7/7/2023 0 Comments Sanitarium bookMuch of the time before the events of “Psycho” are unchronicled, although because the film ( “Psycho IV: The Beginning”) and TV (“Bates Motel”) sagas already tread this ground, there’s not a pressing need to go there. And if Williamson and his publisher are willing, it doesn’t have to be the last. Specific flashbacks to the Bates Motel and house might’ve been fun, rather than just the italicized conversations in Norman’s head between him and Mother – but at least the ole swamp at the back of the property makes a nice cameo.Īside from those small qualms, “Sanitarium” is a wonderful addition to the “Psycho” book saga. Still, “Sanitarium” is certainly set in 1960, and with references to physical file folders, record players and social/legal issues in a time when the Holocaust was still fresh, one can almost imagine it was written in 1960. It’s missing a bit of the folksy charm that came naturally to Bloch. “Sanitarium” is crisply written, and the pacing is similar to Bloch’s. … (He) sat right next to her and held her hand, which wasn’t attached to anything else.” For example, Wesley Breckenridge was a “quiet little guy who had gone nuts and chopped up his wife one Christmas Eve, then put the pieces back together so that she was sitting on the couch when family company came. There’s also a smidgen of dark humor as we meet Norman’s fellow inmates in offhand fashion, the author tells us what landed them in the asylum. We also get an effectively spooky basement, where the old records room is down a secondary hallway where a nurse would be trapped if the killer were to corner her. The near-futurist: All 28 Michael Crichton novels, ranked I found this concept ingenious both in terms of plotting and believability: It seems like something from the early days of this science, where physical shocks to the system were also employed to “cure” patients. The hope is that these visions will spark a patient into being normal again, and aware of why their actions were wrong. ![]() Building on the idea that religious iconography can spark the moral center of a person’s psyche, Ollinger and his team concoct spiritual visitations via costumed characters and audio. Williamson makes us privy to journal entries of Adolph Ollinger, a psychiatrist who was pushing Spiritual Repulsion Therapy in the 1910s. Rather, the hospital itself is effectively part of the mystery, because it had been converted from a sanitarium. Yes, most of the novel takes place in the mental hospital, but it’s not too gloomy. However, my fears that “Sanitarium” would be a dark slog were unfounded. Steiner – plus one more surprise from “Psycho II.” His new characters are starkly drawn, including attendant Myron Gunn, who enjoys brutalizing patients. Williamson includes characters from other books such as Sheriff Chambers, highway patrol Captain Ballard and Dr. ![]() Like Reed and Marie, we feel sorry for Norman but occasionally remind ourselves, “Wait, he DID murder four people.” Norman opens up more when he starts to get visits from his long-lost twin brother Robert Newman, from whom he was separated at birth. Felix Reed and Nurse Marie Radcliffe, the only people whom the mostly catatonic Norman will converse with. Similar to “Bates Motel,” Norman is portrayed as a sympathetic man who is mentally sick more so than dangerous, and - following from “Psycho” - he’s 41 years old and pudgy. In the acknowledgements, Williamson notes that the late Bloch created “a whole new genre of fiction.” I’m guessing he means the type of mystery where a reader has to account for not only clues, but also the possibility of an unreliable narrator, a trick he pulled on “Psycho” and “Psycho II.” I was prepared for this trick, and indeed I sort of figured out the answer – but not precisely. I read it after reading Bloch’s trilogy, but a person could also read it right after “Psycho” without spoiling “Psycho II” or “Psycho House.” Set a year after the events of the first book, when Norman is locked in the State Hospital for the Criminally Insane 20 miles from Fairvale, “Sanitarium” is a masterwork of continuity, as Williamson - a self-described “disciple of Bloch” - gives insight into Norman’s time in the ward without contradicting anything from the future books. As an unexpected surprise for Bloch fans and “Psycho” fans, “Psycho: Sanitarium” came out in May 2016 from the pen of Chet Williamson, the author of 14 previous horror or fantasy novels. ![]() (Granted, “Psycho: Sanitarium” came out after “Bates Motel” premiered, but it’s part of the book series that preceded it.)Īlthough Robert Bloch only wrote three “Psycho” books – in 1959, 19 – there are four books in Bloch’s “Psycho” series. In this series, I’m looking back at the books and movies of the “Psycho” franchise before its TV revival in “Bates Motel,” which will conclude its five-season run this month.
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