Lisey's Story

Lisey's Story (2006) is a horror and romance novel by best-selling author Stephen King. The book follows the widow of best-selling and award-winning novelist Scott Landon, who is trying to fend off professors, journalists, and publishers seeking her dead husband's unpublished work while cleaning out his study. As the novel goes on, a series of frightening and violent events lead Lisey to recall a repressed memory of her husband's ability to travel to another world, called Boo'ya Moon, which both terrified and healed him. Eventually, Lisey travels to Boo'ya Moon herself, to face her husband's demons and come to terms with the real cause of his death.

The novel opens two years after author Scott Landon's death. His wife, Lisey, who is not literary in the least, has been hounded by publishers and professors seeking access to Landon's study in the hopes of uncovering an unpublished manuscript. The novel has two threads—one in the present, as Lisey goes through Scott's study, and one a recollection of Scott's past and the romance that spanned 25 years of his and Lisey's life.

Lisey has already turned away several academics by the time her sister Amanda, who is deeply mentally fragile, comes to spend a day with her going through Scott's writing room. Amanda and Lisey go through many saved documents and photos, earmarking ones that include Lisey. As they go through this process, Lisey relates some parts of her past to her sister. However, she stops each time she moves toward traumatic memories, of which there are many. It comes to light that Lisey and Scott's marriage, while full of love, was also full of horrors brought on, in part, by the homicidal rages and fits of catatonia that plagued Scott's entire family.



While sorting through items, Amanda learns that her ex-husband and his new wife are moving back to the town where she lives. Amanda panics, cutting open her hands before falling into a catatonic state. Lisey brings her sister to a hospital to receive mental health treatment, but before she can drop her off, Amanda speaks in Scott's voice. Scott says he has created a “bool” hunt, in the strange metaphysical world of Boo'ya Moon where he often traveled. He tells Lisey there is a prize for her at the end if she can complete the hunt.

In the real world, Lisey faces a series of threats from Zack McCool, who insists she gives all of Scott's documents to one particular professor. Zack threatens her life when she refuses. Lisey calls the police, who station a car outside her home, but do little else to help her. Zack leaves a dead cat in her mailbox, and Lisey calls the police again, who do nothing. Eventually, Zack breaks into Lisey's house and attacks her with a can opener.

Meanwhile, Lisey recalls the frightening realm where Scott frequently traveled, Boo'ya Moon. She decides to travel there herself to find the prize that Scott promised her and to face her husband's demons. Lisey uses Boo'ya Moon to solve many problems, pulling Amanda out of her catatonia to join the hunt, and luring Zack to his death at the hands of a Boo'ya Moon beast.



The novel ends as Lisey receives a diary written by her husband, which reveals that Scott was forced to kill his own father, who had succumbed to a family disease of homicidal madness. The diary also reveals that Scott's father had had to kill his brother, Paul after Paul became homicidal at the age of 13.

Lisey finally says goodbye to her husband in his empty study, having finally come to terms with the horrors that haunted her husband. Lisey still moves frequently between the real world and Boo'ya Moon in dreams and sometimes in her waking life.

Stephen King is a horror novelist famous for a number of books, including The Shining, Carrie, Misery, Pet Sematary, and dozens of others. Many of his books have been made into movies and television shows. He has won a National Book Award, Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and others. He lives in Maine and has been writing since 1967. He has also written memoirs and books on the practice and craft of writing.



Stephen King is a horror novelist famous for a number of books: The Shining, Carrie, Misery, Pet Sematary, and dozens of others. Many of his books have been made into movies and television shows. He has won a National Book Award, Bram Stoker Award, World Fantasy Award, and others. He lives in Maine and has been writing since 1967. He has also written memoirs and books on the practice and craft of writing.