Gerald’s Game Review: 1992’s shocking sexcapade
Stephen King takes us through the ordeals of Jessie Burlingame, handcuffed to the bed with only her dead husband, a starving mutt, her own psychosis, and past childhood trauma for company. Gerald’s Game (1992) suspensefully blurs the distinction between madness and reality, as well as the past and the present – leading you down a path of heartache, horror and the possibility of redemption.
Plot
Gerald and Jessie Burlingame would try bondage games one final time in their remote lake house in western Maine near Kashwakamak Lake. All seems well enough. But when Gerald does not take Jessie’s lack of enthusiasm for the sex game as a signal to stop and uncuff her, Gerald ignores her complaints, pretending they are just part of their game.
Overcome by shame, humiliation and rage, Jessie strikes out, kicking Gerald in the stomach and crotch, realising her husband is faking ignorance and intending to sexually assault her against her will. The shock forces him to have a deadly heart attack. She didn’t mean to kill him. Gerald now lies dead on the floor. With no one around for miles, Jessie knows she is likely to die an agonising and slow death. Handcuffed in a crucifixion pose on the bed, she awaits the terrible pain of muscle cramps, and death by dehydration.
As Jessie’s panic intensifies, her mind conjures voices from her past, each reflecting different aspects of her fractured psyche. These hallucinations force Jessie to confront the guilt and unresolved trauma that haunt her from her childhood, painfully guiding her to a means to escape. But there is someone else, someone that seems completely alien to Jessie. An inexplicably tall, gaunt figure makes an appearance in the dark. He comes with a wicker basket filled with jewelry mixed with human bones.
Nicknaming him the “Space Cowboy” after the Steve Miller song, Jessie cannot decide if he is a figment of her imagination, or if he is real. Is he a mental representation of her father? An opportunistic intruder? Or is he Death, who has come to reap his harvest?
Gerald’s Game Review
Despite the multi-faceted mental dialogue in this novel, the plot of Gerald’s Game (1992) is pretty straightforward. Jessie is locked up in handcuffs, and she has to use her environment and her wits to escape. That’s the nutshell. Yet, that is not to say that books would have fared better as a short story in an anthology.
A surprising amount happens in the isolated setting of a remote lake house, where only one living, trapped human being remains — keeping the story fresh, unlike Gerald’s decaying corpse. Perhaps the greatest praise goes to King’s ability to make you truly care about Jessie, wincing with every failed attempt she makes to escape. This is crucial in the horror genre, unless the author is deliberately aiming for a shlocky, B-movie style. When readers are emotionally invested in a character, the sense of danger becomes far more palpable, and King executes this dynamic in the novel with near-perfection.
The most striking aspect of Gerald’s Game is its account of the child abuse experienced by Jessie by the hands of her father, and how guilt and shame have guided her choices and shaped her self-image throughout her life. Memories of the abuse are described in painful detail. Described through the eyes of Jessie re-experiencing these past events as a child, King’s narrative is especially gut-wrenching. These scenes are not trivialised in any way, making them objectively disgusting and morally repulsive.
The book’s ending, featuring an unsettling and creepy twist, will no doubt appeal to fans of CreepyPasta. While the twist may feel a bit sudden and unexpected, it successfully adds a final chilling note to the story. In the end, Gerald’s Game is not just a survival story but a psychological horror that explores trauma, guilt, and the strength the human spirit can muster in desperate times. King’s ability to keep readers on edge, while also navigating such difficult emotional terrain, is a testament to his mastery of the genre.
