Misery

Published in 1987, Stephen King's psychological horror novel Misery tells the story of Paul Sheldon, a best-selling American author of a series of romance novels set in the 19th century, featuring the protagonist Misery Chastain. After a car accident leaves him wounded, Paul is kidnapped by Annie Wilkes, a woman who claims to be his biggest fan. She threatens his life, forcing him to rewrite a sequel to the series' final novel that changes the beloved protagonist's fate. The novel explores The Perils of Fame, Confronting Addiction, and Dependency and Self-Actualization.

King is one of the most prolific and lauded writers of the 20th and 21st centuries. Misery was a New York Times bestseller, won the 1987 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel, and was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1988. The novel was adapted into an Oscar-winning film in 1990 and a play in 2015.

Content warning: The guide discusses mental illness and drug and alcohol addiction, which appear in the source text. The text uses outdated language to describe mental health issues, and these terms are reproduced in direct quotations when necessary.

Plot Summary

Misery begins just after Paul's car accident when Annie Wilkes, a middle-aged woman, pulls him out of his car and drives him to her house, a remote farm outside the fictional Sidewinder, Colorado. Paul suffers severe leg injuries, which Annie sets crudely and treats with codeine-based pain-killers called Novril. Paul had just left the Boulderado Hotel after finishing Fast Cars, his first novel after concluding Misery's Child, the last novel in the Misery series, in which the protagonist dies. Inebriated from celebratory champagne and caught off-guard by a storm, Paul had crashed his Camaro. Now, Paul realizes that Annie is dangerous and is keeping him captive in her home.

After reading the Fast Cars manuscript while Paul recovers, Annie becomes upset about its use of profanity. Her anger causes her to throw a soup bowl against a wall, shattering it. After cleaning it up, Annie forces Paul to use soapy water to swallow his Novril. When Annie finishes reading Misery's Child and discovers Misery has died, she becomes so upset that she leaves Paul alone for days. When Annie returns, she forces Paul to burn his Fast Cars manuscript then buys him a Royal typewriter and tells him to write Misery's Return, which she claims will be his best novel.

At first, Paul struggles to come up with a convincing way to bring Misery back to life, but through Annie's coercion and feedback, Paul manages to come up with a workable plot. With a few exceptions, Paul and Annie fall into an agreeable rhythm for the next three weeks while Paul writes. Then the weather changes, and Annie sinks into a depression, leaving Paul alone again.

During this time, Paul ventures out of his room and discovers a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings from Annie's life. Paul discovers that Annie began murdering people at the age of 11. During her career as a nurse, Annie murdered dozens of elderly people and infants. She was charged and tried for only one infant's death, as the jury found reasonable doubt for the other cases. After this, Annie no longer worked as a nurse. When Annie returns from her "Laughing Place," where she goes to be alone, Annie tells Paul that his Camaro has been swept away in the spring snow melt. Annie then tells Paul that she knows he's left his room multiple times. As punishment, Annie incapacitates Paul by cutting off his left foot with an axe.

Paul continues writing as he recovers from his amputation. He and Annie reach an uneasy peace until a young police officer named Kushner arrives at Annie's house. Paul screams from inside his room then throws his ashtray out the window, getting the officer's attention. Officer Kushner recognizes Paul as the missing writer he's been looking for, but Annie strikes and kills Kushner with her lawn mower. After this murder, Paul decides he's going to kill Annie before she can kill him.

State troopers Wilkes and McKnight arrive shortly after Kushner's disappearance. They question Annie but don’t arrest her. This time Paul doesn't try to get their attention: He's resolved to finish Misery's Return and wants to kill Annie himself. After finishing Misery's Return, Paul burns the manuscript in front of a horrified Annie, and then brings his Royal typewriter down on her back, breaking it. After severely injuring Annie, Paul crawls out of his room, locks the door behind him and hides in the bathroom. That evening, troopers Wilkes and McKnight return and rescue Paul. Paul is terrified to learn that the troopers didn't find Annie in the house, though. He screams until he faints.

At the novel's end, Paul is back in New York City, meeting with his editor about Misery's Return. Though Paul's publisher thinks the book will be a stunning success, Paul can't relax. He's replaced Novril with alcohol and still has major pains in his legs. Paul can't write and has horrible visions of Annie coming to attack him though he learns from the troopers that they found Annie dead from her injuries in her barn. Finally, seeing a boy on the street with a skunk breaks Paul's writer's block. He begins to write again and weeps over his typewriter.