★★★★☆

By a(n) (un)lucky twist of fate, Paul Sheldon, a troubled writer, is saved from the wreckage of his car by Annie Wilkes, his “number one fan”. Paul already has misgivings about her decision to nurse him herself at her remote Colorado home, but the stakes intensify when Annie is yet to read his latest novel – and she might not like what Paul has done with it. Misery is a classic psychological thriller that tackles the relationship between creator and audience, the writing process and addiction.

The remote setting – a rural house, with just two occupants – allows King to really delve into the complex and volatile dynamic they share from the off and ensures the endurance of a taut tension throughout. Paul’s position as creator gives him a dangerous control over Annie, as a deeply attached reader, and her emotions whilst his injuries render him reliant on her for food and medicine. This oscillation of control between Paul and Annie makes the narrative as unpredictable as the situation it explores, the battle of two strong egos constantly walking a fine line between calm and chaos. The confined setting also allows King to dive deeply into the obsession and addictiveness of the writing process, no doubt drawing on his own experiences to do so. Paul’s obsession with writing, his confinement and his reliance on pain medicine cast doubts on his reliability as a narrator.

I really enjoyed this read, but as always with King there’s something that bothers me in his writing. Usually it’s the way he writes sex and women, here it’s the way he repeatedly likens something to rape which is definitely not rape. I also found it hard to discern whether Paul was deliberately written as a misogynist, or whether that was just King seeping through. In terms of the plot itself, whilst mostly a satisfying and complete story, I would have liked more development of Annie’s past to avoid the oversimplification of mental illness.

Even so, this was easily my favourite of the three Stephen King works I’ve read so far. It’s a classic, original thriller that tackles a very specific issue and dynamic in a considered way, and the closeness and remoteness of Paul’s situation really works juxtaposed with a wider issue that perhaps hasn’t always been acknowledged in the mainstream, and mirrors the “underground” quality of diehard fanatics pre-Internet. Crucially, King seems to have known exactly what he wanted to achieve here and so I didn’t pick up on his tendency to stray and meander as I have done before. It’s hard to try to express how great I think this book is without giving anything away, but I did really enjoy it and am looking forward to watching the film adaptation soon.