Gerald's Game

Inhoud

On a warm weekday in October, Jessie and Gerald Burlingame are alone in the bedroom of their Maine summer house, playing a game that isn't listed in Hoyle's. But suddenly, as Jessie hears the click of the second handcuff locking her to the bedposts and sees her husband looming over her, a nerve-snap of recognition tells her that this time Gerald is playing for keeps. Her next move is furious, violent, and, she is shocked to discover, deadly. Giving up control is scary enough it is terrifying when there is no one left to give it to.
Except that Jessie is not alone. Over the next twenty-eight hours, trapped in a lakeside house that has become a prison, Jessie will come face-to-face with all the things she has ever feared, and the unlatched back door banging fretfully in the breeze is an open invitation to horrors she has never imagined. Inside the darkening bedroom, shadows gather in mute menance, while inside Jessie's head a taunting chorus of voices whispers and shrieks: Women alone in the dark are like open doors... and if they cry out for help, who knows what dread things may answer?

Bespreking

A what-if-scenario expertly woven into an intimate thriller

Jessie and Gerald Burlingame have been married for 20 years. In an attempt to make their sex life more exciting, Gerald has subtly introduced handcuffs to their bed games. Jessie was never really fond of these toys. Indeed, if the excitement of her husband wouldn't have been so extremely obvious, Jessie might have never agreed to it. But the sound of the handcuffs clicking in place aroused Gerald so much, that Jessie simply could not refuse. This time it is different. This time she had enough and decides not to play along anymore. Sadly enough, when she is ready to share this conclusion with her overly excited husband, she finds herself already tied to the bedposts. Then she makes her biggest mistake: she furiously kicks her husband. When Gerald drops to the ground, she realizes that her part of the game is far from over.

With Gerald's Game Stephen King has created a setting that comes really close to the one that was so expertly woven in Misery. Effectively it recalls that same claustrophobic feeling of being totally helpless and completely isolated from the sane world. What makes Gerald's Game different is the level of violence, or at least the direction it takes. Jessie Burlingame is confronted with an inescapable situation, but also with her own disturbed personality. Brilliantly King depicts her internal struggle by calling-up -and playing with- the images of Jessie's other personalities. In Misery the violence is far less personal. It is mostly external by means of pure evil incorporated in the person of Annie Wilkes. On this level Gerald's Games leaves a stronger impression than Annie could accomplish. The sad part though, is clearly the conclusion of Gerald's Game. The very strong built-up of the narrative is simply not cashed-in, but diverted towards a less remarkable surprising ending. Not that this is bad, but is could have been a lot more gripping and personal. Although this reduces Gerald's Game in my view to a runner-up to Misery, this story deserves to be noted as one of King's best.