The novel centers on a nameless petty criminal locked in a remand cell awaiting trial for a crime only vaguely defined.

As the novel progresses the man surrenders himself to self-pity and hatred, constructing elaborate fantasies of revenge and the torture he wishes to inflict on the officers who, he believes, falsely arrested him.

Selby described the critical reception of the book as "the greatest reviews I've ever read in my life", although in reality it was not well received.

[2] At least one reviewer has expressed similar feelings, with claims that reading the novel made him physically sick.

"[4] A section of The Room is used in Richard Linklater's Waking Life, where a red-faced man in a jail cell describes in vivid detail the abuse he intends to inflict once he is released.