* CompleteMonster: [[KillerCop Norman Daniels]], Rosie's husband, is a horrific example of a {{Domestic Abuse}}r. He has been beating and sexually abusing her for fourteen years; his abuse has caused her to miscarry, threatening to kill her if she ever tells anyone about the incident. After he finds out that she left him, he is determined to hunt her down and torture her to death. His methods for locating his ex-wife are tracking down, torturing and killing the people who helped her. His favorite method of killing is [[ManBitesMan biting his victims to death]]. He is also a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist, sexist, homophobic]] creep who thinks all feminists are lesbians and despises one of his victims as soon as he finds out he's Jewish.
* FridgeBrilliance: When Rosie first meets Bill, she assumes he's very young, possibly early 20's. He turns out to be 30, and deduces that Rose assumed he was a good decade plus younger than she (32) because she has been conditioned to think of herself as old, overweight and worn out, thanks to years of abuse, and has no idea she is beautiful. However, her assumption of Bill's age could also be a product of mostly learning about the world through television; Norman doesn't let her have friends or go anywhere without him, and up until now the only real times she would see people close to her own age would be on TV, where they would be played by actors potentially as much as a decade older, while those who were her age in real life would be playing teens and twentysomethings.
* {{Narm}}:
** After the fight with Gert, Norman goes cartoonishly insane and begins acting like a gimmicky slasher film villain, conversing constantly with a mask/puppet (which admittedly appears to be possessed) and repeatedly singing [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_Game The Name Game]]. His over-the-top behavior is at least reeled in by the time he finally finds Rose.
** Pam running eye-first into a coat hook, [[BloodyHilarious splatstick]]-style, and Officer Al's dissonantly blackly comedic death, which involves Norman politely leading him into the trunk of his own car while the oblivious man is bleeding out from being stabbed by Norman.
* NightmareFuel:
** Rose Madder's [[spoiler:true spidery form]].
** Norman is a heavy dose of nightmare fuel. "I want to talk to you up close", anyone? The scariest thing about him is that he's just human (at first) and all his monstrous behavior stems entirely from his plain old human self. He's such a monster, however, that it's hard to believe men like this are real, or that their wives stay with them. But multiple abuse victims will tell you that oh yes, men like Norman are very real and their wives do indeed stay with them, and cover for them, for years, sometimes all their lives, as they grow used to the situation and more fearful of leaving it than staying in it.
* RealismInducedHorror: As monstrous as his actions may seem, there are people like Norman Daniels in the real world. Several readers have noted as such and pointed out that Norman is an extremely violent but ultimately realistic depiction of a domestic abuser.
* TearJerker: The prologue, opening up with Rose's miscarriage. It goes into painful details about how devastating and traumatizing it was for her to lose her unborn baby.
* TheWoobie: Both the Roses, though in different ways.
* IronWoobie: Rosie becomes this by the end of the story.