Psycho II (novel)

Psycho II

First edition hardcover
Author	Robert Bloch
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Thriller, Novel
Publisher	Whispers Press
Publication date	1982
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
ISBN
OCLC	8926424
Preceded by	Psycho
Followed by	Psycho House

Psycho II is a 1982 novel that Robert Bloch wrote as a sequel to his 1959 novel Psycho. The novel was completed before the screenplay was written for the unrelated 1983 film Psycho II. According to Bloch, Universal Studios loathed the novel, which was intended to critique Hollywood splatter films. A different story was created for the film and Bloch was not invited to any screenings. Universal suggested that Bloch abandon his novel, which he declined and released anyway to good sales.

Norman Bates has spent the last two decades locked up in a mental asylum after the events in the first novel. His psychiatrist Dr. Adam Claiborne has spent the last two decades working with him and has hopes of one day becoming famous by curing him. His plans come crashing down after Norman murders a visiting nun, strangling her with her rosary beads. then steals her outfit and walks out. He gets in the van with the other visiting nun and kills her with a tire iron, then rapes her dead body. As he drives away, he spots a hitchhiker and picks him up with plans to kill him and use his body to fake his death.

Later that night, the police find the van on fire with the charred remains of the nun and an unidentified man presumed to be Norman. Since this happened at the same time as a massive car pile up, they are exhausting their resources trying to identify the victims to notify their next of kin and can't get around to positively identifying Norman's remains.

Meanwhile, across town, Sam and Lila Loomis are murdered by an assailant with a knife. Claiborne is convinced that Norman faked his death and proceeded to kill them. The police are skeptical. As they are surveying the crime scene, they see a news article talking about a movie being made based on Norman's life. Claiborne is convinced that Norman is going to Hollywood to stop this movie by killing everybody, so he heads out there to stop him.

Fearing the worst, he gets a job as a technical consultant on the film to keep an eye on everything. He gets introduced to the cast and crew, including director Vizzini, who is the spitting image of Norman 20 years ago. Claiborne keeps thinking that something bad is going to happen, but nobody believes him until the movie producer gets decapitated with a meat cleaver.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Vizzini's mother was raped and murdered when he was a child and the trauma from it has affected his sexual morality. He calls the actress playing Marion Crane to the movie studio where the shower murder is going to happen under the guise of rehearsing the scene, but he is really planning on raping and murdering her. Claiborne and the officer are investigating the producers murder when he finds out that Vizzini has called the actress to the studio and suspects that something isn't right, so he heads out to the movie studio to stop him.