Product Description

A major new blockbuster from the king of modern horror and suspense.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #206702 in Books
• Published on: 1996-06-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
After 14 years of being beaten, Rose Daniels wakes up one morning and leaves her husband -- but she keeps looking over her shoulder, because Norman has the instincts of a predator. And what is the strange work of art that has Rose in a kind of spell? In this brilliant dark-hued fable of the gender wars, Stephen King has fashioned yet another suspense thriller to keep readers right on the edge.

Publishers Weekly
'Relentlessly paced and brilliantly orchestrated…one of King's most engrossing and topical horror stories'

The Sunday Times
'A superb suspense novel'

Customer Reviews

Honest book but from King I expected more and better on this topic
This is a very readable book by my favourite author and I do not regret that I read it. But stil, I believe that this is one of the (very few) Stephen King's books which I enjoyed less than I expected.
First, let's begin with the strong points. The opening scene is excellent, one of the best and most shocking King ever wrote. The main character is very likeable and her miserable and full of pain life is described in a great way - you simply have to feel for her. The scenes in which she is finally breaking away from her hell are a great moment - in fact seldom did I enjoy reading something so much as those chapters. Although this is a dark and violent book (this is Stephen King after all) the message is finally optimistic and the ending is soothing (if not totally happy). The supernatural elements of the book are very good and I found the chapter about the maze very beautiful and poetic. So, by all means, read this book. It is worth it.
There are however weaker points which I believe harmed this book, which could be a masterpiece, instead of just a honest read. The main character has it way too easy when being on the run. Sad to say, but most of women who escape battering husbands have to struggle much more before rebuilding their life. I believe that more realism here would improve the book - because some elements in the second part seem taken straight from Harlequin books...
But where the book strays the most is I believe in the description of the abusive husband, Norman. In the beginning he is described very well - a selfish, frustrated, violent, even sadistic man who considers his wife as his propriety, as lifestock instead of life companion. Then, in the second part of the book, we finally realise that this man is in fact totally insane, on a level justifying a lifetime comitment to high security psychiatric facility. And this is I believe a mistake, because if he is THAT sick (and he is THAT sick - just read the book to the end), he is not responsible for his acts. He deserves to be comitted and separated from the society forever but he hardly desserves to be killed - and especially eaten alive - because he is NOT a monster, just a very sick man. Keeping Norman sane until the end would be a better choice - beacuse then he would be a monster desserving punishment and not just a raving lunatic, driven by his condition. Also, that would stick more to the reality - as sad as it may seem, battering husbands mostly are just bad people, who belong in jail, not lunatics, who belong in asylum. I am very astonished that Stephen King, who is a very feminist writer (just read "Gerald's Game") decided to weaken the message of this book in such a way. For a liberal (in American meaning of the term) writer it also strange that he adopts such a Charles Bronson/Chuck Norris approach - just kill the psycho, it doesn't matter he is insane, he had it coming anyway...
All in all, a honest book, but which could be much better.

Brutal realism and far fetched fantasy combined.
Stephen King has created a REALLY nasty piece of work in the character Norman Daniels - the leading ladies' ever-more demented cop husband.

This guy starts out unspeakably horrible, and just gets worse and worse; more and more demented and crazy as the book continues.

Great stuff!

King writes characters like Norman so well, so convincingly, that come the end I was rooting for him to suffer!

The bad guys don't always get what's coming to them in King novels, but the nasty man in this one does.

It's an unpleasant way to go, but trust me, he had it coming.

Oh yes, every bite.....

Read it again
As an avid Stephen King reader I purchased Rose Madder as soon as hit the shelves in 199 whenever and couldn't wait to dive in.
However I found the book disappointing but couldn't quite put my finger on why...until recently.
In the authors notes at the end of the Dark Tower series Stephen King mentions that some of the ideas for the Dark Tower started with Rose Madder which inspired me to read it again.
I'm glad I did read it again, second time around it was brilliant.
I've also realised that the reason I was disappointed way back when is because I didn't know who Ferdinand the bull was. During the intervening years I've had children and now know and love the adorable charming pacifistic cartoon bull.
Put a soppy smiling bull mask on a psychopath and you've got a great story.