Rose Madder

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Blair Brown

Length: 17 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

The number-one national best seller about a woman who escapes an abusive marriage is "one of Stephen King's most engrossing horror novels. Relentlessly paced and brilliantly orchestrated...fueled by an air of danger immediate and overwhelming" (Publishers Weekly).

Rosie Daniels leaves her husband, Norman, after 14 years in an abusive marriage. She is determined to lose herself in a place where he won't find her. She'll worry about all the rest later.

Alone in a strange city, she begins to make a new life, and good things finally start to happen. Meeting Bill is one, and getting an apartment is another. Still, it's hard for Rosie not to keep looking over her shoulder, and with good reason. Norman is a cop, with the instincts of a predator. He's very good at finding people, even if he is losing his mind.

Fixed on revenge, Norman Daniels becomes a force of relentless terror and savageness, a man almost mythic in his monstrosity. For Rosie to survive, she must enter her own myth and become a woman she never knew she could be: Rose Madder.

"Riveting, engrossing...packed with suspense" (People), Stephen King infuses this novel with an edge-of-your-seat, chilling atmosphere. Rose Madder is "an eerie, remarkably mature and moving novel" (The Washington Post).

©1995 Stephen King (P)2009 Penguin Audio

Great performance by Blair Brown

This is an excellent book made even better by Brown's excellent performance interspersed with King reading Norman's parts. The ONLY thing about this recording that I have any complaints about, is the music that occasionally barges in. Music can certainly enhance the story when done well but in this case it's too loud, jarring, and distracting, pulling you out of the story instead of wrapping you up in it. A small complaint, but a justified one. Luckily the excellent story and wonderful performance of the narrator makes it easy to overlook this small fault.

Good acting, not King's best in my opinion

Blair Brown and whoever does Norman's chapters both perform very well, and were a pleasure to listen to. The sound effects, however, were often rather off-putting, at least to my ears.

While the story was compelling, I didn't find that it drew me in in the same way that some of King's other works have.

A thriller & cathartic read.

A wonderful novel & superbly narrated too. I'll keep my eyes on Stephen king's novels from now on.

Very Underrated!

I loved this book. It is not critically acclaimed like many of Stephen King's books. For anyone who has ever been in or witnessed an abusive relationship, this hits home. This book combines fantasy and reality and it works. The narrator is perfect for this story. #veryscary #abuseisawful #escapefromreality #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Wonderful.

This was a wonderful experience. I had no idea Audible would be such an amazing experience. The narrator did an excellent job, clearly spoken and skillfully animated. Overall excellent.

Great

excellent and great narrator's! loved the plot and characters. can't wait for my next read -

Loved it!

Absolutely fantastic. The narration was perfect. I could have lived without the music in between scene changes, but no big deal. My favorite Stephen King novel.

Excellent

One of my favorite books from Stephen King, I've read this one many times and was not disappointed in the audio version. The reader does an excellent job. I couldn't pull away until the end.

Love the story, can’t stand the music!!!!!

I love the story, and the voice performance is lovely as well, but the ear piercing music throughout the book, usually at the beginning and end of a chapter, is sometimes excruciating. It’s almost as if it’s competing with the voice actor for volume. Other than that the book is wonderful.

Thrilling dual effort from Brown and King

On the surface, Rose Madder isn't your typical Stephen King novel in that it doesn't center so much on supernatural horrors but, in typical King fashion, horrors that are all too real. Also in typical King fashion, the characters are well written and the story is compelling and fraught with suspense. Blair Brown does a great job handling Rose's narration while King makes a surprise (or perhaps just unadvertised) appearance as Norman. The one drawback to the audiobook is perhaps the age: it's obvious from the audio quality this has been pulled maybe from the initial book on tape (the airy hiss that is constantly present is a big tip-off) and the overblown volume and dramatic effect of the music cues that bookend every single chapter. This is a great book and a wonderful set of performances, it deserves a remastering!