Rose Madder

Thrilling suspense from the No. 1 bestseller

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Blair Brown, Stephen King

Roused by a single drop of blood, Rosie Daniels wakes up to the chilling realisation that her husband is going to kill her. And she takes flight - with his credit card.

Alone in a strange city, Rosie begins to build a new life: she meets Bill Steiner and she finds an odd junk shop painting, 'Rose Madder', which strangely seems to want her as much as she wants it.

But it's hard for Rosie not to keep looking over her shoulder. Rose-maddened and on the rampage, Norman is a corrupt cop with a dog's instinct for tracking people. And he's getting close. Rosie can feel how close he is getting . . .

A brilliant, dark-hued fable of gender wars, a haunting love story, and a hold-your-breath triumph of suspense, ROSE MADDER is Stephen King at his electrifying best.


(P)2011 Penguin Audio USA©1995 Stephen King

Critic reviews

Relentlessly paced and brilliantly orchestrated . . . one of King's most engrossing and topical

A superb suspense novel

Rousing . . . vivid and sensitive

A superb suspense novel

Relentlessly paced and brilliantly orchestrated...one of King's most engrossing and topical horror stories

One of the great storytellers of our time

Ear piercing

Great story from the master of story telling, this is a great production overall. The shift between narrators adds to the telling and gives a firsthand quality to the characters.
The mood music, however, is very distracting. In some places it climbs over the narrative, making it a struggle to hear the story; in others it is like a dentist’s drill, with a high pitch squeal aimed squarely at the centre of your head.

Really Enjoyable

This was a pretty good book. The ending was weird. I think a different narrator for Norman would have been better than King himself though, only because the voice and time just didn't really match the character. I also disagree with other comments saying the music got so loud it drowned out the narrator. that never happened, but it was a bit overbearing and if you were hard of hearing already it *would* drown it out.

Loved the audio version

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes - it was great. It is one of my favourite Stephen King novels

Any additional comments?

The only let down is the random music, which, like I said, was random, and it was at times louder than the narrators.... could definitely have done without.

Emotional and Magical!

As a long time lover of Stephen King, this book throws you a curve ball - but in the best possible way! Not many readers will necessarily have experienced anything like the main character experiences, but I don't believe for one second that that would stop a person from feeling the raw emotional response of someone who had. Utterly beautifully written story.

Tastefully placed music (which seriously adds to the emotional response one feels from chapter to chapter). B. Brown's voice is warm, expressive, feminine and amazingly adaptable. King's voice is perfect for the character of Norman... no one else could have read this character. Also very useful having the writer express the mindset of a character he himself wrote, as you get to receive this complex character exactly the way King intended it.

One tip: Stick with the plot of this one! Keep an open mind and let yourself fall into it (especially if you're an avid King reader), because you'll definitely find this story a breath of fresh air.

A Non-Stop Listen

This is one of the most exciting books by Stephen King I've listened to. The funny thing is that I've never read it or seen it anywhere until I discovered it here on Audible. It's very fast paced and kept me listening far longer than intended with each sitting. The fast pace didn't keep me from feeling invested in the lives of his characters, either. Stephen King is a character writer as much as he is a storyteller, and this was one heck of a story.

The basic storyline, woman fleeing from abusive cop husband, has been done before by others, but never quite in this way. I have no idea how to categorize this book - it's not so much horror, aside from the horrific elements stemming from madness. Paranormal thriller, psychological drama, and even romance, all blend effortlessly into this modern day tale.

I really enjoyed the back and forth of Stephen King and Blair Brown in the narration. (don't worry, it's back and forth in chapters, not dialogue) King does an excellent job for his part - so much so that I wish he would consider narrating more of his works.I loved his voices, especially that of "Ze Bull". ;) Blair is the perfect counterpoint for the female lead's point of view, and the switching back and forth between them comes naturally without any hesitation in the flow of the story.

I would recomment this to any Stephen King fan or any fan of thrillers of all kinds. Not for the squeamish.