Psycho: A Novel

we recently watched a movie about the making of the movie Psycho. We decided to read the actual book it was based on. The movie miscast Norman, based on the actual character in the book. It also miscast the sheriff and the detective. But it followed many of the elements of the book as a whole. I hadn't read this author before but I liked the way he wrote. The book moves along quickly and tells what happened to Norman after the famous murder!

Different from the movie, but still very much enjoyable!

I'm not saying that Alfred Hitchcock should get less credit for his masterpiece film, but maybe Bloch should get a little more. The film's plot and a lot of the dialogue were taken scene-by-scene from the novel, including the iconic last line.

Loved how dated it felt. Not so much horror.

Norman Bates and "his mother" own a hotel named the Bates Motel. They don't get so much business now since a highway was built away from the motel. Norman doesn't even bother to turn on the motel lights to let people know they are there and that they have rooms available.
That is until a woman by the name of Mary Crane or "Jane Wilson" as she called herself, stumbled across the motel and checked in for the night.

Mary was running away as she had stolen $40,000 from her boss and ran away with it. She was hoping to get to Fairvale to see her fiancé Sam Loomis pay off his debt so they could quickly get married and live happily ever after... Unfortunately for Mary that didn't happen.

Mary was missing, Mary was gone.. Mary was murdered by "Norman's Mother". Slashed to death by a butcher knife in her motel room bathroom. Norman covered his "mother's" tracks by cleaning up, disposing of the body and getting rid of her vehicle in the swamp nearby the Bates house.

Mary's sister Lila and Sam can't understand where she is gone. Mary's employer hired a PI to find Mary but he was having no look either. The PI came to Fairvale to seek out Mary's fiancé Sam. He found him Lila and questioned them multiple times to find out any information. They all came to the conclusion something has happened to Mary. The PI searched all hotels and motels in the surrounding areas then heard about the Bates motel. This is when he met his end. He was now missing too. Well "Mother did it". Sam and Lila unlisted the help of the sheriff and after a long time of back and forth they went after Bates.

Bates was psychotic, they found out after they found out that is mother is dead. Of course the sheriff knew this and turns out Norman dug up his mother a while after he got out of the hospital. He dressed as his mother and pretended to be his mother, he became his mother. They were not one.. she was another alter to Norman. Norman got send to a mental.insitution after they dredged the swamp and found both Mary, her vehicle and the money in the vehicle. They also found the PI and his vehicle in the same swamp.

Such a great story! Highly recommended!