Psycho

Robert Bloch's seminal bestseller was Psycho, a 1959 hardcover first published by Simon & Schuster. It debuted in paperback in 1960 as a Crest Book, an imprint of Fawcett. Within its first few years of publication, the book was printed in six editions, including a movie tie-in version for Alfred Hitchcock's classic in 1960. The book spurred film sequels, but Bloch wrote his own sequels to the book – 1982's Psycho II and 1990's Psycho House. There was also a TV prequel show titled Bates Motel (2013-2017), a fan-favorite that visualized the origin of the book's protagonist, Norman Bates.

Unlike the film, Norman is really the protagonist of the novel. He's overweight, struggles with his childhood traumas, and talks to his mother. He runs a roadside motel in rural California that has seen its better days. His boring day-to-day changes when a new guest arrives, Marion Crane.

Readers learn about Marion's dilemma in Bloch's beautifully orchestrated setup. She met a man named Sam on a cruise, and the two of them want to get married. But, Sam, who runs a small hardware store, has looming debt and isn't in a position to take on the financial responsibility a marriage requires. Marion works for a real estate company that has just finished a large property sale. She's asked to drop $40,000 at the local bank. Instead, she takes this as a perfect invitation to take the money and run. She plans on driving across the country to Sam's place to present him with a fake story about inheriting money from a deceased relative.

Weary from the road, Marion checks in to the Bates Motel...but doesn't check out. This dinner scene and Norman's fixation on the woman develop into one of the most iconic scenes in horror history. Like the film version, this shower scene is excellent, albeit a little different – Marion is eviscerated and decapitated in Bloch's version. 

Marion's disappearance leads to an insurance investigator, Arbogast, arriving at Sam's store. By this time, Marion's sister Lila has also arrived to inquire about her sister's absence. Together, the three of them team up to learn more about Marion's trip to the motel and the outcome. 

It is hard to read a classic like this after seeing the film adaptation numerous times. I often asked myself when I would catch the twist if I had read the book first, with no prior intel on Bates and his mother. Like many readers' experiences of the time, I'm sure the novel would have blown my mind as well. This is a masterful storytelling experience that incorporates everything I love about noir fiction – a heist, criminals on the run, a suspenseful locale, a driven detective, ordinary people pushed into extraordinary circumstances, and, of course, a heinous bad guy. At about the halfway point, I began pushing Anthony Perkins' on-screen portrayal of Norman out of my mind, replaced by a different image that more closely aligned with the book – an obese, drinking man with a more aggressive nature. 

I think this book, and to a lesser extent John D. MacDonald's 1960 paperback, The End of the Night, propelled violence and human horror into new heights. These books helped define modern horror as both authors were on the cusp of revealing the psychotic tendencies that would re-appear nine years later with the Manson Family murders, although the Ed Gein murders of the 1940s and 1950s had a spectacular impact on Bloch's novel. Like what Mickey Spillane accomplished in the late 1940s – more violence, anti-heroes, a dark progression of the cookie-cutter pulp – Bloch is able to replicate this in terms of suspense and horror. Psycho is the catalyst for “stalk 'n slash”.   

Regardless of whether you've watched Hitchcock's film or not, this book deserves to be read again...and again. Highest possible recommendation. Do yourself a favor and read this book!

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