3.5/5
CW: attempted rape, BDSM gone wrong, child sexual abuse, and gore
I’ve owned this book for ages. And I’ve kept putting it off because I wasn’t sure how much I would like it. It sounds like a great premise, but then I looked at the length and kind of balked because it sounded too long for what was going on. Especially with the pacing once I started reading it.
So, the premise.
Gerald and Jessie go to a cabin in the woods for a big of a vacation. But Gerald wants to get a bit kinky. He handcuffs Jessie to the bed. She changes her mind. Gerald keeps wanting to go on. After a scuffle, Gerald dies from a heart attack… with Jessie still handcuffed to the bed.
That’s the first chapter.
There are 39 after that. The book is over 400 pages.
I think that what saved it from being a boring and overly long book was King using the pages to delve into an abused woman’s psyche and her mind flashing back to another time when she felt trapped. It combines her literal entrapment with handcuffs and the mental entrapment that abuse gave her. I thought it was very literary of him.
But, he was able to get his gore in, of course. Doesn’t bother me, but that’s okay by me. A bit of gore never bothered me.
The only thing I would change is cutting out the last, like, 30 pages. It went on for too long and I think cutting that out would have been better. It didn’t impress me or make me go “WOW”. I could barely even follow the reveal that was being given because I didn’t care.
My last thing is that I’m super excited to see what they did with the movie since it’s been bumped up my to-watch list now.
Have you read this or watched the movie? How did you like it?
What’s your favorite Stephen King book?
BW Reviews 
I read this as a teen back when I had my Stephen King phrase. Haven’t seen the film though.
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I’m hoping that Chantel and I watch it sometime soon! It sounds like it was a good adaptation.
– Caidyn
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If you are one of those people (like me) who watches a movie and yells “that’s not how they did it in the book” then you wont love the movie. Personally I love SK books but very few of the movies worked for me. His books are so psychological and what is going on in a person’s head doesn’t always translate well to a visual medium.
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Ah, gotcha. I’ll keep that in mind! I haven’t watched the movie yet, but I can see how a lot of things in the book won’t translate.
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