Gerald's Game [Hardcover]

Stephen King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1992

When rough sex between Jessie and Gerald Burlingame turns deadly, leaving Gerald dead and Jessie handcuffed to the bed, it sets in motion a terrifying and psychologically twisted twenty-eight hours. 1,500,000 first printing. $750,000 ad/promo. BOMC Main.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While this is one of the best-written stories King has ever published, it will offend many through sheer bad taste. Jessie and Gerald Burlingame have been married for 20 years. Kinky sex is Gerald's game; lately he has taken to handcuffing his wife to the bedposts. During one such session, via a series of bizarre circumstances, Jessie accidentally kills her husband, and for the next 28 hours she is trapped. King effectively uses this tragicomic conceit to take us deep into the mind of "Goodwife Burlingame."sic For the first third of the book he is at the top of his form, creating in Jessie one of his most intense character studies. Then, Jessie's ruminations lead her to remember a long-repressed episode of incest that is startling not because it becomes a central element of the plot, but because the details of the sexual relationship between father and daughter are salaciously--and lengthily--described. The gory stuff--how Jessie escapes her handcuffs, for example--is prime King, but this is subsumed in the book's general tastelessness. A lame wrap-up to what might have been a thrilling short story only further compromises the enjoyment readers might have found in this surprisingly exploitative work. 1.5 million first printing; $750,000 ad/promo; BOMC main selection.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

King takes it over the top, way over the top, in an exquisitely horrifying frightfest about a woman forced to face her deepest fears--and then some. Jessie Burlingame, 39, is getting plenty tired of being handcuffed to the bed of her Maine summerhouse by her attorney- husband, Gerald, so that he can play his silly sex games. So when Gerald refuses to uncuff her, she kicks him in the family jewels, accidentally smashing them to kingdom come--and the terror begins. Each hand cuffed to a bedpost, the keys out of reach, Jessie howls for help--and is answered by a feral dog that proceeds to chow down on Gerald's face in lavishly described, muscle-shredding detail. As the long hours pass, cramps bite like iron jaws into Jessie's own flesh; but they're nothing compared to the thirst raging through her. Can she somehow reach the glass of water on the shelf above her head? It takes the most tightly controlled writing King's ever done to find out, but soon even the thirst pales beside the guilt- gargoyles that Jessie's mind begins to throw up, all pointing at the sun-eclipsed day so long ago when she became much more to Daddy than just his little girl. The minutes tick by, each an agony--and King's just warming up. Night falls: What's that shadow in the corner? The one with the smirking face of Death? And how can Jessie, growing into a heartbreakingly brave heroine, escape? She tugs and tugs at her wrists but can't slip them past the cuffs. Is there a hot, sticky lubricant at hand? He's not really going to describe that, is he? But, with a ferocious gleam in his eye, King does, out-splatterpunking everyone else on the planet in a tour de force that--even given some overindulgent psychologizing, awfully strong echoes of Cujo and Misery, and a long, peculiar anticlimax--is his most wrenching novel to date. This one is really scary. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1 edition (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670846503
• ISBN-13: 978-0670846504
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (273 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #229,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Surprising Game, July 21, 2003

By 

Richard Stoehr "Idle Rich" (Bremerton, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gerald's Game (Signet) (Mass Market Paperback)

It was an old criticism of King's work, before "Gerald's Game" and "Dolores Claiborne" were published, that he couldn't write a convincing female character between the ages of 17 and 70. Given his penchant for writing about either young girls (Carrie White, for example, or the little girl Charlie from "Firestarter") or old women, it seemed to be a valid point for a long time.

This book, which is an excellent one for many reasons, seemed to be King's first direct response to that criticism. In it, he proves once and for all that he can write a female lead character as compelling and believeable as any of his other characters, and can tell a fine yarn at the same time.

The book starts out in surprising territory for King: a sexual game being played by Gerald Burlingame, who has just handcuffed his wife Jessie to the bed. This is not the first time this game has been played -- it's an old routine at this point, one which Jessie never particularly liked and has now grown quite bored with, to the point of frustration. She tells her husband that she doesn't want to do it this time, but he presses on. In the ensuing struggle, he has a heart attack and dies, leaving her handcuffed to the bed, in the middle of nowhere.

That's when the story really starts. King's real strength in this story is not just in telling what happens to Jessie in her predicament, but King uses this device to tell the story of how she got there in the first place. What sort of woman is Jessie? What events led her to this place, this man, this scenario? In the course of the story, as Jessie struggles to free herself from her bonds, we also find out why she is there.

Contrary to what some other reviewers have said, I found this book to be a page-turner. It kept me up very late finishing it, and once I was finished, I quite literally did not want to turn out the light. This does not happen to me often; in fact, this is the only King book that has had this effect on me. The effect is largely due to a very effective description, about halfway through the book, of something Jessie sees, or thinks she sees, in the corner of the darkened room in which she is trapped. The scene was so powerfully described that it bothered me for the next week, and inspired me to make a drawing called "Made of Moonlight," which was an attempt to exorcise the scene from my imagination. Even re-reading it now, I find that part absolutely chilling. It's one of the high points in the book, and one of King's most frightening moments in any of his work.

Bear in mind, this is not a supernatural horror novel. Its only supernatural element is a slight tie-in with events in his other "eclipse" novel, "Dolores Claiborne." "Gerald's Game" is mainly a character study, with elements of horror interspersed to keep the reader engaged. The fear, however, comes from a place that is all too real and believeable, and it comes because King has crafted such a powerful story, and such a sympathetic lead character in Jessie Burlingame.

In the end, "Gerald's Game" is not one of King's easier stories to read. It deals with some real issues, and its terrors are only too plausible. Unlike "The Shining" or "Cujo," it's difficult to put this book down at the end and convince oneself that the same thing couldn't happen to you. It's not a book about the scary monster that comes from under the bed. No, in the final analysis "Gerald's Game" is about the monsters who sleep in the bed with you, cleverly disguised, and about those monsters who were there to shape your past.

32 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tense Psychological Thriller!, April 22, 2004

By 

Will Culp (Greenville, South Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gerald's Game (Signet) (Mass Market Paperback)

After finishing Gerald's Game, I feel like I have just fallen out of the visionary world Stephen King has written, and anybody can journey to it by picking up this book. From start to finish, this is psychological terror at its best, and if a person was entranced as I was they could finish this book in about 2 days if they felt the need to, because the reader just has to know the outcome to the story or he would go insane waiting to see what happens. Although Gerald's Game deals with some very controversial subject matter, such as child abuse and sex, this book is not overshadowed by the mature subject matter. This was once in fact supposed to be a movie, but the producers had no idea how to show somebody topless for the entire movie without recieving an NC-17 rating, so they just dropped the whole movie idea. Here below is a quick overview of the story and the writing:

Story: As the novel opens, we meet timid Housewife Jessie Burlingame, who is still haunted by an accident from the past, and her husband, Gerald Burlingame, the curious husband who has a slight heart problem. Both of them are vacationing at their Lake House when Gerald decides to pull out his handcuffs and test them out on Jessie. Jessie is then handcuffed to both of the bedposts, with only 6 inches of armroom allowed. With Jessie still locked up and the keys all the way across the room, Gerald suffers a fatal heart attack, leaving Jessie hopelessly handcuffed with no way to get out of the bed. As time passes, Gerald's body starts looking pretty scrumptious to a hungry stray, who ventures into the house and starts turning Gerald into Dogfood. All the while Jessie valiantly tries to get a water glass full of water off the shelf that is just barely out of her reach, but she has to try or else she fears she may just go insane. As her hunger and thirst deepens, Jessie begins having recurring dreams about her disturbing childhood that is tarnished by the memory of her father abusing her as a child. As she learns to deal with her inner demons, she soon notices demons aren't only in her dreams, but in the corner of her bedroom. A gaunt shadow stands there watching her throughout the night, and she realizes to her dismay the shadow is real. The only way Jessie can get out of her predicament is to overcome her inner demons and and try not to go mad, while at the same time she must figure out a way to get out of her impenetrable stronghold with all of her options gone except for an empty glass on the bedstand. Jessie learns to overcome fear and herself in the ultimate battle for survival.

Writing: Stephen King constantly amazes me at his always changing and everdevoloping writing styles, and with Gerald's Game, he once again he has done it. Although not as descriptive as say Cujo or The Shining, Gerald's Game describes things beautifully through similes and metaphors that are well-crafted and thought-out. What really amazes me about the writing is the relentlessness of the plot and how he sounds like the Camp Counselor telling ghost stories around the fire, increasing the tension and making you gasp once or twice for good measure. Stephen King is definitely writing in his "I Want to Tell You A Story" mode, never letting the plot lag and the story get muddled with needless subplots that have no basis. GREAT!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good, very different King book, July 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Gerald's Game (Signet) (Mass Market Paperback)

A lot of the people who didn't like this book didn't like it because they were expecting the typical King monster-story, and this isn't it. This book is a psychological thriller. If you expect monsters or evil forces to come crawling around, you'll be disappointed. This horror comes from the situation Jessie finds herself in, the things her mind goes through in that situation, and what she has to do to save herself. The scene where Jessie finally escapes the first handcuff is one of the few times I have actually cringed while reading a book. King does attempt to put in a more conventional boogeyman-type figure with the stranger, but all the while leaving the possibility that it's just Jessie's imagination. When this guy is finally explained, it's creepy but a bit over the top, and not really necessary in this book, but it didn't bother me either. You can probably tell whether you'd enjoy this book by reading the premise and if it scares you or interests you, then so will the book.