A review by madmichele
Psycho, by Robert Bloch

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.25

can’t believe I had no idea what this book was about (aside from the infamous shower scene from the film adaptation - which i also haven’t seen). I wish I didn’t read the synopsis on the back which alluded to ed gein, because I was expecting a slightly different plot after reading that. I see the inspiration there, but I was taking it very literally after I read the summary; I thought there would be more modeling after him, so I didn’t find the book to be as disturbing as what gein actually did. 

for the late 50s, this was probably extremely dark and disturbing. but i’m used to this genre & have read/seen worse in both books and movies so I guess that’s why I didn’t feel the way others probably felt when it came out. it felt more like a thriller than horror because of that, but that’s just me. 

I enjoyed most of it, except for the explanation bit near the end (chapters 15-16, I think). I loved the final chapter, though. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings