Gerald's Game
Gerald and Jessie Burlingame have gone to their summer home on a warm weekday in October for a romantic interlude. After being handcuffed to her bedposts, Jessie tires of her husband's games, but when Gerald refuses to stop she lashes out at him with deadly consequences. Still handcuffed, she is trapped and alone. Painful memories from her childhood bedevil her. Her only company is a hungry stray dog and the sundry voices that populate her mind. As night comes, she is unsure whether it is her imagination or if she has another companion: someone watching her from the corner of her dark bedroom.
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Also by Stephen King
What you might want to know about Gerald's Game
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A husband dies of a heart attack mid-bedroom-game and leaves his wife handcuffed to the bed in a lake house with no neighbors. Alone, dehydrated, and visited by figures only she can see, she has to find her way out.
Yes. Netflix released a 2017 film adaptation directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Carla Gugino. The film is widely considered one of the best modern Stephen King adaptations and helped launch Flanagan's horror career.
Yes, loosely. The two novels are linked by a shared eclipse moment and thematic concerns about women in survival situations. They were published in the same period (1992) and are sometimes referred to as companion novels.
Gerald's Game was written by Stephen King, published in 1992 by Gallery Books.
Gerald's Game is 399 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Gerald's Game takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
Gerald's Game is a standalone novel by Stephen King, not part of a series.
Gerald's Game is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
