blevins's review against another edition
1.0
Spoilers follow.
Talk about a pointless book with a completely deceptive cover--this is it. The cover makes it seem like it is about the murder of the body double for Janet Leigh in Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO by a Los Angeles serial killer. So, it follows the woman's career as a pin-up model/nudist in exhaustive, stretch out the story as much as possible to make it seem longer--this means repeating moments over and over and it follows the serial killer in similar fashion. Then the guy is caught AND he didn't kill the woman on the cover! He had nothing to do with her, in fact she wasn't even murdered! What a sham.
The book is horribly written and organized. Page after page about how Marli Renfro didn't mind taking her clothes off because she was a nudist, her great body and what it was like for her shooting on the set of PSYCHO. We're talking 75 pages of the various ways Hitchcock filmed Renfro nude in the shower for that famous scene. Overkill and dull. Graysmith evidently had a bunch of Renfro's pin-up magazines growing up because he was letting a lot of that out on the page. The frustrating thing is there is NO real connection between Renfro and the profiled serial killer other than the fact he had a weird mother complex ala the movie. That still doesn't make a connection between the two. Just plane irritating and a waste of time.
Talk about a pointless book with a completely deceptive cover--this is it. The cover makes it seem like it is about the murder of the body double for Janet Leigh in Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO by a Los Angeles serial killer. So, it follows the woman's career as a pin-up model/nudist in exhaustive, stretch out the story as much as possible to make it seem longer--this means repeating moments over and over and it follows the serial killer in similar fashion. Then the guy is caught AND he didn't kill the woman on the cover! He had nothing to do with her, in fact she wasn't even murdered! What a sham.
The book is horribly written and organized. Page after page about how Marli Renfro didn't mind taking her clothes off because she was a nudist, her great body and what it was like for her shooting on the set of PSYCHO. We're talking 75 pages of the various ways Hitchcock filmed Renfro nude in the shower for that famous scene. Overkill and dull. Graysmith evidently had a bunch of Renfro's pin-up magazines growing up because he was letting a lot of that out on the page. The frustrating thing is there is NO real connection between Renfro and the profiled serial killer other than the fact he had a weird mother complex ala the movie. That still doesn't make a connection between the two. Just plane irritating and a waste of time.
norynor's review against another edition
Really thought I’d reviewed this after I abandoned it. Basically Hitchcock was a misogynist and a predator and the author clearly sympathizes with him based on the way he describes these gross encounters. Couldn’t get through it but based on the other reviews it seems like the true crime investigation didn’t amount to much anyway.
princessleia4life's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't really enjoy the author's style, which saddens me as I love everything Alfred Hitchcock.
the_pepperwood_chronicles's review against another edition
3.0
The narrative, although well researched, built up to a connection that never materialized.
martrj's review against another edition
3.0
This era is catnip for me, and the book's subject definitely lived a fascinating life (Psycho standin, model, nudist, Vegas dancer, appears in a nudie cutie film directed by Francis Ford Coppola) but there's not really any story here let alone a murder mystery. It's glued together by historical trivia which makes for a fairly unfocused read. Dedicated to James Ellroy - he might have done something better with this material.
bickleyhouse's review against another edition
3.0
This was...an...interesting book. I'm not sure I "liked" it. I give it three stars because I learned a lot about the filming of "Psycho," especially the infamous shower scene. That part was fascinating. I never knew until I read this book that there was a body double in the shower scene, and that body double was a model named Marli Renfro.
Unfortunately, I learned way more about Playboy than I ever wanted to know, as well, because Marli was involved with Hefner and Playboy close to the beginning of that "empire."
Equally fascinating was a parallel story involving a nut case named Sonny Busch, who was nicknamed the "Psycho Killer." After taking his elderly aunt to see the movie, he attempted to rape her and then killed her. He murdered one other elderly woman (whom he also knew) shortly afterward, and then attempted to kill a work associate the very next day. She was much younger, though, and was able to fight him off, which resulted in his capture, and subsequent conviction. There was an attempt to connect him with the "Bouncing Ball Strangler," also active at the same time, since he had blackout periods, and could remember nothing that went on during those times. However, there was no evidence, and he was only convicted for three counts of murder. He was later executed in the gas chamber.
Marli went on to "star" in some "nudie cuties" (that's what they called them) in the 60s, and then pretty much disappeared from sight. The author of the book was pretty obsessed with her and had planned to write a book about her for years. He was shocked and dismayed in 2001 when he learned that Marli was, allegedly, dead, murdered in 1988. The killer was not caught until 10 years later, when a connection was made to another murder. However, the name of the woman killed in 1988 was Myra Davis. All media reports had connected Myra Davis and Marli Renfro was being the same person. Robert Graysmith, while researching his book, suddenly discovered that they were not, in fact, the same person, and that Marli Renfro was, in fact, still alive! She had left the "limelight" and stayed in a small town out in the Mojave Desert, and didn't even know that she was supposedly dead! She was too busy "living life" to know she was "dead."
The book, itself, in my opinion, is not well written. The subject matter bounces back and forth so much that it is almost impossible to establish a time line. I found myself wondering if the chapter I was reading was happening before "Psycho," after it, or even parallel to it. It was also very strange to me that, right in the middle of the book, I was subjected to a biography of the author, himself. To me, that's just egotistical overkill. I didn't need to know this. There is also frequent detailed biographical information on characters that don't play a major role in the story, also tedious and unnecessary. However, I suppose Mr. Graysmith thought it necessary and it is his book.
The twist at the end when he discovers that his lifelong obsession is actually still alive, however, was most captivating. It was almost like an unexpected plot twist in a novel.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who is easily offended, though. It deals with a pretty racy subject matter, and pretty frankly. However, language-wise, it is not in the least bit offensive. I recall very few "bad" words in it.
Now, I need to watch "Psycho" again.
Unfortunately, I learned way more about Playboy than I ever wanted to know, as well, because Marli was involved with Hefner and Playboy close to the beginning of that "empire."
Equally fascinating was a parallel story involving a nut case named Sonny Busch, who was nicknamed the "Psycho Killer." After taking his elderly aunt to see the movie, he attempted to rape her and then killed her. He murdered one other elderly woman (whom he also knew) shortly afterward, and then attempted to kill a work associate the very next day. She was much younger, though, and was able to fight him off, which resulted in his capture, and subsequent conviction. There was an attempt to connect him with the "Bouncing Ball Strangler," also active at the same time, since he had blackout periods, and could remember nothing that went on during those times. However, there was no evidence, and he was only convicted for three counts of murder. He was later executed in the gas chamber.
Marli went on to "star" in some "nudie cuties" (that's what they called them) in the 60s, and then pretty much disappeared from sight. The author of the book was pretty obsessed with her and had planned to write a book about her for years. He was shocked and dismayed in 2001 when he learned that Marli was, allegedly, dead, murdered in 1988. The killer was not caught until 10 years later, when a connection was made to another murder. However, the name of the woman killed in 1988 was Myra Davis. All media reports had connected Myra Davis and Marli Renfro was being the same person. Robert Graysmith, while researching his book, suddenly discovered that they were not, in fact, the same person, and that Marli Renfro was, in fact, still alive! She had left the "limelight" and stayed in a small town out in the Mojave Desert, and didn't even know that she was supposedly dead! She was too busy "living life" to know she was "dead."
The book, itself, in my opinion, is not well written. The subject matter bounces back and forth so much that it is almost impossible to establish a time line. I found myself wondering if the chapter I was reading was happening before "Psycho," after it, or even parallel to it. It was also very strange to me that, right in the middle of the book, I was subjected to a biography of the author, himself. To me, that's just egotistical overkill. I didn't need to know this. There is also frequent detailed biographical information on characters that don't play a major role in the story, also tedious and unnecessary. However, I suppose Mr. Graysmith thought it necessary and it is his book.
The twist at the end when he discovers that his lifelong obsession is actually still alive, however, was most captivating. It was almost like an unexpected plot twist in a novel.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who is easily offended, though. It deals with a pretty racy subject matter, and pretty frankly. However, language-wise, it is not in the least bit offensive. I recall very few "bad" words in it.
Now, I need to watch "Psycho" again.
jobetta's review against another edition
3.0
Very disappointing. The description on the book jacket led me to believe the outcome would be very different. He has two distinct stories that he is attempting to tell and I kept reading, waiting for the connection, but never did understand what the two had to do with one another, aside from a lose connection to the film "Psycho." I DID learn a lot of interesting things about the making of the movie.
ginabelle's review against another edition
1.0
I was so disappointed in this book and I think I read it so fast, to be frank, to get it over with. I didn’t care to learn half the details and the writing was unorganized, repetitive, and boring. The author came across as a bit inappropriate at times especially with descriptions of women and I didn’t care to learn his story. The most interesting bits he fit into the shortest chapters! I think we was trying to do a true crime a-la-“Devil in the White City” alternating between the making of something (“Psycho” in this case) and the movements of a serial killer, but it didn’t land. Unimaginative and disappointing—especially coming from a Hitchcock fan! I’ve seen documentaries better than this book and would’ve learned more in a fraction of the time. Not for me!
ladybedivere's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting trivia and anecdotes for the cinema buffs, but I feel, as a general rule, that true crime shouldn't really have twist endings or head fakes.
theremightbecupcakes's review against another edition
1.0
Robert Graysmith does not understand his subject, a woman with whom he's admittedly been "obsessed" for decades. Let me list the ways:
1. He states Marli Renfro is modest. -->
On nude shoots, she always does long, limbering exercises in the nude in front of cast and crew. She is a nudist who enjoys being watched.
2. He states Renfro is in no way pretentious or vain. -->
On the Psycho shoot, she once got dressed in some of her most expensive clothing and lingered for thirty minutes in the shower set after hours, in hopes someone would notice that she was as stylish as Janet Leigh.
3. He states Renfro is so unassuming that she doesn't even care that she is famous (in a loose usage of that word) or has been an admired nude model -->
When Graysmith finally met Renfro, he ran into her thanks to Ebay, where he and she both were searching for pictures of Renfro. Renfro admitted she was amassing a collection her own nude shots.
4. He states that she is unique, that Renfro looks like nobody else. -->
One photograph of Renfro included in the book looks like Marilyn Monroe. A couple of pictures of an aged Renfro look remarkably like Frances Fisher.
Basically, I find Renfro insufferable, an arrogant, self-absorbed woman who seems to believe that Psycho's success was due to her, a body double, rather than Janet Leigh, or Anthony Perkins, or Alfred HItchcock.
I was enthralled by Graysmith's books investigating the Zodiac murders: [b:Zodiac|105760|Zodiac|Robert Graysmith|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1297734691s/105760.jpg|1258126] and [b:Zodiac Unmasked|9205947|Zodiac Unmasked|Robert Graysmith|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1283378822s/9205947.jpg|101943]. This book left me disappointed and, frankly, irritated. I'm sorry I was ever introduced to Marli Renfro.
The murder victims of Henry "Sonny" Busch, a real-life Norman Bates, have been overshadowed by repeated descriptions of Renfro's nipples. A true shame.
1. He states Marli Renfro is modest. -->
On nude shoots, she always does long, limbering exercises in the nude in front of cast and crew. She is a nudist who enjoys being watched.
2. He states Renfro is in no way pretentious or vain. -->
On the Psycho shoot, she once got dressed in some of her most expensive clothing and lingered for thirty minutes in the shower set after hours, in hopes someone would notice that she was as stylish as Janet Leigh.
3. He states Renfro is so unassuming that she doesn't even care that she is famous (in a loose usage of that word) or has been an admired nude model -->
When Graysmith finally met Renfro, he ran into her thanks to Ebay, where he and she both were searching for pictures of Renfro. Renfro admitted she was amassing a collection her own nude shots.
4. He states that she is unique, that Renfro looks like nobody else. -->
One photograph of Renfro included in the book looks like Marilyn Monroe. A couple of pictures of an aged Renfro look remarkably like Frances Fisher.
Basically, I find Renfro insufferable, an arrogant, self-absorbed woman who seems to believe that Psycho's success was due to her, a body double, rather than Janet Leigh, or Anthony Perkins, or Alfred HItchcock.
I was enthralled by Graysmith's books investigating the Zodiac murders: [b:Zodiac|105760|Zodiac|Robert Graysmith|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1297734691s/105760.jpg|1258126] and [b:Zodiac Unmasked|9205947|Zodiac Unmasked|Robert Graysmith|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1283378822s/9205947.jpg|101943]. This book left me disappointed and, frankly, irritated. I'm sorry I was ever introduced to Marli Renfro.
The murder victims of Henry "Sonny" Busch, a real-life Norman Bates, have been overshadowed by repeated descriptions of Renfro's nipples. A true shame.