Psycho - Robert Bloch (1959)

A psychological thriller

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    The path I did until this book was quite unusual. I never watched the Hitchcock film, but rather the TV show ”Bates Motel” without even knowing that was related to the Hitchcock film and the book. I came across the TV show by scanning for some easy entertainment in a Sunday evening, after ”Tartort” indeed, and I had a positive surprise. First, because it led me to the book and second because it was just a beautifully well-done TV show. There are two seasons. On the first season, the plot of the TV show diverged from the book and showed the events preceding. The second season presented the events from the book. Anyway, I think the plot was not much of interest, for both the TV show and the book the most interesting things happen in the main character head, the Norman Bates.  He has a love-hate relationship with his mother Norma Bates and the conflicts developed upon are the highlight.

     Norman and Norma's relationship started from a point I could follow and comprehend, but smoothly it developed in a way that at a certain point I could not follow anymore and I could not notice this happening. This psychological twist happened both in the book and in the TV show. And in the TV show, it was longer and deeper than in the book, I would say that the essence of the book was perfectly captured and even enhanced in the TV show. Even though I am writing about the book (at least I should be writing about the book) I can not grab my enthusiasm about the TV show and the bias I had for watching the show prior to the book.

      Another aspect I loved in the book, maybe also under the bias of the TV show, was the description of the house Norman Bates lived, this sort of old houses with a sinister atmosphere. Most of the times in which something exciting happened was preceded by a precise description of the house that allowed me to picture myself in there and to feel the shiver of what was about to come. I can not tell if this facility in picturing the house came from the fact I already have the house in mind from the TV show, but the experience was just great anyway.

       However, the famous scene of the girl's murder in the bathroom was not in the house. It was placed in the Bates motel run by Norman and despite the fact it is a classic, I do not agree it is the most exciting moment. The most exciting scene, in my opinion, came after the bathroom scene when the sister of the girl murdered in the bathroom went to the house looking for her and found a surprise in the fruit cellar, I will not describe further to avoid a spoiler, but I can tell it is thrilling! By the way, the name of the girl killed in the bathroom is Mary Jane and in the TV show is played by Rihanna, it could not be better!

       In the version I read there was a glossary with translations to German of the unusual terms in English, I learned quite some words in both languages, but sometimes it was distracting. Also, there are pages and pages to describe the drama of Mary Jane’s life and I thought it was excessive details in a short book for a character that would be killed at first opportunity. Yet Norman Bates with his mind and his house makes the book totally worth reading. I am looking forward to reading the second one, but in Germany, I did not find the Psycho II in English for a fair price, not even second hand and online. I will keep on searching. Does anyone have a suggestion?

Bates Motel (2013/2017)- the Netflix series. Just amazing, I recommend a thousand times.

Psycho (1960) - the Alfred Hitchcock film. I never watched, shame on me!

Tatoart (1970/present) - German Crime TV show broadcasted every Sunday 20:15, really nice. Better than CSI.

"neat as pint" (Blitzsauber) - clean, clean, clean, something my house is never going to be. E.g.: "The Norma bedsheets were neat as pint."

"dingy" (schmuddelig) - the opposite of the previous expression. E.g.: "Norman Bates mind has dingy thoughts."

"since you were a little tyke" (kleines Kind) - when somebody just left the placenta. E.g.: "Norma loves Norman since he was a little tyke."

"for a song" (for ein Ei oder ein Apfel) - for no reason in this world. E.g.: "Norman does not leave Norma for a song."

"parlor" - just a fancy way to name the living room. E.g.: "Norman just entered the parlor."

P.S.: For the first time, I used an app to trace reading time. It is called Bookly. Annoying because I read on the way to work in short intervals of 45 min maximum and every time I started and ended I needed to turn on and off the app. But, the app is nice because one can enter quotes, pictures, words, thoughts and get out a lot of cool stats such as reading time or pages read per minute. Really cool for tablet readers and also for those that are patient enough for filling the app up with info, not my case. Anyway, I did it for the book Psycho and I got this interesting infographic: