Gerald’s Game, Stephen King – A Review.

Gerald’s Game by Stephen King.

Synopsis… “A game of seduction between a husband and wife goes horribly awry when the husband dies. But the nightmare has just begun…“

Overall rating 4 out of 5 stars.

My review…

There is a trigger/content warning with Gerald’s Game for child sexual abuse. I will not be mentioning this in my review but please be aware of this should you wish to read this book.

Anyone who knows me will know I adore Stephen King and his writing and Gerald’s Game was no different, it was, in a word, brilliant.

We are launched straight into the story here, the opening of the book involves Jessie already in handcuffs, and I’m glad that King didn’t waste time setting the scene or the drive to the lake house when that would have held little relevance to the overall story.

As always, the suspense creeps up on us and Gerald’s Game is no exception to this. I had permanent goosebumps reading the first chapter of this book! I was literally terrified for a good chunk of this book. Especially when Jesse starts hallucinating (or does she…) and seeing things in their room.

I particularly enjoyed how despite Jessie being alone (other than Gerald’s body) the book never seemed to stop or fall into a lull, or feel claustrophobic. This, for me, was aided by Jessie’s inner monologue, which I loved.

The inner monologues also allowed us to learn more about Jessie, her relationship with Gerald and her life in general, which I felt added a human element to the characters and helped me to form a connection with them.

King was clever in his chosen moment for the flashbacks or inner monologues, so that there was never a point where we would feel bored from being stuck in the same room for so long.

There was a point that I felt the book could have ended, and for me I wished it had of done. The last few remaining chapters were unnecessary and spoiled it a bit, in my opinion.

On the whole, I did really enjoy this book and I was terrified at points, the suspense really got to me! Let me know if you’ve read Gerald’s Game, I’m off to watch the film now on Netflix as my treat to myself for finishing the book.

Em xxx