Having first being introduced to Robert Bloch‘s story Psycho via the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation, I was eager to dive into the original book. Comparing the film to the source material is always an interesting exercise and reading Psycho proved to be a chilling, amazing experience. It’s a well-written psychological horror that has stood the test of time and etched itself into the history of the horror genre.
Norman Bates loves his mother. She has been dead for the past 20 years, or so people think. Norman knows better, though.
Ever since leaving the hospital, he has lived with Mother in the old house up on the hill above the Bates Motel. One night, after a beautiful woman checks into the motel, Norman spies on her as she undresses. Norman can’t help but spy on her.
Mother is there, though. She is there to protect Norman from his filthy thoughts. She is there to protect him with her butcher knife.
It’s hard to think of the overall horror genre without immediately including Bloch’s Psycho. Norman Bates is one of those horror villain names that are up there alongside Michael Myers, Jason Vorheees, Freddy Krueger, and more recently Art the Clown. When introducing those unfamiliar with horror, Psycho is always discussed as a film or book to read.
If I am honest, Bloch’s book is fantastic, but if you have seen the film you get most of what you need to experience. Reading the source material always respects the original creator and gives you a bit more depth to the lore, but Hitchcock took most of the elements from the novel and tossed it up on the screen, something you don’t always get with adaptations.
Hitchcock stuck remarkably close to Bloch’s novel. The plot, characters, and major twists are all here. The filmmaker made the adaptation his own, but owes much of the genres of the vision to Bloch. What Hitchcock was able to do on screen, Bloch did with his well-written prose and deep psychological insight.
The true chill factor of Psycho lies within the slow-burn suspense. Not what those unfamiliar with the genre would expect, a gore fest. Bloch doesn’t rely on buckets of blood and jump scare after jump scare to get his point across. Yes, of course there are frightening moments and blood, but the horror is more psychological, built on mounting dread, moral ambiguity, and the creeping sense that something is deeply wrong. Bloch pulls us into Bates’ fractured mind and gets under our skin without spectacle, but with subtlety.
Psycho is a horror story that is disturbing and tightly crafted. What makes this novel so special is the iconic twist and how it builds on the unease from the start. It proves over and over that you don’t need extreme gore to be terrifying and that the suspense and dread is enough. Psycho will stay towards to the top of horror recommendations for decades to come.
Psycho is available at bookstores everywhere from The Overlook Press. The audiobook, narrated by Richard Powers, is available via Libro.fm!
