Robert Bob Anderson

Robert Bob Anderson alias Beadie is the main antagonist of , a horror novella written by and published in his collection Full Dark, No Stars.

Background
Darcy Anderson has been married to Bob, an accountant from Portland, Maine, for 27 years. They have a happy yet humdrum relationship, running a mail-order business selling and appraising rare coins. However, unbeknownst to her Robert Bob Anderson is actually a sadistic, nefarious serial killer and rapist "Beadie" who was active in the Maine the last decades. At some point, he met Darcy Anderson and, instead of killing her, married her in order to live a double-life without much troubles.

Events of the novella
Darcy Anderson has been married to Bob, an accountant from Portland, Maine, for 27 years. They have a happy yet humdrum relationship, running a mail-order business selling and appraising rare coins. One day, while Bob is away on business, Darcy goes into the garage to search for batteries. When she rummages through Bob's belongings, she stumbles across a pornographic magazine showing sadomasochistic images. Unnerved by the magazine – and that it is in Bob's possession – Darcy finds a secret compartment behind the garage's baseboard and makes a more horrific discovery: a small box containing the ID cards of Marjorie Duvall, a victim of a serial killer called "Beadie".

Bob phones Darcy and senses her distress. Afterwards, Darcy Googles Beadie and cross-checks Bob's business records with the locations of the murders, finding that Bob was in close proximity to most of the crimes. When Darcy wakes up the next morning, she finds that Bob has deduced her discovery and returned home early. He calmly explains his insanity to his horrified wife, recounting how he and a sadistic friend named Brian Delahanty – nicknamed "BD", from which Beadie's name was derived – planned a school shooting as teenagers. Delahanty was hit by a truck before they could carry it out, but Bob claims he had "infected" him with "certain ideas," resulting in his homicidal urges.

Bob claims that after he started his family with Darcy, his murderous alter ego receded and he was not driven to kill again for several years. He pleads to Darcy to put the matter behind them, for the sake of herself and their family. After mulling it over, Darcy feigns an agreement to do so, on the condition that he bury Duvall's ID cards deep in the woods. Bob believes Darcy has put the truth behind her; however, she is trying to think of a way to stop him from killing again. A few months after Darcy's discoveries, an elated Bob finds a rare 1955 doubled die cent, and the couple goes out to Portland to celebrate. When Bob becomes drunk from champagne, Darcy devises a plan to murder him.

Upon arriving home, Darcy has Bob fetch some Perrier while she waits for him upstairs, ostensibly for sex. However, when Bob arrives, Darcy pushes him down the stairs, breaking his arm, neck, and back. She then manages to shove a plastic bag and a dish cloth down his throat, killing him. After removing the evidence of murder, Darcy manages to convince the authorities and the children that Bob died in a drunken accident, and isn't suspected of committing any foul play. Darcy assumes the ordeal is over.

However, not long after Bob is buried, a retired detective named Holt Ramsey visits the house. Ramsey spent years investigating the Beadie murders and had questioned Bob. Ramsey tells Darcy that he suspected Bob was the killer, since his Chevrolet Suburban was seen in the vicinity of each victim. Darcy realizes that Ramsey has figured out her role in Bob's death. Once she admits the truth, Ramsey assures her that she "did the right thing" and leaves; before he does, she tells him about Delahanty. Darcy realizes that Bob was close to being caught and wasn't as smart as he thought he was. She also finds that she can now be at peace with herself.

Personality
A seemingly benevolant man, Robert Bob Anderson is a polite, courteous, caring and a bit self-effacing husband, as well as an efficient businessman bringing lots of money at home. However, this is just a mere facade that Bob built in order to hide his true nature: that of a sophisticated yet psychopathic, savage, murderous, misogynist, and above all sadistic killer with absolutely no empathy towards his countless victims. He is so vicious that he even tortured to death a child who witnessed the murder of his mother. He also completely disregards his family, viewing his wife and his children as tools allowing him to live a double life of murder without getting caugh. Once his wife discovered the truth, Bob didn't murder her and instead attempted to silence her through persuasion, although this didn't work as he will meet his end some days later.

Trivia

 * He was inspired by, the BTK Killer, who murdered through brutal methods ten innocent people between 1974 and 1991.
 * Robert Bob "Beadie" Anderson is the darkest character of Full Dark, No Stars.
 * In addition, he is one of the darkest and vilest Stephen King's character ever, alongside Atropos, Bogs Diamond, the Crimson King, Frank Dodd, Jim Rennie, Leland Gaunt, Pennywise, Randall Flagg, Richard Straker, Samuel Norton, Tak, Todd Bowden and William Wharton.