Rose Madder

After Rose Daniels flees her abusive husband her first job is narrating audiobooks, a coincidence that will intrigue listeners, but might have less impact in print. Rose's voice is wonderful as her employer points out--soft, silky and dynamic. Blair Brown projects this, as well as Rose's hesitancy, fear, growing self-confidence, then fear again as she's tracked down by Norman, her brutal cop husband. Stephen King reads the chapters in which Norman narrates and, unfortunately his nasal voice is just not believable as the foul-mouthed sadist. King intrudes with his narrative and snaps the listener out of the immersion Brown fosters. The long program is nicely cued, and good electronic sound adds to the tension. With so many cassettes, better packaging is a must, even for an individual listener. R.F.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Starred review from July 3, 1995
Relentlessly paced and brilliantly orchestrated, this cat-and-mouse game of a novel is one of King's most engrossing and topical horror stories. At the center of the action is heroine Rose McClendon, a battered wife who starts life anew by leaving her police officer husband, a consummately cruel man depicted by King as a paragon of evil. Crowded with character and incident, the novel builds to a nearly apocalyptic conclusion that combines the best of King's long novels--the breadth of vision of The Stand, for example--with the focused plot and careful psychological portraiture of Dolores Claiborne. The story of Rose's joyous growth from tortured wife (her persecution gruesomely but realistically portrayed) to independent woman alternates with the terrifying details of her husband's deliberate pursuit to create unflagging tension. The book is a phantasmagorical roller-coaster ride, peopled by a broad array of indelibly characterized men and women and fueled by an air of danger that is immediate and overwhelming. 1.75 million first printing; BOMC main selection; simultaneous Penguin Audio; paperback sale to Signet.