Psycho

By: Robert Bloch

Narrated by: Richard Powers

It was a dark and stormy night when Mary Crane glimpsed the unlit neon sign announcing the vacancy at the Bates Motel. Exhausted, lost, and at the end of her rope, she was eager for a hot shower and a bed for the night. Her room was musty, but clean, and the manager seemed nice, if a little odd.

This classic horror novel, which inspired the famous film by Alfred Hitchcock, has been thrilling people for 50 years. It introduced one of the most unexpectedly twisted villains of all time in Norman Bates, the reserved motel manager with a mother complex, and has been called the "first psychoanalytic thriller".

©1959 Robert Bloch (P)2009 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Icily terrifying!" (New York Times)

"A terribly chilling tale." (Bestsellers)

Ahead of it's time

Where does Psycho rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have hundreds so placement does not come easy. I'd say in the top 100.

Who was your favorite character and why?

NA

Have you listened to any of Paul Michael Garcia’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. Paul Michael Garcia is one of my favorites. Some books make my wish list because he is the narrator. How does this one compare? It is right up there with all of his other performances.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

NA -- As this book has already been a movie and a mini-series, another version would be overdone.

Any additional comments?

Wow this book was intense. Honestly I had to remind myself I wasn't enjoying a Stephen King novel. It has all the thrill, excitement, twists, etc. I know, I know, it's a classic and I have no excuse for having not read it before now. It's just when I normally think of classics I think of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and the Bronte sisters. Well, anyway this book is spooky and exciting, and I completely recommend it, especially if like me, you've never bothered to watch the movie. This was an incredibly fun experience for me.

way more fun than I thought

this was actually pretty excellent. I have watched the movie, so I thought this might be a little repetitive, but no, I loved it.

Just missed the mark

Boy did I want to really like this book. The Narration was great no complaint in that end, the story was good but fell flat at the end in my opinion.

Listened To It All In One Glorious Binge

I’ve always loved the film, but up until now I had never felt the need to read nor hear the book for myself. The Novel is just as chilling and suspenseful as I ever could have wanted. It’s interesting how the character of Norman Bates was a fat middle aged man, but in the film was skinny young man. Both Normans are fascinating! The murders are slightly different, but equally as shocking and brutal. Once I started listening, I could not stop until it was over. Great story, great performance by Richard Powers, and, of course, a great film adaptation. Perfect story all the way around.

Great audiobook, great narrator, great movie.

Except for the physical description of Norman Bates, the book and movie compliment each other superbly. Own this well-narrated audiobook and the movie and revisit them every few years...you won't be disappointed. (A+)

Excellent!

Even with knowing the plot and ending the book was still a very good listen!

Bates is even more terrifying!

This story is just as scary as the movie and with every single detail in the audiobook gave me chills! Now, I'm scared of Norman Bates more when I listen to this book! Great narration! Love it!

Love Psycho

Such a classic. Great to listen to during spooky season or after binging bates motel

Inside Norman Bates

On the surface, Alfred Hitchcock's adaptation of Psycho is very faithful. But Hitchcock's most significant departure from Robert Bloch's blueprint is most telling -- Hitchcock starts with the second chapter, Marion Crane (Mary in the book) fleeing after embezzling money and ending up at the Bates Motel. This creates a plot structure considered innovative -- a movie focused on a character who is killed off halfway through, shifting to another character who was not even introduced for the first twenty minutes.

The novel is more conventional -- Norman is the sole protagonist from the start, Mary really no more than a temporary intruder into his world. The novel is also more conventional in dramatizing the internal struggles of Norman -- we see him from the inside, rather than the outside-in view of the movie (although Anthony Perkins does a remarkable job of depicting him from the exterior).

So even though we know what is going to happen every step of the way, the novel actually offers a much different perspective. Hitchcock was truly a master of suspense and visually virtuosic. While not rising to the same level of all-time masterwork, Bloch's novel is still worth reading for it's psychological examination of Norman (vs. Norma, vs. normal).

"We're all not quite as sane as we pretend to be."

This was a very enjoyable quick book. the end really surprised me, which is something I love in books. I also felt the narration was really well done. it felt like we were listening to Norman's thoughts directly.