It wasn't the first time Gerald and Jessie Burlingame had tried bondage games to liven up their marriage. But as Jessie lies on the bed in their lakeside holiday cabin, her wrists securely cuffed to the bedposts, the shame and humiliation of it strike her as never before - feelings that turn to rage when Gerald chooses to interpret her lack of enthusiasm as part of the game.

When she kicks out at him she means to hit him where it hurts; what she didn't foresee was the resulting coronary that leaves Gerald dead on the floor - and leaves her handcuffed to the bed, miles from anywhere, with no one to hear her screams.

As she contemplates an agonizing death from dehydration and the slow crucifixion of musle cramps, she begins to hear voices inside her head - a confusing babel offering advice, encouragement or blame. Only one voice offers her hope, telling her to go back to a childhood memory of another holiday cabin - and another terrifying event. An event she has tried to forget, but which she must now re-live once again if she is going to survive.

And that's when the nightmare truly begins.

Gerald's game is a masterpiece of terror and suspense that shows a brilliant new facet of Stephen King's dark genius.