Norman Daniels is a complete nutter. Apart from being the nastiest bigot on earth, he regularly beats his wife, Rose, to within an inch of her life. After a miscarriage and several trips to hospital, Rose suddenly decides she's had enough, and leaves. Up until this point, she's never known anything different, and assumed that every marriage was this way.

The story takes a great many turns as it follows Rose's life as a free woman (although Norman is always hot on her heels - he wants to teach her a lesson), and through a paranormal encounter with what seems to be herself in a parallel dimension, she finds the power to turn her life completely around.

My Thoughts

A few years ago, it seemed to me that Stephen King was moving towards a very formulaic style of writing, easy to get used to and to predict. I am happy to say that this has been improving immensely in recent publications. In Rose Madder, he has achieved something I never thought anyone would...

I very rarely find a writer who is able to stir strong emotions in me - reality always stays firmly rooted in the back of my mind ("This is just a book, it's not real"), and so the writing does not affect me too deeply (perhaps this is the reason I am able to read some pretty nasty horror books - and watch gross-out videos - without having nightmares afterwards?). Rose Madder is somehow different. I actually found myself vehemently hating Norman Daniels, and feeling sorry for Rose. Perhaps it is because I have met people who could so easily turn into Norman, or simply because I haven't been reading the right books - I don't know. Either way, Stephen King has matured with age.

I would recommend Rose Madder to anyone without too squeamish a disposition, whether Stephen King aficionados or not. The plot may seem a little thin at times, but the emotional content made it for me, and the almost surreal paranormal side-plot serves as an exciting distraction from the sometimes painful realism of Rose's situation.