Why does the bible need an interpreter?

I hear that if you read the bible and believe what's in it, you'll go to Heaven, but then when I go to church or speak with Christians who are supposed to believe in the bible, it seems that they don't actually believe what's written in it, but instead what they're told the words written in it are supposed to mean. The interpretations are always done by people that had no hand in writing it, and they rarely agree with how people outside their sect interpret it. No one has to interpret Stephen King or Anne Rice, and everyone that reads their works gets the same thing out of them. Doesn't God have the ability to write exactly what he means in a concise manner understandable to whoever picks up a copy of his best seller as well? So what's the deal? If the bible is supposed to be the word of God, both perfect and infallible, why does it need to be interpreted by people that didn't even have a hand in writing it?