In one of the most profoundly terrifying scenes of Stephen King's Misery, Paul discovers a scrapbook of Annie's that she has titled "Memory Lane." Inside, Paul finds a variety of newspaper clippings that eventually confirm the worst of his repressed fears. Not only is Annie far more mentally unstable than she seems, but she is in fact a serial killer who has kept these clippings as trophies (and has been operating since adolescence). Indeed, victims include a family from her hometown as well as her own father, several of her college acquaintances, and several infants who died under mysterious circumstances while Annie was working in a maternity ward.

Most alarmingly, the final newspaper clipping is one that concerns the disappearance of Paul himself, leading him to assume that he is to be her next victim. Before he can act, however, Annie emerges and attacks the snooping Paul, cutting off his leg with an ax before stopping the bleeding with a blowtorch.

Annie continues to torture Paul both physically and psychologically as he is forced to finish the book that she wants. As Annie murders a Colorado State Trooper to keep his kidnaping a secret, Paul's likelihood of rescue seems more and more remote. However, he is eventually able to escape by pretending to play along with a death fantasy at the completion of the novel.