I read Psycho and thought it was a great book. Was the sequel, written by Robert Bloch, as good a read as the first?

It's been a long time since I read it, all I remember is that it's nothing like the movie of the same name. Bloch is always a fun and quick read.

"Psycho House" by Bloch is pretty bad, though.

Psycho II the book was pretty good. The movie Psycho II was not based on it.

I read Psycho II years ago, right after I had read the original. Can't say that I enjoyed it all that much. While I agree that Bloch is a fun writer to read, this book certainly was not. Still, you might find it interesting.
I don't have my copy any more. I'm curious as to when it was published (like how long after the Hitchcock movie). Can someone check in theirs?

The book "Psycho 2" was published right around the same time the movie came out. Bloch was pissed that they made the movie without his involvement, and the novel was his answer to it.

That's what I expected, that it was a quick grab for some cash. Not that Bloch didn't deserve it, as I read that he was paid $5,000 for the movie rights for Psycho. That sounds like chump change even for 1960.

Psycho was such a great book on so many levels - yet, it didn't become, like, a #1 bestseller (usually books will tell you at the top if it was a big sensation). Maybe 1959 was too early for such things, I don't know. But, in its time, was it a huge book for Bloch? Did he make his fortune, become rich, due to the book? It is obviously his most famous novel.

I digress...

Psycho II could have literally been written by anybody! It is sooo bad (I'm reading it now) that it really is an embarrassment for Robert Bloch. I've thought about throwing it out of my moving car, but I figure that since I paid for the damn thing, I owe it to myself to finish it - as terrible as it is.

What was great about the original "Psycho" was that the reader had no idea that Mother wasn't real. All through the book, Mother is written as a true person, but only at the end is it revealed that Mother and Norman Bates were one and the same. Truly creepy. This horrible sequel has no mystery to it, and the writing style is childish. I suppose Bloch was very old when he composed it.