Rose Madder cover art

Rose Madder

Thrilling suspense from the No. 1 bestseller

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 Months Free + £10 Audible voucher

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Get this deal
Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST.
More purchase options

Rose Madder

By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Blair Brown, Stephen King
Get this deal

£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £25.39

Buy Now for £25.39

Roused by a single drop of blood, Rosie Daniels wakes up to the chilling realisation that her husband is going to kill her. And she takes flight - with his credit card.

Alone in a strange city, Rosie begins to build a new life: she meets Bill Steiner and she finds an odd junk shop painting, 'Rose Madder', which strangely seems to want her as much as she wants it.

But it's hard for Rosie not to keep looking over her shoulder. Rose-maddened and on the rampage, Norman is a corrupt cop with a dog's instinct for tracking people. And he's getting close. Rosie can feel how close he is getting . . .

A brilliant, dark-hued fable of gender wars, a haunting love story, and a hold-your-breath triumph of suspense, ROSE MADDER is Stephen King at his electrifying best.


(P)2011 Penguin Audio USA©1995 Stephen King Domestic Thrillers Fantasy Horror Supernatural Thriller & Suspense Fiction Scary
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic reviews

Relentlessly paced and brilliantly orchestrated . . . one of King's most engrossing and topical
A superb suspense novel
Rousing . . . vivid and sensitive
A superb suspense novel
Relentlessly paced and brilliantly orchestrated...one of King's most engrossing and topical horror stories
One of the great storytellers of our time
All stars
Most relevant

What did you like most about Rose Madder?

I liked the fact that Stephen King read the part of Norman Daniels

What was one of the most memorable moments of Rose Madder?

Most of the book is memorable as it's a step away from King's usual works

Which scene did you most enjoy?

I liked the first dream scene, the first time into the painting, up until that point the book feels like a regular thriller

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The opening to the book was very moving, and sad.

Any additional comments?

Although I enjoyed this audiobook, I do wish they hadn't put music in it. The music is dull and often so loud that you can barely hear the narrator

Rose Madder

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Overall I enjoyed the book, I prefer Blair brown's narration. As much as i enjoy stephen kings books, I do not enjoy his narration.
The music in this book is unecessery, doesn't do anything for the book.
Would recommend though.

Worth a listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Love the story & think it is well performed apart from the unnecessary 'mood' music.

Annoying Music!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
One of my favourite SK novels, especially as performed here. Ready for re-evaluation in 2019 - it seems to me ahead of its time, and a perfect companion to Gerald’s Game and Dolores Claiborne. Some say the villain is overwritten, but to me he seems a plausibly foul human monster.

Criminally underrated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a bit of a departure from the norm for Stephen King, at least in my opinion. I won't ruin the story but it starts off as a fairly "normal" plot but takes a weird supernatural turn! That being said, I found the story very good and very engaging.

That being said, my only issue with this audiobook is the narration. It is split into two parts: Rose being narrated by the excellent Blair Brown and her husband Norman being narrated by the less excellent sai King himself.

Blair Brown has a lovely voice and does a great job but King's narration is definitely a low point. It's ironic as one of the characters in the book actually says that some people can be great readers / writers but are not very good at reading aloud. King definitely falls into this category. His nasal, monotonal drone really takes away from the portions of the book where Norman is the POV character and it's a shame they didn't get a better narrator for the male part. It's not enough to ruin the book but it's a definite negative.

Another point is the annoying inclusion of pointless "music" and sound effects that add absolutely nothing to the book and in fact detract from the otherwise good story. If you've listened to the Insomnia audiobook by King you'll know what I mean although the sound effects aren't as obnoxious in Rose Madder.

Overall a good story, an excellent performance by Blair Brown and well worth a listen despite King's poor narration and the annoying sound effects.

Good story, narration has some issues

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews