Misery – Stephen King (1987)

“Misery”, written by Stephen King and published in 1987, is a psychological horror novel that explores obsession, captivity, and the power of storytelling. It follows a famous author who becomes imprisoned by his self-proclaimed “number-one fan” after a car accident. The novel is a chilling blend of psychological horror and suspense, making it one of King’s most intense and claustrophobic works.

Plot Summary

Paul Sheldon wakes up to pain. It is a deep, grinding pain, something more than an ache, something less than fire – but rising. His first thoughts are jumbled, stitched together with the rough thread of fading consciousness. There was a storm. There was ice on the road. There was the awful skid. The impact. Darkness. Now there is light again, but only a weak and flickering kind. And there is a voice – a woman’s voice.

She tells him her name is Annie Wilkes. She tells him he is lucky to be alive. She tells him she is his number-one fan.

Paul Sheldon has spent years writing books about a woman named Misery Chastain – a beloved, corseted heroine of an overlong, wildly popular Victorian romance series. He has spent just as many years trying to escape her. He had finished a new book, a real book, one with sharp teeth instead of soft sighs. He had celebrated in his usual way – a bottle, maybe two. Then he had decided to take the long way home.

Now he is trapped in a small bedroom in Annie Wilkes’ house, miles away from civilization. She has set his shattered legs in splints, spoon-fed him soup, kept him warm through the worst of the fever. But there is something wrong with her. There is something wrong in the way her smile fades too quickly, in the way her voice hardens without warning. She never called the hospital, never told the police. She is the only thing standing between him and death, but there is something in her eyes that makes him certain she is just as capable of delivering one as the other.

Then Annie finishes reading Misery’s Child, the latest in his long-suffering series. It is also the last. Paul had finally put an end to Misery Chastain, had written her a tragic and definitive end. Annie Wilkes does not take it well. The storm outside has passed, but a greater storm builds inside the walls of her house. The next time she enters his room, her face is bloodless, her eyes like little black stones. She calls him a dirty bird. She tells him she is disappointed. She tells him he must fix what he has done.

He tries to reason with her, tries to explain that the words are already written, that it is done. But Annie does not believe in things being done.

She leaves for a few days, and when she returns, Paul learns what it means to be truly alone. He is sick and weak and hungry. She tells him that she thought about letting him die, but that wouldn’t be fair. He must suffer for what he did. He must make things right. And so, she brings him an old Royal typewriter and a single ream of paper. He must write a new book, a real book. He must bring Misery back.

Paul has no choice. He writes. His hands are weak at first, his body still barely his own. But soon, the words begin to flow. The pain in his legs never leaves, but a new pain emerges – the slow, dull horror of knowing he is writing not to create, but to survive.

Annie is not merely his captor; she is his critic. She reads every page, hovering over him like an impatient god, demanding more, demanding better. He must not cheat. He must not lie. He must write Misery Chastain’s return as though it had always been meant to happen. If he fails, he knows Annie will make him pay.

The typewriter is missing an N, and so he must go back through every page and fill them in by hand. He bleeds ink, but it is never enough. Annie is unpredictable. One moment, she is beaming, kissing his cheek, praising his talent. The next, she is screaming, her face twisted with rage. She speaks in riddles, lapses into dark, unreadable moods. She tells him about her time as a nurse, about the people she cared for. About the ones who never made it.

Paul begins to understand that he is not the first to suffer beneath her hands.

The punishments begin. When she finds that he has been hoarding his painkillers, she takes swift action. The axe gleams in the dim light, and then there is only pain – white-hot, unimaginable pain. She takes his foot, then cauterizes the wound while humming a little song.

He drifts in and out of consciousness, and when he wakes, she is still there, watching him. Misery is waiting, she reminds him. The work must continue.

Time loses meaning. The days are measured only by the dull click of the typewriter and the rise and fall of Annie’s moods. Paul’s body weakens, but his mind sharpens. He knows that if he does not escape, he will die in this room. He will die when she decides he has served his purpose.

He studies her, learns her rhythms. He waits until she leaves the house and explores his prison as best he can. He finds a cache of newspapers, reads about the patients who had died under her care. He finds a scrapbook filled with clippings – stories of missing people, of deaths, of tragedies that have followed Annie Wilkes like a trail of breadcrumbs.

She has always been like this.

Paul’s writing becomes his only weapon. He teases her with Misery’s fate, keeps her hanging on every word, drawing the story out as long as he can. He does not simply write for her now – he writes to keep himself alive, knowing that the moment the last page is finished, she will have no further use for him.

The final confrontation comes not with words, but with fire. Paul sets his manuscript ablaze, watching as Annie’s face twists in agony. She lunges for it, shrieking, and in that moment, he sees his chance.

He fights. He fights with everything he has left, which is almost nothing. But it is enough.

Annie Wilkes is dead.

The world outside is blinding. He is found, barely alive, half-mad, babbling about typewriters and axes and Misery Chastain. He is saved, but he is not whole.

The months pass. The world wants to hear his story. He wants to leave it buried with Annie. But she is not truly gone. She lingers in the corners of his mind, in the sudden, sharp pain in his missing foot, in the phantom scent of her breath. He sees her in strangers on the street, in the twist of a shadow in an empty room. She is there when he writes. She is there when he cannot.

He is free.

But he will never be free.

Main Characters

• Paul Sheldon – A successful novelist best known for his Misery series. Paul is weary of his most famous creation and has just completed a novel that is a drastic departure from his usual work. After a car accident, he finds himself at the mercy of a dangerously unstable fan, Annie Wilkes. Throughout the novel, he struggles with pain, addiction, and the psychological terror of captivity.
• Annie Wilkes – A former nurse and Paul’s self-proclaimed “number-one fan.” She rescues Paul from a car accident, but instead of taking him to a hospital, she holds him captive. As her obsession spirals, she forces Paul to resurrect her favorite character, Misery Chastain, in a new novel. Annie is deeply unhinged, oscillating between tender care and brutal violence, making her one of King’s most terrifying villains.
• Misery Chastain – A fictional character within Paul’s novels. She is the protagonist of his Victorian-era romance series and the object of Annie’s obsession. Though she does not exist outside Paul’s books, her influence looms large over the story, symbolizing Paul’s artistic imprisonment.

Theme

• Obsession and Fanaticism – Annie Wilkes embodies the dark side of fandom, showing how obsession can turn violent. Her love for Misery Chastain warps into a dangerous fixation that endangers Paul’s life.
• Captivity and Power Struggles – Paul is physically and mentally imprisoned, leading to a tense battle of wills between him and Annie. His efforts to outmaneuver her mirror a prisoner attempting to outwit their jailer.
• The Role of the Author – The novel explores the relationship between a writer and their audience. Paul’s struggle to break free from Misery Chastain mirrors an artist’s fight for creative freedom against fan expectations.
• Addiction and Dependency – Paul’s addiction to painkillers parallels his dependency on Annie for survival. His withdrawal from both substances symbolizes his desperate bid for control over his own fate.
• Isolation and Madness – The remote setting amplifies Paul’s helplessness, while Annie’s isolation feeds her madness. The novel examines how isolation can distort reality and push people to extremes.

Writing Style and Tone

King’s writing in Misery is tense, immersive, and psychological. The novel is written in third-person limited perspective, placing readers directly in Paul’s mind, making his fear and desperation feel suffocatingly real. The sharp, clipped sentences during moments of pain and suspense mirror Paul’s mental and physical suffering.

The tone is claustrophobic, suspenseful, and deeply unsettling. King expertly blends psychological horror with moments of grotesque violence, making Annie Wilkes one of his most chilling antagonists. His use of dark humor adds a layer of irony, as Paul must humor Annie’s whims to stay alive, even as he plans his escape. The contrast between Annie’s bizarrely polite mannerisms and her shocking brutality heightens the novel’s horror.