It's not fair, for example, that her favorite character in the world, Misery Chastain, has been killed by her creator, as Annie discovers when Paul's latest novel comes out in paperback.

A dangerous psychotic with a Romper Room sense of good and bad, fair and unfair, Annie Wilkes may be Stephen King's most terrifying creation.

He wakes up to unspeakable pain (a dislocated pelvis, a crushed knee, two shattered legs) and to a bizarre greeting from the woman who has saved his life: 'I'm your number one fan!'Īnnie Wilkes is a huge ex-nurse, handy with controlled substances and other instruments of abuse, including an axe and a blowtorch.

Paul Sheldon, author of a bestselling series of historical romances, wakes up one winter day in a strange place, a secluded farmhouse in Colorado. When placed next to Stephen King's prolific ability to produce Misery and other stories, it puts things in perspective that the author has truly given fans a gift, even if at times he did suffer for his art, just as Paul has done throughout the novel.Stephen King is arguably the most popular novelist in the history of American fiction. Paul is definitely not in a good situation by his captive state, nor the constant, looming threat of physical harm and even death, but he ends up being more productive even if it's forced. The relationship between Annie and Paul changes literal vices for figurative ones. Misery also contains parallels to the struggle many writers experience with self-doubt and how they turn to substance abuse to compensate this is marked by Paul's drinking and addiction to painkillers. Paul humors Annie to write Misery's Return even though he seems to know, with quite a fair amount of certainty, that completing the book will make him no longer useful to her she'll have the ending she wants, and won't need to keep him around.

While the twisted relationship between Annie and Paul has been described as everything from Stockholm Syndrome to dark romance to downright torture - and it could be argued that all of these are correct, in a way - King's relationship with the character of Annie comes through in Paul's character.

Misery by Stephen King