Misery (novel)

Misery

First edition cover
Author	Stephen King
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Psychological horror
Publisher	Viking
Publication date	June 8, 1987
Media type	Print (hardcover)
Pages	320
ISBN

Misery is a 1987 psychological horror novel by Stephen King. This novel was nominated for the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1988, and was later made into a Hollywood film and an off-Broadway play of the same name. When King was writing Misery in 1985 he planned the book to be released under the pseudonym Richard Bachman but the identity of the pseudonym was discovered before the release of the book.

The novel focuses on Paul Sheldon, a writer famous for Victorian-era romance novels involving the character of Misery Chastain. One day he is rescued from a car crash by crazed fan Annie Wilkes, who transports him to her house and, once finding out what he has done to Misery in his latest book, forces him to write a new book modifying the story – no matter what it takes.

Paul Sheldon is the author of a best-selling series of Victorian era romance novels surrounding the character Misery Chastain. He has just finished the manuscript of his new crime novel, Fast Cars, while staying at the Hotel Boulderado. Since 1974, he has completed the first draft of every one of his novels in the same hotel room in Colorado. With his latest project finished, he has an alcohol-induced impulse to drive to Los Angeles rather than fly back home to New York City. However, a snowstorm hits while he is driving through the mountains. Sheldon drives off a cliff and crashes upside down into a snowbank.

Paul is rescued from the car wreck, which has resulted in shattered legs, by Annie Wilkes, a former nurse who lives nearby in the fictive town "Sidewinder" in Colorado. She takes him to her own home rather than a hospital, putting him in the guest bedroom. Using her nursing skills and stockpiled food and medical supplies, including an illicit stash of codeine-based painkillers, Annie slowly nurses Paul back to "health". Instead of setting his legs, as a doctor would have done (so that they may mend and eventually work), she puts them in makeshift splints. This results in his legs looking somewhat like a child's doodle. She proclaims herself as Paul's "number one fan," being an avid reader of the Misery Chastain series. However, when she reads the manuscript for Fast Cars, Annie argues with Paul on its violent content and profanity, causing her to spill his soup. Saying that the accident was "his" fault, she punishes him by withholding his medication, then forcing him to wash it down with soap water. Paul, who has done extensive research into mental disorders, suspects that Annie is dangerously disturbed.