The Gingerbread Girl | 
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Product Description
In the emotional aftermath of her baby's sudden death, Em starts running. Soon she runs from her husband, to the airport, down to the Florida Gulf and out to the loneliest stretch of Vermillion Key, where her father has offered the use of a conch shack he has kept there for years. Em keeps up her running -- barefoot on the beach, sneakers on the road -- and sees virtually no one. This is doing her all kinds of good, until one day she makes the mistake of looking into the driveway of a man named Pickering. Pickering also enjoys the privacy of Vermillion Key, but the young women he brings there suffer the consequences. Will Em be next?
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Customer Reviews:
• Catch Me If You Can 25 November, 2008
Stephen King's short story, The Gingerbread Girl, appeared in Esquire magazine in July 2007 and was published this year as one of the stories in King's Just After Sunset collection. It has also been released as a standalone two-disc, roughly two-hour, audio book narrated by Mare Winningham, the version of the story that I recently experienced.
Emily, a young woman whose marriage has begun to fall apart after the crib death of her only baby, is the "Gingerbread Girl" of the book's title. Searching for a way to maintain her sanity after the tragic loss of her child, she soon becomes obsessed with her daily runs, extends them to longer and longer distances and, in the process, convinces her husband that she has become mentally unstable. When a minor spat with her husband suddenly flares into something more serious, Emily hits the door and literally runs right out of her husband's life.
Taking a page from the fairy tale Gingerbread Man's book ("Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man."), Emily depends on her legs to outrun her troubles and conflicts. She will soon learn, however, that running in the wrong direction can be more dangerous than not running at all.
Emily retreats to her father's little beach house on Florida's remote Vermillion Key where she is content in her aloneness and continues to add to the mileage she is capable of running. All goes well and one day she is surprised to find herself ready to invite her father to join her in the Keys for a few days. But then, despite having been warned by her only friend on the island that one of the wealthy homeowners has arrived with another of his "nieces" and that she should avoid the man, Emily lets curiosity get the best of her and practically runs into the arms of a serial killer.
At this point, The Gingerbread Girl can only hope that her legs will be able to save her from becoming the killer's next victim. Since she is trapped on a very small island, that might not be as easy as it sounds even for a trained runner like Emily.
Mare Winningham's presentation helps make Emily into a comfortably believable character, a woman suffering terribly and unable to express that pain to anyone who might be able to help her grieve. She is by far the most complete character in the story, especially when contrasted with the man chasing her, a character that remains a stereotypical villain to the end. It could be that the limitations of the short story format kept King from more fully developing his killer, but that failure kept me from reaching the tension level that I have come to expect from a Stephen King thriller. I suspect that this one would have made a better novel than short story.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1F3DFRPGVEUI8
• Running For Her Life 20 December, 2008
This novella from Stephen King is available only in audio, read very effectively by Mare Winningham. We already know that King can do amazing things with the novella and short story formats, and here he delivers his usual stylish writing. If you are willing to accept terror rather than horror as the genre, then The Gingerbread Girl will keep you absorbed for its two-hour running time.
The title character, Emily, runs to get away from the pain of a dead baby and a failing marriage. She leaves her home with nothing but a credit card and the clothes she has on. Taking refuge in her father's beach house in the Florida Keys, she runs in the off-season solitude. One day she finds a house occupied, sees a dead girl in the trunk of a car - and is abducted by a mad serial killer. Em winds up running for her life.
Em, the killer, and the steamy beauty of the island are the main elements in this tale. The plot may not be full of surprises but it parlays a somewhat predictable story into two hours of tension. Neither Em nor the knife-wielding stalker are as fully developed as a novel would permit, but when Stephen King's in charge, you know you're in for some good stuff. Like the gingerbread man who jumped off the pan and ran out the door, Em is running to save her life. Will she meet the same tragic end as the gingerbread man? You'll have to listen for yourself to find out.
Linda Bulger, 2008
- Reviewed by customer ID: AKR4DH6WLF6GG
• Tapes 05 April, 2009
another listening tape that is very well read, wished id know about these tapes sooner, should get
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2G2RA9LPUDLLX
• Another Good Story From King 17 March, 2009
This is a very good story - I read it in a short story book and enjoyed it thoroughly. It is typical SK and I love the way he puts the words on paper. He is still the greatest as far as I am concerned. A good read.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2QKS8CSXHET3G
• A Classic Magazine Fiction 24 March, 2009
Stephen King started with fiction for mainstream magazines and returns to that genre with this unique twist on murder and regret. This is a distinctly polished piece that gives King continued right to claim the title as the King of Horror . . . and possibly the King of Modern Fiction.
- Reviewed by customer ID: ATCLZ8MFFTNUH
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