Summary: Twenty years after the horrific events that took place at the Bates Motel, Norman escapes from the state hospital where he had been under psychiatric care, but not before hijacking a van and leaving a trail of dead bodies in his wake. Dr. Clairborne, Norman’s psychiatrist at the hospital, fears that Norman may head to California, having learned of a motion picture in production regarding the Bates case. The doctor speeds to Hollywood, fearful that Norman will revert to his old ways in order to shut down the film. Apparently, Dr. Clairborne is correct...
Bloch: “I wondered what had old Norman been up to all this time? He’d be getting along in years now. Must be pretty damned dull for him, sitting there in that asylum; even duller if they’d gone ahead and cured him. Or thought they’d cured him. But suppose he wasn’t cured? And suppose he heard that somebody out in Hollywood intended to make a movie about him? What if he busted out and headed west? Maybe the answers would add up to a story. And writing such a story would in itself pose and answer other questions. What would Norman Bates think of a world which had become increasingly violent during the long years he’d been shut away from it? Even more intriguing, what would today’s world think of him, now that serial murders were commonplace affairs? The bottom line, of course, was whether or not readers would still be interested.”
Note: The cinematic Psycho II (1983) is not based on Bloch’s novel. Bloch offered his book to Universal Studios for consideration as a courtesy, but the studio declined, expressing no interest in producing a sequel to the Hitchcock classic. The studio had an abrupt change of heart, however, and quickly commenced work on their own Psycho II upon noting the positive reception to the news of the novel’s forthcoming publication.
Bloch: “I wondered what had old Norman been up to all this time? He’d be getting along in years now. Must be pretty damned dull for him, sitting there in that asylum; even duller if they’d gone ahead and cured him. Or thought they’d cured him. But suppose he wasn’t cured? And suppose he heard that somebody out in Hollywood intended to make a movie about him? What if he busted out and headed west? Maybe the answers would add up to a story. And writing such a story would in itself pose and answer other questions. What would Norman Bates think of a world which had become increasingly violent during the long years he’d been shut away from it? Even more intriguing, what would today’s world think of him, now that serial murders were commonplace affairs? The bottom line, of course, was whether or not readers would still be interested.”
Note: The cinematic Psycho II (1983) is not based on Bloch’s novel. Bloch offered his book to Universal Studios for consideration as a courtesy, but the studio declined, expressing no interest in producing a sequel to the Hitchcock classic. The studio had an abrupt change of heart, however, and quickly commenced work on their own Psycho II upon noting the positive reception to the news of the novel’s forthcoming publication.