Misery by Stephen King

Oh My God!!  I loved this book!!  I think that everyone knows the story of Misery, because of the awesome Movie by the same name in the 1990's, starring Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes and James Caan as Paul Sheldon.  The book was a million times better!  I always have one book on reserve that I read by lamp light before I go to bed.  I am not sure if it was the smartest thing to have Misery be that book.  There were more than a few nights that I went to sleep in the wee hours of the AM only stopping because I had to get up a few hours later to get my children ready for school.  

Annie Wilkes is Paul Sheldon's number one fan.  She makes it a point to tell him that as he first wakes up.  Wait...wakes up?  What?  OK...so Paul Sheldon is a famous writer of a series of Romance novels based on a female character named Misery Chastain.  He just finished his final novel about Misery, whom he killed off.  He was caught in a winter storm while driving and ended up crashing his car.  Annie Wilkes came across the accident and pulled Paul from the wreck.  She took him to her home, and got him set up in a makeshift hospital room.  

So, crazy woman decides that she wants to nurse her most favorite writer back to health.  There is nothing wrong with that, right?  Well, it appears that way, until Annie reads the manuscript of the new Misery novel that Paul just finished.  She finds out that Misery dies, and she loses her mind!!!  Annie Wilkes throws around her version of curses at Paul, including the ever amusing, "Dirty Bird".  She then leaves Paul to his own defenses as she storms out the room and the house for almost three days. When Annie returns she tells Paul that she needs him to write a new novel, bringing Misery back from the dead.  Paul has become Annie's hostage.

You think this is bad...well, buckle up cowboy cause it gets so much more twisted as Paul becomes a pain pill addict, Annie grows more and more nuts.  Paul eventually finds out that Annie is a psychotic killer who avoided being convicted for past murders (surprise!!).  Annie swings more frequently into  fits of depression and anger....believe me it will make your ex look sane!!  She wields weapons again Paul throughout the book, from knives, to axes, to shotguns....and he is not the only one to suffer her wrath at this time, but the only one to survive it, yet not in one piece, cough* cough*.  

The craziness involves, abuse, love *twisted on her part*, hatred *twisted on his part*, fear, desperation, and even a bit of pity for who Annie is as an adult, a very, very crazy adult.

I totally was hooked from the beginning of this book and found myself screaming at the characters, shaking my head at disbelief and totally coming undone by some parts.  I could not recommend a book more highly for people who love a little bit of crazy in their reading lives, cause this one takes the cake!  *****

see the movie trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=108&v=ptpaEntid74

buy the book:  http://www.amazon.com/Misery-Stephen-King/dp/0451169522