Robert Bloch's Psycho: Sanitarium

Robert Bloch wrote "Psycho" while on vacation In Weyauwega, a small Wisconsin town only 7 miles from where I grew up. And Edward Gein, the character that Norman Bates is based on, lived in Plainfield, Wisconsin just 22 miles on the other side of the town I grew up in. Ed committed his nefarious activities in the mid 1950's and Mr. Bloch wrote and published his story in 1959. I still have the December 1957 issue of Life Magazine that covered the crimes of Eddie (as the locals referred to him). So it is no wonder that I grew up with Ed Gein and "Psycho" in my head. And "no", this book isn't perfect. It started out so slowly that I wondered if it would finally catch fire and drag me into it. Robert Bloch wrote "Psycho II" in 1982 which indicated that Norman Bates had been in a mental institution for those 23 years and had then escaped and gone on a killing spree. "Robert Bloch's Psycho: Sanitarium" was written in 2016 by Chet Williamson and pays homage to the original book by referring to Norman's stay in a sanitarium during those two decades. Coincidentally, Ed Gein, often referred to as the "Butcher of Plainfield" spent the remaining days of his life in the Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison, Wisconsin where he died of liver cancer and COPD. I had researched Chet Williamson before ordering this novel to determine if he had the "writing chops" to construct a sequel to the original "Psycho". Mr. Williamson is an accomplished writer in his own right, having won the International Horror Guild Award and also being nominated for another 11 writing awards including the World Fantasy Awards (2), Bram Stoker Awards (6), a Locus Award and another International Horror Guild Award. It is safe to say that Mr. Williamson has the required credentials and style to mirror Robert Bloch's work. As a reader of horror, you may be put off initially by the slow start which necessarily involves properly setting the stage for the plot and premise. But grind your way through this short obstruction and you will be ultimately rewarded with a well-plotted and imagined continuation of Norman Bates' story. You might think that you are catching on to where this novel is heading, but you will find a few well designed 'head fakes' that throw you off track. The language and descriptions used in this novel are rather tame with no profanity and lack of sexual detail. The author however skillfully describes and narrates the action without having to go for pure language shock value. It's more of a 'thinking man's' description and you (the reader) are allowed to paint the relevant pictures in your own mind. In addition you will find a few extra stories within the main plot that help bring this novel to an interesting and satisfactory conclusion. Surprise, surprise, surprise! The investment of a few hours of your time will prove quite rewarding. Go for it!

A very decent sequel. There’s a subplot involving foreign agents that was a bit of a head scratcher but the novel is pretty good overall. I hope Bloch’s own two sequels get reprinted soon.

Norman Bates has been institutionalized, the deaths of four people on his hands, four murders that we know about. If you've never read Robert Bloch's 1959 novel Psycho, not to worry, Chet Williamson provides an excellent synopsis to get the reader up to speed on the events which precede Psycho: Sanitarium. Personally, I went back and read the original work so it was fresh in my mind as I read this new volume. I'm glad I did as this gave me a feel for the writing in both books. If I didn't know better, I could easily see how the two could have been written by the same author. Psycho Sanitarium takes place at a time when Fuller Brush men still fooled around with other men's wives. It tells the chilling tale of Norman Bates' struggle to keep his mother from taking over his mind and just when it looks like she's gone, a shocker, a game changer. From here, the tale goes in delightfully new directions. To say anything more would reveal too much and I certainly don't want to spoil any of the multiple surprises. Psycho: Sanitarium succeeds on many levels. The depiction of life in the asylum rings true with patients running the gamut from calm to violent and a professional staff of both caring individuals and a few that should be committed themselves. The tone and pacing of the story matches up well with Robert Bloch's original work. All of the characters are well developed, and the story features a number of delicious twists, all within the realm of possibility. Published by St. Martin's press, Robert Bloch's Psycho: Sanitarium is available in hardcover, e-book, and audible formats. I give this new book my highest recommendation. Chet Williamson has been writing horror, science fiction, and suspense since 1981. His novels include Second Chance, Hunters, Defenders of the Faith, Ash Wednesday, Reign, Dreamthorp, and now Robert Bloch's Psycho Sanitarium. He is the recipient of the International Horror Guild Award and has been nominated six times for the HWA's Stoker Award. Chet is also a stage and film actor who has recorded over 40 unabridged audiobooks.

Read this book in a single day. Could not put it down! Characters and circumstances seem both realistic and yet haunting. I highly recommend this book! Enjoy.

I would have given this a 4 star but the story just up and died. It had been a long time since I read something that kept me up until 3am. But the shift to the climax just petered out. Airplane book.

The story of Norman Bates captures the unimaginable. This was a new dimension that took an unexpected turn A definite worthwhile read.

I believe most Norman Bates junkies will like this read. It was so nice to have another, erm, adventure with Norman. I can't say that the end reveal solidly works but the journey was so much fun, I found myself wishing there was more.

Brilliant, twist and turn all the way. I enjoyed the first book, the second is at least as good. Far better than the other Psycho 2, which I have also read.

What a great read. This really should be the sequel to Robert Bloch's Psycho. Very creepy reading.

A really good read with a twist

To write a sequel to a book as infamous as Psycho is no easy job and I was reluctant to read it thinking the story would be lame and written in a completely different way - authors having their own writing style- however, it was incredible. Such a twist to the story but written in such a way as to honour the first Psycho story and carry on with Robert Bloch's original character as well as introducing others. I loved it.

I was looking forward to this one. I have read almost everything by Robert Bloch and I used to read Chet Williamson. I stopped buying "Horror" books years ago when the Horror world became a closed society. And most of the writers in this closed society are boring writers. Chet Williamson used to be one of the few leftovers when books were challenging. He was one of my favourite Writers. Along with the proven dumbing down of the people the Publishing world itself had to dumb down so that readers could follow a story, or believe they were following. Unfortunately Writers before the closed circle, in order to still get published had to dumb down their writing. Economics play a major role as Publishers are after constant readers. The Old School of educated people are dying off. Millennials or any person under 55-60 have a low attention span. They do not know how to think for themselves. They want their books to be short stories stretched out into long novels. GRRM even states that he needs to describe every person tasting every bit of food and smell all the aromas so he will write 100 pages at times where one or two would be enough. Unfortunately Chet Williamson gave in. So he wrote a story that could have been way better at around 30-35 pages and stretched it into one boring poor excuse of a novel representing one of the classics from the past, Robert Bloch would not approve. Mr. Williamson you should be ashamed of yourself.