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Misery (novel)Misery is an American psychological horror thriller novel written by Stephen King and first published by Viking Press on June 8, 1987. The novel's narrative is based on the relationship of its two main characters � the romance novelist Paul Sheldon and his deranged fan Annie Wilkes. When Paul is seriously injured following a car accident, former nurse Annie brings him to her home, where Paul receives treatment and doses of pain medication. Paul realizes that he is a prisoner and is forced to indulge his captor's whims.

The novel's title has two meanings: it is the name carried by the central heroine of Paul's book series, and King described such a state of emotion during the novel's writing. King has outlined the creation of Misery in his memoirs, and mentioned that the image of Annie Wilkes came to him in a dream. King planned the book to be released under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, but his identity was discovered before the book's release.

Misery won the first Bram Stoker Award for Novel in 1987 and was nominated for the 1988 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. Critical reception of Misery was positive. Reviewers praised King for avoiding the fantasy elements of his past works, and noted the novel's parallels with King's personal life and the study of the relationship between celebrities and their fans. The novel, which took fourth place in the 1987 bestseller list, was adapted into a film directed by Rob Reiner in 1990, and into a theatrical production starring Laurie Metcalf and Bruce Willis in 2015.

Plot
Paul Sheldon, the author of the best-selling series of Victorian-era romance novels featuring the character Misery Chastain, has finished the series' final installment, Misery's Child, in which Misery is killed off. After completing the manuscript for his new crime novel, Fast Cars, which he hopes will receive serious literary acclaim and kickstart his post-Misery career, Paul gets drunk and drives his '74 Camaro to Los Angeles instead of flying back home to New York City. He is caught in a snowstorm and crashes his car in the small, remote town of Sidewinder, Colorado.

He awakens to find that he has been rescued by Annie Wilkes, a local former nurse who is a devoted fan of the Misery series. She keeps Paul in her guest bedroom, refuses to take him to the hospital despite his broken legs, and nurses him herself using her illicit stash of codeine-based painkillers. Paul quickly becomes addicted to a medication named Novril, which Annie withholds in order to threaten and manipulate him. She begins reading the recently published Misery's Child and coerces permission to read the Fast Cars manuscript, but disapproves of the darker subject matter and profanity. Paul soon assesses that Annie is mentally unstable: she is prone to trailing off into catatonic episodes and has sudden, unpredictable bouts of rage. When she learns of Misery's death, she leaves Paul alone in her house for over two days, depriving him of food, water, and painkillers.

Upon Annie's return, she forces a weakened Paul to burn the manuscript for Fast Cars in exchange for his painkillers. Annie sets up an office for Paul � consisting of an antique Royal typewriter with a non-functional N-key, writing paper, and a wheelchair � for the purpose of writing a new Misery novel that will bring the character back from the dead. Biding his time and likening himself to Sheherezade, Paul begins a new book, Misery's Return, and allows Annie to read the work in progress and fill in the missing N's. As Paul writes, the text includes excerpts of Misery's Return, a macabre story in which it is found that Misery was buried alive while comatose.

Paul manages to escape his room using his wheelchair on several occasions, searching for more painkillers and exploring the house. He discovers a scrapbook full of newspaper clippings that reveal Annie to be a serial killer; her victims include a neighboring family, her own father, and, while she worked as a head nurse, many elderly or critically injured patients and 11 infants, the last resulting in her standing trial but being acquitted in Denver. Annie reveals that she knows Paul has been leaving his room, then punishes him by cutting off his foot with an axe and cauterizing his ankle with a blowtorch, "hobbling" him. Months pass; after Paul complains that more typewriter keys including the "t" and "e" have broken and refuses to tell Annie how the novel ends before he has written it, she cuts off his thumb with an electric knife.

A state trooper arrives at Annie's house in search of Paul, and Annie murders the officer by running him over with her riding lawnmower. His disappearance results in attention on Annie from law enforcement and the media. Annie relocates Paul to the basement and it becomes clear that she does not intend to let him live. After Misery's Return is finished, Paul lights a decoy copy of the manuscript on fire, which Annie attempts to save. Paul throws the typewriter at Annie and engages her in a violent fight where he manages to escape the bedroom and lock the door with Annie still inside. Paul then hides and alerts the police when they return in search of the dead officer. Annie is found dead from her injuries in the barn � she apparently escaped through a window and was on her way to murder Paul with a chainsaw.

After Paul has returned to New York, Misery's Return is set to be published and becomes an international bestseller due to the interest in the circumstances under which it was written. Paul resists the suggestion to write a nonfiction account of his own experiences. He is able to walk with a prosthesis but still struggles with nightmares about Annie, withdrawal from painkillers, alcoholism, and writer's block. When Paul finds random inspiration to write a new story, he weeps both for his shattered life and in the joy that he is finally able to write again.

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