Gerald 's Game - wikipedia Gerald 's Game For the film, see Gerald 's Game ( film ). Gerald 's Game First edition cover Author Stephen King Cover artist Rob Wood Country United States Language English Genre Suspense Publisher Viking Publication date May 1992 Media type Print ( Hardcover ) Pages 332 ISBN 978 - 0 - 670 - 84650 - 4 Gerald 's Game is a 1992 suspense novel by American writer Stephen King. The story is about a woman whose husband dies of a heart attack while she is handcuffed to a bed, and, following the subsequent realization that she is trapped with little hope of rescue, begins to let the voices inside her head take over. The book is dedicated to King 's wife Tabitha and her sisters : `` This book is dedicated, with love and admiration, to six good women : Margaret Spruce Morehouse, Catherine Spruce Graves, Stephanie Spruce Leonard, Anne Spruce Labree, Tabitha Spruce King, and Marcella Spruce. '' Originally the book was intended to be a companion piece to King 's novel Dolores Claiborne, with the connecting theme of two women in crisis caught in the path of an eclipse, though this aspect was greatly reduced by the time the books were published. Contents 1 Plot 2 Film adaptation 3 See also 4 References 5 External links Plot Jessie Burlingame and her husband Gerald have gone to a secluded cabin in western Maine for an off - beat romantic day off. Gerald, a successful lawyer with an aggressive personality, has been able to reinvigorate the couple 's sex life by handcuffing Jessie to the bed. Jessie has enjoyed the game before, but suddenly balks. As Gerald starts to crawl on top of her, knowing her protests are real but ignoring them anyway, she kicks him in the stomach and in the groin. He falls from the bed to the floor, cracks his head, has a heart attack, and dies. Jessie is alone in the cabin, unable to move off the bed, or summon help. A stray dog named Prince starts feeding on Gerald 's body. Jessie is troubled by a terrifying, deformed apparition, whom she initially mistakes for the ghost of her long - dead father. Jessie begins to think of this visitor as the `` Space Cowboy '' ( after a line from a Steve Miller song, `` The Joker '' ), saying out loud that he is `` not anyone, '' and that he was only `` made of moonlight. '' A combination of panic and thirst causes Jessie to hallucinate. She hears voices in her head, each ostensibly the voice of a person in her life, primarily `` The Goodwife '' or `` Goody Burlingame '' ( a Puritanical version of Jessie ), Ruth Neary ( an old college friend ), and Nora Callighan ( her ex-psychiatrist ), neither of whom Jessie has spoken to in years. These voices represent different parts of her personality which help her extract a painful childhood memory she has kept suppressed for many years. She was sexually abused by her father at age ten during a solar eclipse that occurred in her Maine hometown. She also begins to realize how unhappy her marriage had been, and that she sacrificed a potentially happy life for the security of Gerald 's paycheck by being a trophy wife without children. Jessie makes increasingly desperate attempts to escape, first by trying to break the headboard she is cuffed to, then by trying to slip off the bed and push it to the bureau where the keys are placed. One of the voices in her head tells her that if she stays another night, the Space Cowboy will take a part of her to add to its trophy `` fishing creel '' filled with jewelry and human bones. Jessie escapes the handcuffs by slicing her wrist open on a piece of broken glass, giving herself a degloving injury to lubricate her skin enough for the cuffs to slide off her right hand. She is then able to move behind the bed, push it to the bureau and use one of the keys to unlock her left handcuff. She passes out from blood loss. When she awakens, the Space Cowboy has made his way back into the house. Jessie confronts him and throws her wedding ring at his box of jewelry and bones, thinking that is what he wanted all along, then turns and runs out of the house. She makes it into her car and escapes the house, but is terrified to discover the Space Cowboy sitting in the back seat. Jessie crashes and is knocked unconscious. Months later, Jessie is recuperating and being looked after by a nurse. An ambitious associate attorney at Gerald 's law firm assists her in covering up the incident to protect her and the law firm from scandal, as well as assisting her in her recuperation. Jessie writes to Ruth Neary, detailing what happened after the incident and her recuperation process. She details a serial necrophile and murderer named Raymond Andrew Joubert making his way through Maine ; he was the Space Cowboy, confirmed when Jessie confronted him in a court hearing and Joubert mimicked Jessie 's arm positions while she was in the handcuffs. He also repeats her frightened exclamations, when she thought he was the Space Cowboy apparition, that Joubert was `` not anyone '' and `` made of moonlight. '' Jessie also mentions that Prince, having been abandoned, was shot and killed by the police. Film adaptation Main article : Gerald 's Game ( film ) In May 2014, Deadline.com reported that Mike Flanagan was set to direct a film adaptation. In an interview with Rue Morgue in September 2016, Mike Flanagan said that the film adaptation would premiere on Netflix. He did not state when the film would premiere or whether Stephen King would be involved. In October 2016, Deadline reported that Carla Gugino and Bruce Greenwood will star in the film as Jessie and Gerald Burlingame. On October 17, 2016, Flanagan tweeted indicating the first day of production had begun. The film premiered on Netflix on September 29, 2017. See also Novels portal Solar eclipses in fiction References Jump up ^ Doniger, Wendy ( August 16, 1992 ). `` Shackled to the Past ''. The New York Times. Jump up ^ Fleming, Mike ( 2014 - 05 - 19 ). `` Cannes : Stephen King Novel ' Gerald 's Game ' To Be Adapted By ' Oculus ' Helmer Mike Flanagan And Intrepid Pictures ''. Deadline.com. Retrieved 2015 - 02 - 13. Jump up ^ `` Rue Morgue ''. Rue Morgue. Retrieved 2016 - 09 - 13. Jump up ^ Fleming, Mike ( 2016 - 09 - 17 ). `` Carla Gugino & Bruce Greenwood Star In Stephen King 's ' Gerald 's Game ' For Netflix ''. Deadline.com. Retrieved 2016 - 09 - 17. Jump up ^ @ flanaganfilm ( 17 October 2016 ). `` '' Day 1 ! Off to the races. # geraldsgame `` '' ( Tweet ) -- via Twitter. External links Gerald 's Game on Netflix Stephen King Bibliography Short fiction Unpublished and uncollected Awards and nominations Novels Carrie ( 1974 ) ' Salem 's Lot ( 1975 ) The Shining ( 1977 ) The Stand ( 1978 ) The Dead Zone ( 1979 ) Firestarter ( 1980 ) Cujo ( 1981 ) Christine ( 1983 ) Pet Sematary ( 1983 ) Cycle of the Werewolf ( 1983 ) The Talisman ( 1984 ) It ( 1986 ) The Eyes of the Dragon ( 1987 ) Misery ( 1987 ) The Tommyknockers ( 1987 ) The Dark Half ( 1989 ) Needful Things ( 1991 ) Gerald 's Game ( 1992 ) Dolores Claiborne ( 1992 ) Insomnia ( 1994 ) Rose Madder ( 1995 ) The Green Mile ( 1996 ) Desperation ( 1996 ) Bag of Bones ( 1998 ) The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon ( 1999 ) The Plant ( 2000 ; unfinished ) Dreamcatcher ( 2001 ) Black House ( 2001 ) From a Buick 8 ( 2002 ) The Colorado Kid ( 2005 ) Cell ( 2006 ) Lisey 's Story ( 2006 ) Duma Key ( 2008 ) Under the Dome ( 2009 ) 11 / 22 / 63 ( 2011 ) Joyland ( 2013 ) Doctor Sleep ( 2013 ) Mr. Mercedes ( 2014 ) Revival ( 2014 ) Finders Keepers ( 2015 ) End of Watch ( 2016 ) Gwendy 's Button Box ( 2017 ) Sleeping Beauties ( 2017 ) The Outsider ( 2018 ) The Dark Tower series The Gunslinger ( 1982 ) The Drawing of the Three ( 1987 ) The Waste Lands ( 1991 ) Wizard and Glass ( 1997 ) Wolves of the Calla ( 2003 ) Song of Susannah ( 2004 ) The Dark Tower ( 2004 ) The Wind Through the Keyhole ( 2012 ) Richard Bachman novels Rage ( 1977 ) The Long Walk ( 1979 ) Roadwork ( 1981 ) The Running Man ( 1982 ) Thinner ( 1984 ) The Bachman Books ( 1985 ) The Regulators ( 1996 ) Blaze ( 2007 ) Short fiction collections Night Shift ( 1978 ) Different Seasons ( 1982 ) Skeleton Crew ( 1985 ) Four past Midnight ( 1990 ) Nightmares & Dreamscapes ( 1993 ) Hearts in Atlantis ( 1999 ) Everything 's Eventual ( 2002 ) Just After Sunset ( 2008 ) Full Dark, No Stars ( 2010 ) The Bazaar of Bad Dreams ( 2015 ) Non-fiction Danse Macabre ( 1981 ) Nightmares in the Sky ( 1988 ) On Writing ( 2000 ) Secret Windows ( 2000 ) Faithful ( 2004 ) `` Guns '' ( 2013 ) Screenplays Creepshow ( 1982 ) Cat 's Eye ( 1985 ) Silver Bullet ( 1985 ) Maximum Overdrive ( 1986 ; also director ) Pet Sematary ( 1989 ) Sleepwalkers ( 1992 ) A Good Marriage ( 2014 ) Cell ( 2016 ) Teleplays `` Sorry, Right Number '' ( 1987 ) Golden Years ( 1991 ) The Stand ( 1994 ) The Shining ( 1997 ) `` Chinga '' ( 1998 ) Storm of the Century ( 1999 ) Rose Red ( 2002 ) Kingdom Hospital ( 2004 ) Desperation ( 2006 ) `` Heads Will Roll '' ( 2014 ) Comics Heroes for Hope ( 1985 ) American Vampire ( 2010 ) Musical collaborations Michael Jackson 's Ghosts ( 1997 ) Black Ribbons ( 2010 ) Ghost Brothers of Darkland County ( 2012 ) Anthologies edited The Best American Short Stories 2007 ( 2007 ) Six Scary Stories ( 2016 ) Worlds and concepts Fictional locations of Maine Jerusalem 's Lot Castle Rock Derry Fictional books Multiverse All - World Dollar Baby Related articles List of adaptations Books about Stephen King Rock Bottom Remainders Philtrum Press Six Stories Stephen King Goes to the Movies Charlie the Choo - Choo Hearts in Suspension Tabitha King Joe Hill Owen King Book Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gerald%27s_Game&oldid=815396344 '' Categories : 1992 American novels American thriller novels Novels by Stephen King Novels set in Maine Viking Press books English - language novels American novels adapted into films Hidden categories : Pages to import images to Wikidata Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Deutsch Español فارسی Français Հայերեն Italiano Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Polski Português Română Русский Slovenčina Suomi Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 14 December 2017, at 16 : 13. 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Question: how does jessie free herself gerald's game
Answer: slicing her wrist open on a piece of broken glass, giving herself a degloving injury to lubricate her skin enough for the cuffs to slide off her right hand