I liked Dolores Claiborne, but loathed Rose Madder. There're about five or six King novels I think are complete clunkers: Insomnia, Gerald's Game, Dreamcatcher, Road Work (as Bachman), a couple others I can't think of at the moment. But I think Rose Madder was by far his worst. I doubt if you or I wrote Rose Madder we could have ever gotten it published. It was just a mess, one that got worse as the book progressed.
In fact I'd just about given up on his new stuff until I read Hearts In Atlantis, which was very good. Ditto Cell. So he's still stuck with me as a fan.
