Rose Madder

Title: Rose Madder

Author: Stephen King

Published in: 1995

Date read: 6th April 2020

Score: 4/5

Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Psychological

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"Rose Madder" by Stephen King, published in 1995, is a powerful and unsettling horror novel that blends psychological realism with dark fantasy, exploring themes of domestic abuse, escape, and the supernatural empowerment of a traumatized woman.

The story centres on Rose Daniels, a woman who has endured fourteen years of brutal physical and psychological abuse at the hands of her husband, Norman Daniels, a violently obsessive and deeply disturbed police detective. One day, a single drop of her blood on her sleeping husband's bedsheet becomes the catalyst for her escape. Realizing that the sheet is blood-stained not from her, but from him (an old nosebleed), she understands that for the first time, she has evidence against him and he can't twist it back on her. This small moment of clarity empowers her to finally flee.

Rose travels to a new city (loosely based on King's Portland, Maine, though unnamed in the book), taking a new name, Rose McClendon. She finds refuge in a shelter for abused women and slowly begins to rebuild her life, making friends and finding work. She starts to experience a fragile sense of freedom and hope.

During her new life, Rose encounters a pawn shop and is drawn to a peculiar, ancient-looking painting of a woman in a rose-coloured dress, standing by a temple. She buys the painting, though it's too large for her small apartment. The painting soon begins to change; parts of it seem to shimmer and move, and the woman in the painting, whom Rose names Rose Madder, appears to beckon to her.

As Rose's new life develops, she meets and falls in love with Bill Steiner, a kind and gentle man, and starts to experience genuine happiness for the first time in years. However, her past cannot be so easily escaped.

Meanwhile, Norman, consumed by his obsessive rage and convinced that Rose has stolen money from him, begins a relentless and increasingly sadistic hunt for her. Norman is portrayed as a truly monstrous figure, a sociopath who uses his police training to track Rose with terrifying efficiency and brutality, leaving a trail of death and destruction in his wake.

As Norman closes in, the painting of Rose Madder becomes more and more active, offering Rose Daniels a surreal escape into its fantastical, dangerous world. This alternate reality, populated by mythical creatures and a formidable spider-woman named Dorcas, mirrors and magnifies Rose's own struggle for survival and empowerment.

The climax involves a terrifying confrontation as Norman corners Rose. She is forced to make a desperate choice between facing her tormentor in the real world or seeking refuge, and potentially a dark form of justice, within the painting's otherworldly landscape, where Rose Madder's power can be unleashed against her abuser. "Rose Madder" is a harrowing tale of vengeance and liberation, blending the visceral horror of domestic abuse with the surreal terror of the supernatural.

Comments:
So much to love in this book, particularly the characters and their links to other books and themes in the SK universe.

Books that we've read by Stephen King (68):
Carrie (1974), 'Salem's Lot (1975), The Shining (The Shining, #1) (1977), The Stand (1978), Night Shift (1978), The Dead Zone (1979), Firestarter (1980), Cujo (1981), The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) (1982), Different Seasons (1982), Christine (1983), Cycle of the Werewolf (1983), Pet Sematary (1983), The Talisman (The Talisman, #1) (1984), Skeleton Crew (1985), It (1986), The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2) (1987), The Eyes of the Dragon (1987), The Tommyknockers (1987), Misery (1987), The Dark Half (1989), Four Past Midnight (1990), The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, #3) (1991), Needful Things (1991), Dolores Claiborne (1992), Gerald's Game (1992), Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993), Insomnia (1994), Rose Madder (1995), The Green Mile (1996), Desperation (1996), Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4) (1997), Bag of Bones (1998), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999), Hearts in Atlantis (1999), On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000), Black House (The Talisman, #2) (2001), Dreamcatcher (2001), Everything's Eventual (2002), From a Buick 8 (2002), Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, #5) (2003), Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, #6) (2004), The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, #7) (2004), The Colorado Kid (2005), Cell (2006), Lisey's Story (2006), Duma Key (2008), Just After Sunset (2008), Under the Dome (2009), 11/22/63 (2011), Full Dark, No Stars (2011), The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5) (2012), Dr. Sleep (The Shining, #2) (2013), Joyland (2013), Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1) (2014), Revival (2014), The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (2015), Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #2) (2015), End of Watch (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #3) (2016), Elevation (2018), The Outsider (2018), The Institute (2019), If It Bleeds (2020), Billy Summers (2021), Later (2021), Fairy Tale (2022), Holly (2023), You Like It Darker (2024)