The alternate reality on the other side of the painting was also a little bit like the windows in King’s Dark Tower series, and while it was interesting to see King explore how events in one universe can affect events in another, it seemed out of place with the rest of the story line. Sheldon, if you didn’t know already, was the main character in Misery, the author who was imprisoned by his terrifying number one fan. Although there were moments here and there where he was self-referential, like when he referenced ka and when he talked about the characters reading Paul Sheldon novels. It felt like it could have been written by anyone, which usually wouldn’t be much of a criticism, but when it comes to Stephen King, I expected better.

But if you like horror and realism mixed together, but with elements of magic thrown in, then perhaps this is the book for you.įor me, I thought it was an okay read, but I’d have trouble recommending this one ahead of any of the other Stephen King books that I’ve read. I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure why that part of the story line was even there, because it felt forced and distracted me from the overarching action. He’s a manipulative son of a bitch and he treats her horribly, and even when she finally plucks up the courage to leave him, she’s absolutely terrified.Īlong the way, Rose makes a number of new friends and tries to get her life back on track, meeting a new man and purchasing a painting which ends up taking on a lot of significance within the story. Rose’s husband is a cop, and he likes to hit her in the kidneys so that the bruises don’t show. Loosely speaking, the story line follows a woman called Rose as she tries to escape from her abusive husband.

With this one, I felt like I was forcing myself to finish it, although I will at least admit that it got better as time went on. Sure, King has a habit of blowing my mind with the word counts on his releases, but usually you still find yourself barreling through towards the end. Rose Madder seemed to drag by for me, which is a shame.

Rose madder book