Gerald's Game
by Stephen King
★ Top 10 book of 1992 · #9 on Best Books of 1992
On a quiet October weekend at a summer house, a romantic getaway turns deadly when Jessie finds herself handcuffed to the bed and alone. With only a stray dog and her own haunted thoughts for company, she begins to suspect someone is watching.
Best for: Horror readers who enjoy claustrophobic, psychological suspense with a single trapped heroine
Gerald's Game is #9 on BookWard's Best Books of 1992, out of 43 1992 books that cleared our data bar.
What Gerald's Game is about
Jessie Burlingame and her husband Gerald, a lawyer, drive from Portland to their lake house in western Maine for a spontaneous romantic getaway. The season is over and their neighbors have gone, so the place is empty. Gerald has a sexual game in mind that involves handcuffs, and Jessie goes along only by pretending. When she asks him to stop and he ignores her, she lashes out and he dies of a heart attack, leaving her handcuffed to the bed with no one likely to miss them for several days.
From there, Stephen King keeps the story almost entirely inside one room and one mind. Voices begin to speak to her, some belonging to people she has known and some to versions of herself. They push her toward memories she has long kept buried and toward a hard look at her marriage. Readers who like tense, confined, psychological suspense will find it here, though the tone is dark and often disturbing.
Gerald's Game on the Best Books of 1992
Gerald's Game came out in 1992. Of the 43 books first published in 1992 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #9 on our Best Books of 1992 list.
Why it made the list: 597 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.7 out of 5 (35 ratings); 24 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 1992 list
- Small Gods Terry Pratchett, #7
- Your Money or Your Life Vicki Robin, #8
- A Fire Upon the Deep Vernor Vinge, #10
- Wild Magic Tamora Pierce, #11
See all Best Books of 1992 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1991 Best Books of 1993.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 484 want to read it, 24 are reading it now and 89 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.7 out of 5 from 35 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 91 | 55% |
| Reader love | 21 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 86 | 20% |
Questions about Gerald's Game
When was Gerald's Game published?
Gerald's Game by Stephen King was first published in 1992.
Was Gerald's Game one of the best books of 1992?
Gerald's Game is #9 on BookWard's Best Books of 1992, out of 43 1992 books that cleared our data bar. 597 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.7 out of 5 (35 ratings); 24 are reading it right now.
Why is Gerald's Game on the Best Books of 1992 list?
597 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.7 out of 5 (35 ratings); 24 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 1992
- Welcome to Dead House Robert Lawrence Stine, #1
- The Secret History Donna Tartt, #2
- The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes Bill Watterson, #3
- Snow Crash Neal Stephenson, #4
- The Shadow Rising Robert Jordan, #5
- The Artist's Way Julia Cameron, #6
See the full Best Books of 1992, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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