Does Stephen King play D&D? If not, he really should. He has the potential to be a fantastic DM. His ability to populate entire small towns with a cast of characters is almost unparalleled. Not just a family's worth of characters; not just a street's worth. I get the feeling that if I somehow found myself in Castle Rock, and I wandered into the most obscure corner of the town and started knocking on doors, I'd meet characters that are just as well-fleshed-out and believable as those found at the heart of the story. 
 That's always been one of the main reasons I love King's work, but it's a double edged sword. Having all these great characters (good, evil, and everything in between) must mean that the desire to use them all is strong, and that's where King sometimes runs into trouble. This book was unnecessarily long, and if the ending hadn't been so satisfying, I would've rated this lower. As it is, my goodwill towards the book was at a pretty low ebb after what felt like the millionth description of one of Gaunt's "pranks", or while waiting for the parade of minor characters trooping in and out of Needful Things to end so we could continue with the story. Entire storylines (view spoiler)[(the school principal and the shop teacher, Ace Merrill, the woman with the flowerbeds and the magenta aura, the mechanic and his disgruntled customer ... I get that these side stories added additional layers of depth under the main characters' stories, but did we really need to include all of them?) (hide spoiler)] could have been removed without impacting the book's quality or storytelling. 
 That said, I rated this higher than I thought I would because I loved the ending, and I especially loved the references to the Dark Tower. They were brief, but they alone were worth the price of admission. 
 And on a personal note, this was my 50th King book! Inching ever closer to my Stephen King Completionist achievement ... ^_^