and furious. He tells them that the Catholics stink-bombed his store. Suddenly, stink bombs start to pour out of the vents in the church. Chaos ensues as people stampede against the locked doors. Outside, a huge storm starts.

At the Daughters of Isabella Hall, the Catholic women’s meeting is also interrupted by a stink bomb. The Catholic and Baptist factions start marching in the street, ready to kill each other.

Cora goes to Myra’s house and kills her cat. She finds Myra masturbating to the picture of Elvis and shoots Myra, who then shoots Cora.

Alan tries to get to Needful Things, but the storm impedes his progress. Downtown Castle Rock is full of news vans and law enforcement vehicles.

Norris is in the process of hanging himself. He is haunted by his fishing rod and by the knowledge that he almost accidentally killed Sheila. As he listens to the chaos of the town falling apart, Mr. Gaunt’s voice tries to persuade him to kill himself. He accidentally falls off the stool and manages to right himself, preventing himself from suffocating. This moment breaks Mr. Gaunt’s hold over him, allowing him to see that the magical fishing rod is actually just a piece of bamboo. Determined to retaliate against Mr. Gaunt, he sets off toward Needful Things.

Polly dreams that her aunt is in Needful Things, calling her “Miss Two-Names.” Polly can feel something scurrying around inside her amulet. She suddenly realizes that although the letter was addressed to “Patricia Chalmers,” she was always known as Polly in San Francisco. She realizes that the letter is a fake and that Mr. Gaunt framed Alan. She pulls off the amulet, and it splits open to reveal a spider that grows larger as it runs from her. Polly tries to kill it, and it bulges, swelling in size as the power goes out. Polly gropes in the dark to try to kill the evil spider.

Ace and Buster snort cocaine together as they start planting dynamite.

Alan arrives at Needful Things, which has a new “closed” sign, but Alan suspects that Mr. Gaunt is watching him from inside. Mr. Gaunt’s voice battles with Alan’s internal conscience. Alan enters the store and is surprised to find that it is dusty and empty, smelling as if it has been empty for years. He is surprised to find a letter addressed to him. The letter instructs him to watch a video tape. Against his better judgment, Alan inserts the tape.

Norris tries to contact Alan, to no avail. Polly manages to kill the spider.

The timer under Castle Stream Bridge goes off, setting off the dynamite. The Catholics and Baptists are still raging as the storm gets worse, and the State Police are trying to intervene. As the bridge explodes, many of the townspeople pause their fighting to watch.

Norris is frantically looking for Alan. Polly feels as if she has been poisoned by the spider. She heads toward Needful Things.

Alan recalls his proclivity for making home movies as he considers the cassette that Mr. Gaunt has left for him. He hears Brian’s voice telling him not to watch the cassette, but he watches it anyway. He sees a video of a country road and watches his wife’s car crash into a tree. The video shows that the car went off the road because of Ace Merrill’s car. Ace steps out of his car to look at the accident, then drives away. Blind with rage, Alan is now determined to find Ace and kill him.

Norris encounters Ace and Buster and tries to arrest them. Ace shoots Buster. Frank Jewett encounters George T. Nelson on the courthouse steps. Polly, overwhelmed by the destruction on Main Street, runs toward Alan, who looks like a robot. He pulls out a magic-themed toy can that contains a coiled snake. Polly tries to make him see that Mr. Gaunt is manipulating him with the video tape. Ace appears, pointing a gun at them.

Dynamite explodes. Sally hangs herself.

Mr. Gaunt approaches Norris, Alan, Polly, and Ace. Alan realizes that Polly was telling the truth and that Mr. Gaunt has lied to him. Alan opens the can and a real snake emerges, lunging at Mr. Gaunt. Norris shoots Ace. Alan demands that Mr. Gaunt release the souls he has captured. As Mr. Gaunt lunges at him, Alan does the flower trick, which sends a strong white light toward Mr. Gaunt. Mr. Gaunt shrieks that everyone whose soul he holds will die without him. The bag that holds the stolen souls bursts.

Mr. Gaunt gets into his magical car and drives away. The car melts into a horse, then becomes an open buckboard commanded by a hunchbacked dwarf. Leland Gaunt disappears. Most of Castle Rock is gone.

The novel concludes with a new unnamed speaker in Junction City, Iowa, who invites the reader to consider the small town. A new store called Answered Prayers has just opened, and the speaker wonders what’s inside.