A Good Marriage tells the story of Darcy Anderson (to played by Joan Allen), who has an idyllic if somewhat boring marriage with husband Bob. Days go by with Bob often traveling in search of rare coins for resale in support of their home business. But Darcy discovers a sinister truth about all those road trips during Bob’s latest excursion. Unfortunately, an ill-timed phone call to his wife convinces Bob to come home unexpectedly early with a twisted idea of reconciliation in mind.
Of the content in Full Dark, No Stars, A Good Marriage may be the best suited for film adaptation in terms of sheer straightforwardness. All four novellas comprising the book are excellent but very dark and, unlike much of King’s otherwork, lack any levity to lighten the proceedings. Other tales1922 and Big Driver deal with matricide and rape (respectively) with heavy hands. Fair Extension may be the most oddball and fun of the lot. However, King shines as always in depicting the plight of normal people thrust into extraordinary situations, and handled properly, the film version of A Good Marriage should provide a very interesting look at good and bad people who do bad things for radically different reasons.
