Gerald's Game

The premise of Gerald's Game is that Jessie Burlingame and her husband Gerald have gone to their solitary cabin for a sex adventure. Once there, Gerald wants to fasten Jessie to the bed with handcuffs, which they have done before, but more and for a couple of days.

With the aid of this somewhat odd start, King hopes for suspense to arrive by itself. The only thing that arrives is a stray dog that gnaws a bit on Gerald, and the disembodied voices of some of Jessie's old friends that start to discuss an event in her childhood.

This internal dialog is mixed with descriptions of Jessie's more and more desperate attempts to get out of the handcuffs. At the end, we get to read the interminable letter that Jennie writes to one of the persons whose voice she has heard in her head.

It feels as if this book was written because the publisher wanted it, not because King wanted to write it.

See also:

• Dolores Claiborne (a sort of sequel to this novel)