Misery by Stephen King (Spoiler-free) Review

Paul Sheldon. He’s a bestselling novelist who has finally met his biggest fan. Her name is Annie Wilkes and she is more than a rabid reader – she is Paul’s nurse, tending his shattered body after an automobile accident. But she is also his captor, keeping him prisoner in her isolated house.

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Paul Sheldon is the best-selling author of the Misery series. After celebrating finishing his newest novel (not of the Misery series), he drinks a little bit too much Dom Perignon champagne. Mix that with driving through a blizzard and the outcome is devastating. Paul wakes up in the house of his self-proclaimed number one fan, Annie Wilkes’ house with two shattered legs. This is when he finds out he has been in a car accident and was rescued by Annie. What he doesn’t realize is that the car accident is the least of his worries. Annie is not only his number one fan but an obsessive psychopath.

He firsts questions why he isn’t in a hospital or why he can’t use the telephone. Annie has all the answers; the roads are snow-covered from the storm and the phone lines are down. As the days go on, Paul realizes he wasn’t rescued but kidnapped. Annie is never going to let him go.

Annie is by far one of the scariest villains I have read about. King did an excellent job at creating a very realistic character. This is every author’s nightmare; to be kidnapped by an obsessed fan. On top of her obsession, she forces Paul to write a new Misery novel just for her after she finds out that Paul kills off Misery Chastain in the newest and what was supposed to be his final Misery novel.

Annie can go from being overly sweet and kind to a raging lunatic in seconds. This was what was so scary. Paul quickly learned that the best way to get through this alive was to appease her and tell her what she wants to hear. I loved how we were able to read his internal dialogue and what he was really thinking in these scenes.

Misery takes place on Annie’s farm, but mainly just in one room over a period of months. We also really only have two main characters, Annie and Paul. This in no way makes the book boring. I can say this book was a page-turner. I couldn’t help myself, I just had to know what happened next in the book. Annie was such an unpredictable character that I was literally kept in a state of tension the entire time I was reading.

This book is great for anyone who is a Stephen King fan. This had one of the best written and realistic villains I have ever read about. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys to be kept at the edge of their seat almost throughout the entire book. I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars.