What King does really well is to gradually immerse the reader in an atmosphere of darkness and madness, arranging everything in such a way that you yourself do not have time to notice the moment when everything and everyone around finally fly off the reels. Stephen King is not called the king of psychological horror for nothing. He knows how to scare not with some outdated props and fictional ghosts, but with the dark corners of the human soul.
Limited space, laconic scenery, a minimum number of characters - it turns out that even this is enough (if a master takes up the matter) to create an eerie atmosphere of horror and hopelessness that rolls in waves, absorbing the reader more and more with each subsequent page.
After all, as is known, the most terrible and insidious predator on the planet is man. And in our view sometimes there are such specimens that can shock even an experienced serial killer. It is about such a case that the famous novel “Misery” is about.
How to resist evil if it has complete power over you? How to find a common language with a person if it is impossible to guess in what mood you will meet her today - with ice cream in her hands or a sharp knife? Is there any point in living on if your entire existence is filled with suffering? The word “misery” means “suffering”. This is what will be discussed in one of Stephen King’s most popular novels. In addition, the title refers us to the French word meaning “worthlessness”.
Paul Sheldon, the protagonist, is a successful writer, the author of the popular Misery Chastain series. One day he meets his ardent admirer, but under not quite ordinary circumstances. She saved him from death by pulling him out of the car after the accident, taking him home, and treating his wounds. But Annie has no plans to let Paul go. He would rather die than go through the whole nightmare that his reader, who turned out to be crazy, prepared for him.
The writer does manage to kill his crazy admirer. Before that, he finds out that many people have become her victims. Of course, he would prefer to work in more comfortable conditions, but then he would not be able to write a brilliant novel. However, his strength is exhausted - and the writer is no longer capable of a literary feat. The crazy admirer did everything possible and impossible, but this is the hero's swan song.
The main character's thoughts are written in detail and skillfully, so much so that it seems as if you are next to him, locked in the same room, in a house where there is not a single living soul for many miles around.
The asceticism in the description of the scenery and the extremely small number of people in the plot are an excellent background for discovering the full depth of feelings, desires and motives of each of the characters, one of whom is a victim and the other is an executioner.
The plot, as befits a psychological drama, is quite simple. Such events happen often, which is why the beginning adds greater realism to subsequent events and immerses in a special atmosphere of suspense, which the great King of Horrors sought.
