30/08/2026
I first read Robert Bloch’s 1959 novella, Psycho 👴👵🏻🏨👩🏻🚿🔪 in my early twenties and it was such a memorable experience that I haven’t re-read it until now.
Yes, it is overshadowed by Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1960 film adaptation of it, but I would still recommend reading the novella, even if you’ve seen the film or the various other media connected with it. There are key differences and expansions to the plot, not least a more complete exploration of Norman Bates and his “Mother” 👵🏻 and, if you thought the shower scene 🚿 in the film was horrific, wait until you read the book!
This original Norman Bates is far from the image cast by Anthony Perkins and Freddie Highmore when they played the role onscreen. He is written as both a victim and an antagonist, with little of Perkins’s or Highmore’s innocence. The onscreen versions hint at Norman’s less savoury traits (actually Norman’s traits, not Mother’s), whereas the novella does not paint Norman as being the most appealing character from its outset and he gets more distasteful as the story progresses. The ‘resolution’ chapters in the novella are fascinating, just as the ‘resolution’ scenes in the film are delightfully twisted!
What I like best about the novella is how it explores the world around Norman and Mother:-
👩 Mary Crane is arguably more complex than the film’s Marion Crane, driven by understandable and deeper motives.
👥 Sam Loomis and Lila Crane feel like more fully-realised characters. Their similarities and their differences are highlighted, in some ways making Mary’s story all the more tragic.
🏘️ Fairvale serves as a crucial counterpoint to the Bates Motel. It feels as though the world opens up significantly in the chapters in which it features, compared to the increasingly claustrophobic chapters featuring the motel and the Bates house.
Overall, you might know the story of Norman Bates and Mother, but this is the darker, original version of it, before Hitchcock crafted it into the perfect horror film.
My next read is going to be You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming.
