Review – Misery by Stephen King

Fiction – Suspense/Thriller

Read as a paperback book

Short review

What a book! I’m late to the party with this one, the book is about the same age as I am, but I had watched the film 20 years ago or so. It’s an utter page turner, and in true Stephen King style, there are bits you don’t want to read, yet you can’t take your eyes from the page.

The story builds and builds as we learn more about Annie Wilkes and as we learn more everything becomes a bit more dangerous. There are some great moments in this book and I just loved what addictive reading it was. It’s the type of book I’ll suggest to people if they’ve not read any Stephen King before.

What I learnt as a writer reading this –

I love that a great story like this can be broken down into a tag line that is sheer brilliance – “Paul Sheldon used to write for a living, now he writes to stay alive.” It tells you everything you need to know, and makes you want to read the book. A great way to distil it, not a word wasted there.

Most of the book takes place in one room, we use Paul’s mind to do any travelling we need to do. The way information is gathered is clever (no spoilers) and there never feels that too much is given away at once, we’re always want to know just a little more, so we turn the page.

The suspense is just so well done, you’re on the edge of your seat when you hear Annie come back in the drive. It’s so cinematic in it’s writing.

Book 3 of 2025