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Rose Madder By Stephen King Visit the official Stephen King Website Rose Daniels knows how to take a beating. After 14 years married to Norman she has had a lot practice. It wasn't the beating that caused her to loose the baby, that made her leave him though. It wasn't the broken rib either. It was a few years later that Rose received her wake-up call and decided to get out while she still could. That wake up call, believe it or not, was just one drop of blood.   Once Rosie has decided to go, she knows that she has to go straight away, before she changes her mind. She takes Norman's cash card, draws out $300 and gets a bus to a city 550 miles away. Will 550 miles be far enough though, because Norman is a cop and finding people is part of his job.   Things could have turned out very differently for Rosie, but fortune smiles on her and she finds a place to stay, a job, and even some new friends. She also meets one very special friend, Bill Steiner.   On the day that she first meets Bill, Rosie also finds a very unusual picture in a junk shop. The picture is called Rose Madder and from the very first moment Rosie sees it, the picture seems to assert a power over her. She has to have it and exchanges it for her engagement ring - a straight swap.   Rose is happy with her picture and happy with her new life and, all in all, things are going very well for her, even if there does seem to be a little more to her new picture than meets the eye. Rose Madder, though, is the least of her problems. Norman is looking for her and he is getting close. Norman wants to talk to his rambling Rose. He wants to talk to her right up close.   I enjoyed reading Rose Madder. Mine was the paperback version, it ran to 595 pages and I read it in just 3 sittings. I had intended to take a little longer over the book - I had other things I wanted to do - but, once I started on the last 250 pages, I just couldn't put it down because, among other things, I wanted to know whether Norman would kill Bill. I was convinced Rose would be okay, but how happy the ending would be was another thing entirely, and I just had to know the outcome. I also needed to more about what happened with the Rose Madder painting.   There are some very interesting characters in the book, and it is hard not to like them. It is even harder not to hate Norman, and the more I read, the more I wanted to see him get what was coming to him.   Romance, suspense, terror and a very special picture; this book has it all, I enjoyed it a lot.   List of Stephen King books reviewed on this site HOME