Duma Key by Stephen King is a novel in the literary-horror genre, praised for its eerie, spooky atmosphere and suspenseful build-up. Published in 2008, Duma Key is the first novel by King to be set in Florida. The book follows Edgar Freemantle as he moves from Minnesota to the island of Duma (one of the Florida Keys, or small islands) after a life-changing accident. Tormented by phantom-limb pain from his amputation and unable to remember the names of common objects, Edgar takes to art as healing therapy. Soon, his paintings turn spooky, channeling the weird magic that pervades Duma. As Edgar grows close to Jerome Wireman and Elizabeth Eastlake, the other inhabitants of the island, he learns that Elizabeth too used to draw as a child. The uncanny similarities between Edgar and Elizabeth’s paintings feature a rotting ship and a horrifying woman in a red robe. As Edgar and Elizabeth’s narratives converge, Edgar learns the power of the horror which surrounds him, and the tremendous price it will extract from him, unless it is stopped. The novel explores important themes about the unpredictability of life, the fear of loss of health, and the impact of art by juxtaposing real-life horrors with supernatural terror, and showing the strength of human friendships in battling profound evil.

Described as moody, visually rich, and finely paced, Duma Key became a New York Times bestseller soon after its publication. Stephen King, who has also published several novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, is one of the 20th century’s most popular writers in English, having published over 70 books, 30 of which are considered chart-busting bestsellers. King usually writes in the horror, fantasy, and speculative fiction genres. Many of his works have been adapted into movies and television series. Widely recognized as a key figure in elevating horror to the realm of literary fiction, King is known for infusing his supernatural plots with psychological realism and flawed, relatable characters. King works and lives in Maine with his wife, the novelist Tabitha King.

Other works by this author include Children of the Corn, End of Watch, The Man Who Loved Flowers, and Firestarter.

This study guide follows the Hodder, Great Britain, 2011 paperback edition.

Content Warning: Duma Key describes psychological terror, themes of loss, violence and sexual assault against children, and death by suicide.

Plot Summary

Construction magnate Edgar Freemantle’s perfect life is upended in a brutal accident. Crushed by a crane, Edgar suffers traumatic brain injury and has his right arm amputated. His injuries leave him with phantom-limb pain, aphasia, and rage issues. After Edgar tries to choke his wife Pam in a fit of rage, she asks him for a divorce. Edgar’s grown-up daughters Melinda and Ilse are devastated. Kamen, Edgar’s psychotherapist, suggests he move to a new location and take up a passion to recover physically and emotionally. Edgar moves to Duma Key, an island in the Florida archipelago, where he takes up painting, a hobby he once loved. On Duma, Edgar befriends a young man called Jack Cantori, hired to help him out, Jerome Wireman, a 40-ish man with a tragic past, and Elizabeth Eastlake, an elderly heiress.

At first, painting proves therapeutic for Edgar, but over time, Edgar’s artwork grows weirder. Edgar also gets a mysterious itch in his amputated right arm that is only relieved when he paints. His paintings often feature eerie elements, like a ghostly ship, a lost little girl, and a mysterious woman in a red robe. Soon, events he paints start coming true. After Edgar’s younger daughter Ilse visits him at Duma Key, Elizabeth is glad Ilse left, as Duma Key is unlucky for daughters. Edgar learns Elizabeth’s complicated history: She suffered a brain injury when she was a toddler, briefly lost her speech, and started to paint to communicate with others. Her paintings grew more sophisticated, and she was considered a child prodigy. However, after Elizabeth’s six-year-old twin sisters Tessie and Laura drowned, Elizabeth stopped painting altogether. Elizabeth now has Alzheimer’s disease and cannot access most of her memories.

As Edgar’s art grows eerier and more powerful, Elizabeth advises Edgar to sell it off, as art accumulated on Duma Key acquires too much dark power. Edgar shows his work to a gallery, which offers him a solo show. Edgar’s show is a huge hit: All the paintings sell and all his friends and family, including Elizabeth, attend. However, Elizabeth panics when she sees Edgar’s series of paintings featuring a ghostly ship, a little girl, and the woman in a red robe. She tells Edgar the woman is a malevolent entity called Perse, who has grown much stronger than when Elizabeth knew her. Perse commands the ship of the dead, which is the ship featured in Edgar’s paintings, progressively growing closer to shore. Edgar must stop Perse by drowning her. Before Elizabeth can reveal more, she collapses and dies later that night. Edgar is sure the evil spirit Perse killed Elizabeth.

Edgar, Jack, and Wireman decide to investigate Elizabeth’s house for answers about Perse. They discover a red picnic basket with Elizabeth’s paintings in it. The sketches are very similar to Edgar’s, indicating that Edgar has channeled Elizabath’s memories. It is revealed that Perse uses humans with prodigious artistic talents, fueling their creativity and making them draw events that come true. She reached out to little Elizabeth and made her draw a storm and a treasure, so that Elizabeth’s diver father could bring the treasure home. In the treasure was a porcelain doll, Perse’s host. When Elizabeth sensed Perse was using her, she tried to stop Perse by drawing and erasing her. The method did not work; Perse grew angry with Elizabeth and lured her twin sisters to her ship of death as vengeance. Edgar realizes Perse will be angry with him as well for learning her secret and will target his loved ones through his paintings. Edgar tells the gallery not to deliver his sold paintings for a while, hoping this buys time before Perse attacks.

However, Edgar recalls that Ilse possesses one of his paintings, which she took from his studio during her visit to Duma. He calls her and instructs her to burn the painting. When she does so, Edgar breathes a sigh of relief. However, later, Mary Ire, an art critic who took one of Edgar’s sold paintings home, attacks Ilse and drowns her. Devastated, Edgar swears to finish off Perse. Channeling Elizabeth’s childhood memories, Edgar learns that she stopped Perse with a double-drowning method suggested by her nanny, Nan Melda. Elizabeth put the doll hosting Perse in a whiskey keg filled with fresh water, and then lowered the keg into a water-filled cistern. Jack, Wireman, and Edgar head to Elizabeth’s old house at the southern end of the island to find the cistern. Edgar discovers Nan Melda’s skeleton, and takes the silver bangles from her arms as protection against Perse. The three men see that the water from the cistern and keg has leaked over time, awakening Perse. Edgar finds the doll, which tries to chew its way into his heart as zombies from Perse’s ship swarm the house. Wireman fends them off while Edgar and Jack drown the doll in a flashlight canister filled with water, putting her to sleep once again. Edgar finally allows himself to mourn Ilse.

Months later, Edgar and Wireman drown the flashlight in a lake. For his final painting, Edgar draws a storm destroying Duma Key, curbing Perse’s menace for a long time to come.