Book Review: Psycho by Robert Bloch

Picked this up on a whim wanted to read the source material for one of my favorite horror movies. It didn’t disappoint.

In case you haven’t seen the film, Psycho follows Mary after she steals a large sum of money from her boss and drives overnight to see her boyfriend, Sam. She stops at the Bates Motel, only to get murdered by Norman Bates’s mother in a jealous rage. Norman covers for his mother and hides all evidence.

When Sam and Lila (Mary’s sister) investigate Mary’s disappearance, they stumble across a shocking secret. That Norman’s mother was thought to be dead. So who killed Mary?

The book is fast paced. If wastes no time on backstory, but manages to find the motivations of its characters easily. The reveal is done in a way that if you didn’t know where it ends, it would be a great surprise. I can see why both the film and the book were so shocking in their day.

This is a good, fast read if you’re looking for a beach read or want to know what inspired Hitchcock to make a film that the studios didn’t want to touch. Worth reading.