Fletcher, a former reporter from The New York Times, has been captured by members of a South American dictatorship.
The story begins as he is brought into the titular "Deathroom" for interrogation about an alleged communist insurgency, which he has been supporting due to the government having killed a group of nuns which included his sister.
During the course of his interrogation, Fletcher manages to keep calm, and hatches a desperate plan to escape, which, to his surprise, actually works.
The story ends with a man, almost certainly Fletcher, buying a pack of cigarettes at a newsstand kiosk in New York City.
King describes "In the Deathroom" as "...a slightly Kafka-esque story about an interrogation room in the South American version of Hell.