Gerald's Game (original 1992; edition 1992)

A frightening scenario of a bondage encounter gone wrong. Scary and thought-provoking. The better of King's eclipse novels. ( )

some parts hard to read because of topic; and sometimes boring ( )

I have to say first off that I haven't read many of Stephen King's book all the way through and I think that's mainly due to their length. It intimidates me and makes me think that I'll be spending a month reading one book and upon finishing it, become very disappointed that I wasted so much time on it. I'm not so much disappointed about Gerald's Game but I do believe that it could have been better. One main problem with the book was its length. Granted it's not as long as some of King's books but come on, I did not need to know every minute detail about what was going on with the main character while she was handcuffed to a bed. It became very repetitive in the description of her legs and arms cramping and her dry throat. This book is also one of the goriest books that I have ever read by Stephen King (but that may be because I haven't read very many). I had a hard time reading through certain parts of the book that were extremely gory and disgusting, but low and behold, I made it! The only reason that I decided to give this book a 3 out of 5 was because I love the way Stephen King writes and this book surprisingly scared me a few times, with "death" creeping around every corner. I know that I need to read more of his books in order to compare it more accurately but from what I have read I would say that this is not one of his best. I would recommend it for King readers just because it's King and who can go wrong with King? But I would give a fair warning in advance: Extremely gory and boringly descriptive. ( )

From looking at the other reviews of this book it seems that most people either love it or hate it. Almost all of this story deals with the human mind's response to a "fox in a jaw-trap" situation (think 127 hours) so it's a bit different from King's usual fare. As the story progresses our narrator gets more and more unreliable which sets the stage to make the final denouement even more chilling.

Warning: readers with weak stomachs should probably give this one a miss as the gore factor gets pretty heavy in places. ( )

Gerald and Jessie Burlingame have taken an off-season trip to their lakeside cabin. Gerald likes to play games that involve handcuffs. After securing Jessie to the bed, he suffers a heart attack and dies, leaving Jessie cuffed to the bed, with no one else around for miles. Or so she thinks...

Gerald's Game is an absolutely claustrophobic suspense book. It makes Misery seem epic in comparison. It's almost like King challenged himself to write a book, the entirety of which takes place in a small room and the main character's head. Not only does he succeed, he manages to turn the tale into a real nail-biter.

It also includes the scariest single scene I've read in any of Stephen King's books, or any book for that matter. Gerald's Game is the one book that made me feel uneasy about putting down the book and turning out the light.

On the other hand, it also includes the most unbelievable, unlikely and coincidental plot twist ever encountered in a King book. The fact that the most chilling scene and the most unbelievable are one in the same is part of the problem with the book. I know that it is why I remembered the book as weak from my previous read.

Knowing ahead of time about the blessing/curse of that, I was able to enjoy the book a LOT more on a second read. King makes Jessie a believable character who's own past is as much an impediment to her freedom as the handcuffs are. This is carried out much more smoothly and less obviously than I am making it sound here.

Definitely worth a read. And if a part of it seems wildly unbelievable, just go with it. The rest of the book will make up for it. ( )