The Gingerbread Girl by Stephen King
The Gingerbread Girl
by Stephen King
(Audio)
I've been on a bit of a Stephen King kick, and this one was a short one I came across at the library that sounded interesting. Like some of his others, it's only available in audio.
The main character is Em, a woman struggling with the sudden death of her baby, who heads to her father's abandoned summer home to be alone with her thoughts for a while. She recently took up running. Does the title make sense now?
She isn't long into her stay/new life when she spots a dead girl in a car and is immediately kidnapped by a sick and crazy guy. She spends the next 75% of the book trying to escape in what turns out to be a slow, bloody, painful escape. She gets out of the chair and hits the guy, but only manages to make it as far as the hallway before he gets to her and hurts her again. Then she escapes the hallway into a room, but ends up having to throw herself out a window. He keeps coming after her and she keeps running, but not all that much running because there's sand (it's Florida). So it didn't quite live up to the title for me.
Lots of descriptions of pain and escape. Like, a lot. I found myself really liking the bad guy. No, not on his side or anything. But Mare Winningham's reading of him was so perfect! The way she said his lines, like he was some sweet guy, even when what he was saying was terrible, horrible and crazy, was such an entertaining treat. I especially loved the final scene in the water. The way she read those lines of dialogue between the characters totally made the whole story worthwhile for me.