 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "In the Deathroom" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| "In the Deathroom" | |
|---|---|
| Short story byStephen King | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Horror |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Secret Windows, Blood and Smoke(1st release), Everything's Eventual |
| Publication type | Anthology |
| Publisher | Book-of-the-Month Club |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) &Audiobook |
| Publication date | 1999 |
"In the Deathroom" is ahorror short story by American writerStephen King, first published as part of King's 1999audiobookBlood and Smoke.
Fletcher, a former reporter fromThe New York Times, has been captured by members of aSouth American dictatorship. The story begins as he is brought into the titular "Deathroom" forinterrogation about an allegedcommunistinsurgency, which he has been supporting due to the government having killed a group of nuns which included his sister. Fletcher realizes that his captors, despite their promises to the contrary, will not let him leave the Deathroom alive.
During the course of his interrogation, Fletcher manages to keep calm, and hatches a desperate plan to escape, which, to his surprise, actually works. He fakes anepileptic seizure and, in the captors' struggle to save him, steals a gun. After killing three of his captors and maiming another, he escapes the Deathroom. Fletcher, having no way of knowing if the gunfire was heard, starts up the stairs to see if he can escape.
The story ends with a man, almost certainly Fletcher, buying a pack of cigarettes at a newsstand kiosk inNew York City.
King describes "In the Deathroom" as "...a slightlyKafka-esque story about an interrogation room in theSouth American version of Hell. In such stories, the fellow being interrogated usually ends up spilling everything and then being killed (or losing his mind). I wanted to write one with a happier ending, however unreal that might be."[1]
"In the Deathroom" was originally published as part of King's 1999audiobookBlood and Smoke.[2] In 2000, it was first published in print inSecret Windows, a volume which was available to theBook of the Month Club only.[2] In 2002, it was collected in King's mass-market publication,Everything's Eventual.[2]
