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Concept
Psycho (novel)
Summary
Psycho is a 1959 horror novel by American writer Robert Bloch. The novel tells the story of Norman Bates, a caretaker at an isolated motel who struggles under his domineering mother and becomes embroiled in a series of murders. The novel is considered Bloch's most enduring work and one of the most influential horror books of the 20th century.
The story was adapted into Alfred Hitchcock's seminal 1960 film of the same name, and also loosely adapted into the Bates Motel television series (2013–2017). Bloch later wrote two sequels, which are unrelated to any of the film sequels.
Norman Bates, a middle-aged bachelor, is dominated by his mother, a mean-tempered, puritanical old woman who forbids him to have a life outside of her. They run a small motel together in the town of Fairvale, but business has suffered since the state relocated the highway. In the middle of a heated argument between them, a customer arrives, a young woman named Mary Crane.
Mary is on the run after impulsively stealing $40,000 from a client of the real estate company where she works. She stole the money so her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, can pay off his debts and they can finally get married. Mary arrives at the Bates Motel after accidentally turning off the main highway. After checking in, she accepts Bates's invitation to have dinner with him at his house, an invitation that sends Mrs. Bates into a jealous rage; she screams, "I'll kill the bitch!" and Mary overhears.
During dinner, Mary gently suggests that Bates put his mother in a mental institution, but he denies there is anything wrong with her; "We all go a little mad sometimes," he says. Mary says goodnight and returns to her room, resolving to return the money so she will not end up like Bates. Moments later, however, a figure resembling an old woman frightens Mary in the shower with a butcher knife, and then beheads her.
Bates, who had passed out drunk after dinner, returns to the motel and finds Mary's bloody corpse. He is instantly convinced his mother killed her.
Official source
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