October Stephen King Tribute Day 25: Misery

Misery was originally published in June of 1987.

Warning, this review does contain spoilers.

Novelist Paul Sheldon is best known for his series of books featuring heroine Misery Chastain. Paul has decided to move on and has just completed his new novel, Fast Cars. He decides to drive to Los Angeles, but in his inebriated condition he misjudges the snow storm and crashed his car.

Paul wakes, not in a hospital, but in the home of his number one fan Annie Wilkes. She rescued Paul from his car wreck and nursed him back to health. Annie reads Paul's manuscript for Fast Cars and hates it. She destroys the manuscript chastising Paul for his language in the book. Annie buys the latest Misery novel around this time and is horrified that Paul has killed off her favorite character.

Annie holds Paul hostage at her house and forces him to write another Misery novel, resurrecting her from the dead. A police officer arrives at the house searching for the missing author and is killed by Annie on a riding lawn mower. Paul tries several times to escape. When Annie learns of his escape attempts, she cuts his foot off with an axe and cauterizes the stump with a blow torch.

Paul completes the Misery novel and has Annie come in to read it. Paul lights the manuscript on fire with some lighter fluid he had smuggled away. Annie attempts to save the manuscript from destruction and Paul hits her over the head with the typewriter. Paul is rescued when the police show up searching for their missing officer. It turns out Paul did not burn the actual manuscript to the new Misery novel and sells it to his publisher who claims it will be his biggest hit yet.

There are so many things that make this a great novel. I loved the insights into the creative process the author uses. This was not a major portion of the plot, but it was still enjoyable. I also loved the character development. With just two primary characters throughout most of the novel, the development was extensive and added a lot to the story for me.

Some of the scariest parts were when Paul was left alone and had no idea what was going to happen to him next. Being injured and held captive by a crazy fan would drive anyone crazy with fright. The helplessness that Paul experiences is very strong throughout the novel.

The book was made into a movie starring Kathy Bates and James Caan. I thought the movie was very good, especially for an adaptation of a Stephen King novel. But, as always, the novel has so much more to offer.