Oh, my. I sincerely hope that there was no-one actually waiting the 23 years that went by between the effective and thrilling Psycho and it's follow-up. This one starts off as a huge Halloween (movie, 1979) rip-off and then goes from campy, trashy, b-movie-style, run-of-the-mill schlocker to worse. It does have it's moments (and sometimes it's actually evident that the same writer penned the first part) but you are going to have to stomach a lot of suspension of disbelief, cardboard characters (...

Mama mia! If ever there was an example of a story that would have been better left unpublished, Psycho II is the one. And that's saying something coming from a horror fan like me, who will gladly continue watching "Halloween" sequels as long as they're made and would read It 2 in a heartbeat if Stephen King was ever pressed for funds and needed a quick cashgrab. A literary bait-and-switch with two terrible twist endings in its repertoire, this sequel is hardly even a Psycho book at all. Sure, No...

I’ll be honest; I was expecting this to be crap. I figured it for a cash grab, released as it was just ahead of the movie sequel of the same name and released so many years after the first book. Turns out, it was actually pretty damned good and very enjoyable.Bloch indulges in some metaficti0n, basing this story in Hollywood where they’re making a movie based on the events of the first book. This airing of some of his feelings about the movie version of his first book and the movie industry in g...

Despite the glowing cover blurbs by Stephen King and Peter Straub, I had low expectations about this book and low and behold, my expectations were correct. We begin the book with Norman Bates in a mental hospital, where he has been for many years. One day a pair of nuns visits the institution and Bates makes his move. After killing the nun in the institution's library, Norman dons her habit and makes his escape (murdering the other nun and raping her dead body no less). Later, the van is found t...

Norman Bates is still insane, but he's treated well enough as a librarian overseer in the the mental ward of a psychiatric hospital. Years of therapeutic work unravels when a nun confronts his enemies for him. After his great escape, his psychiatrist hunts him down, tracking him to the places he's most likely to hit next. A very quick read - mainly due to Bloch's easily absorbed writing style - Psycho II mainly offers general slasher quibbles but does toss in a small surprise or two. It's not a

This book is proof that sometimes you just don’t mess with a good thing. You back away quietly and let it be the greatness that it is on its own. Sadly Bloch did not feel the same and messed with the perfection of Psycho by creating this abysmal sequel. The only reason it gets two stars rather than one is because of the brief glimmer of hope of a decent story I saw at the beginning. But sadly it quickly went downhill from there and had me wanting to scream WHY???? It was just so unnecessary to h...

I have read this book a bunch of time and there is always something new to enjoy in it. Bloch was a master and this is him at top form. In many ways it's the ultimate Bloch book. It's got the thrills, the satire, the humor, the insanity and the vicious puns that litter his entire output. I wouldn't dare give away the ending. I so wish Hollywood had the balls to adapt this book instead of going with the film they eventually put out (although granted, it wasn't too bad). But this book is really so...

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the shower...For the last twenty years, Norman Bates has been in a state hospital for the criminally insane. With the help of his psychiatrist, Norman appears to have been cured of his mother fixation, and now decides he wants to get out, his opportunity arising when he’s visited by a nun. Using her habit as a disguise, he escapes and the psycho murders are about to start again...I love “Psycho” (the film) and thoroughly enjoyed the source novel an...

Psycho was what pulp fiction can be. This lame sequel is what happens when an author tries to take it to another level.I don't think anyone was asking for all the psychological insight, the commentary on violence in the media, the studio executives. I don't care about any of that. All I cared about was Norman Bates who leaves the book at 20% and doesn't come back until 96%. The actor who is working undercover in a gay male strip club with Burt Reynolds and John Travolta is never heard from again...

Who would have thought the sequel to Psycho would involve necrophilia, gang rape, and a closeted gay actor playing Norman Bates in the movie of his life? Actually, aside from Norman's escape from the mental hospital in the opening chapter, pretty much nothing else goes the way you might expect.This is just pure pulpy goodness. Not the least bit subtle, but a hell of a lot of fun.With Psycho, of course you know the twist, but the pleasure comes from Bloch's clever misdirection. With this book, yo...

The beginning was good but everything fell away since then.

Almost thirty years after the horrific events at the Bates Motel, some Hollywood sleazebags are getting ready to produce a major motion picture about Norman and his mother. Norman, meanwhile, unaware of the plans the west coast vultures have been making, and having spent the decades cooped up in the local asylum and convinced of his innocence, manages to break out and begin a rampage of murder and sex and possibly revenge. When it seems Norman has been killed, his therapist Adam Claiborne knows

A friend of mine saw me reading this book, and with a look of genuine shock said, “There’s a Psycho 2?”Yes, yes there is. Here’s the thing though, I also knew there is a Psycho 2, 3 and 4. I knew of them, but only as films. I’ve actually even seen all the films (… I may have a problem when it comes to cheesy horror movies), and while they certainly have their own cult following, I will be kind and say they never had the popularity of the Hitchcock film. Hell, Bloch’s original novel didn’t eithe

Well, I thought to myself, how bad could it be? It's written by the same guy who wrote the first one.Who knows, it might even be pretty good. I know, I know, Psycho was a complete story and a sequel could be disastrous, but you never know. I will assume that my single star rating will tell you how this worked out.

How was the first one so good and this one so terrible? The most engaging thing about the first one was Norman. There's something fascinating and engaging about him. I didn't care at all about the characters in this one. The twist was boring, and even if I dislike a character, I should find something interesting about them rather than just hold them in utter contempt. Read this first one, skip this one.

This is the story of how this book came about, as related to me and others by Robert Bloch at a party. Robert Bloch first heard that Universal Pictures were planning a sequel of Psycho through the studio grapevine. They didn't even bother to call him. He called the studio and offered to write the screenplay to which they replied "No thanks, we'll write our own." So the author said he would simply write his own sequel. In spite of threatened law suits, Bloch went ahead and wrote Psycho II before

I. Hate. This. Book.Wow. I can truly see why this has such low ratings. There are so many reasons. In fact, I will just list them for you. Warning: Some spoilers may be graphic.1. (view spoiler)[Norman kills an old nun and proceeds to have sex with her dead body while trying not to think of his mother. I just... no. This is disgusting and unnecessary even for shock value's sake. Necrophilia involving a nun and incest is just a recipe for NOPE. (hide spoiler)]2. (view spoiler)[Rape. (hide spoiler...

There is nothing deep or profound about "Psycho II", and you know what?, that's ok!It's an enjoyable read, it's easy to follow and there is a awesome twist at the end. A lot of the characters are a bit cliche, but that's part of the whole point. Robert Bloch wrote this sequel as a slap in the face of the unethical practices of Hollywood. So of course he made most of the characters seem shallow and one dimensional, that was his opinion of the movie industry. Vizzini would be the exception to that...

"There is a part of the Devil in every man. And I will show him to you." (Santo Vizzini, Chapter Twenty-Four)And Robert Bloch does. Part pot-boiled paperback page-turner, and part biting criticism of the Hollywood horror/splatter film genre he had, in part, helped to create, this novel is twenty times better than any of sequels or prequels to Hitchcock's faithful adaptation of the original novel that have been churned out.Norman Bates escapes from the mental ward where he has been imprisoned sin...

As a big fan of both the Psycho films and the first book, I had high hopes for Psycho II. Unfortunately I was left feeling disappointed after finishing this book which in itself I found a chore to read. I felt that it seemed rushed and poorly written and for something that started out as quite a good concept, the plot just went into decline very fast leading to a very abrupt ending. Without giving any spoilers, I did find the ending interesting in a way, however it still does not sit quite right...