Psycho by Robert Bloch

(pb; 1959: first book in the original Psycho trilogy)

From the back cover

"When the Bates Motel loomed up out of the storm, Mary Craine thought it was her salvation. The rooms were musty but clean, and the manager, Norman Bates, seemed like a nice enough fellow, if a little strange. . .

"Then Mary met Norman's mother. And the butcher knife.

"The nightmare had just begun. . ."


Review

Pulp-style writing, crisp prose, succinct characterizations, macabre puns and shocking violence form this familiar landmark work. This, easily, is one of the best pulp novels I've ever read.

Own it!

Followed by Psycho II.

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Psycho resulted in two film versions.

The first version was released stateside on August 25, 1960. Helmed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock and scripted by Joseph Stefano, it starred Anthony Perkins in his career-defining role of Norman Bates.

Janet Leigh played Marion Crane (cinematic stand-in for Mary Craine). Vera Miles played Lila Craine. John Gavin played Sam Loomis. Martin Balsam played Milton Arbogast. Simon Oakland played Dr. Fred Richmond. Patricia "Pat" Hitchcock (daughter of Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville) played Caroline.

An uncredited Virginia Gregg played the voice-role of Norma Bates, Norman's mother.

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The second version, directed and produced by Gus Van Sant, was released stateside on December 4, 1998. Joseph Stefano's screenplay for the original version was used for this almost shot-for-shot remake.

Vince Vaughn played Norman Bates. Anne Heche played Marion Crane. Julianne Moore played Lila Crane. Viggo Mortensen played Samuel "Sam" Loomis. William H. Macy played Milton Arbogast. Robert Forster played Dr. Fred Richmond. Phillip Baker Hall played Sheriff Al Chambers. James Remar played "Patrolman". Rita Wilson played Caroline. James LeGros played "Charlie the Car Dealer".

Cruising, by Gerald Walker

(pb; 1970)

From the inside flap:

"When homosexual 'cruise,' they are looking for kicks, love, relief, whatever. When cops cruise, they are looking for crime and criminals, but also for their own kicks, relief, whatever. . .

"The scene is New York City. The time is mainly night, when Stuart Richards, a graduate student at Columbia by day, prowls the parks and streets killing homosexuals. John Lynch is one of ten rookie cops ordered out on decoy duty to impersonate homosexuals in the hope of enticing the killer. Captain Edelson is the detective who orchestrates the chase. . ."

Review:

Grim, gutter-minded story and characters make this feel like an early Seventies Martin Scorsese film, except some of the characters are homosexual. Cruising chronicles three men's simultaneous, miasmic seasons in personal hells: Stuart Richards, the resentful, immature, responsibility-dodging serial killer who cannot stand to be laughed at; John Lynch, a "straight," decent, racially-aware New York rookie cop who's gone undercover -- as a gay man; and Captain Edelson, the "Jew captain" (as Lynch privately calls him), who's jaded and politically savvy, but honest and fair.

The secondary characters, many of them gay (and who express the homosexual outlook eloquently), are well-written, and come off as real people. Because we can't hear their thoughts (as we, the readers, do with Lynch and Richards), or read their private journals (as we do with Edelson) these secondary characters often come off as better, if socially embattled, people.

Good, unsettling read from a first-class author.

Check this out, if you don't mind letting your mind tramp around in moral murkiness for a bit. To quote the cover of the novel: "This is a tough book. If you cant' take it, don't read it."

A controversial film version of this novel was released stateside on February 8, 1980. Directed and scripted by William Friedkin, it starred Al Pacino as Steve Burns, a cinematic stand-in for John Lynch. Paul Sorvino played Captain Edelson. Richard Cox played Stuart Richards. Karen Allen played Nancy. Joe Spinell played Patrolman DiSimone. Ed O'Neill played Detective Schreiber (he was billed as "Edward O'Neil"). James Remar played Gregory. Powers Boothe played a helpful shop clerk (who tells Al Pacino's character what colored back-pocket hankies mean in the gay/BDSM subculture).

Darkly Dreaming Dexter, by Jeff Lindsay

(pb; 2004: first book in the Dexter series)

From the back cover:

"Meet Dexter Morgan, a polite wolf in sheep's clothing. He's handsome and charming, but something in his past has made him abide by a different set of rules. He's a serial killer whose one golden rule makes him immensely likeable: he only kills bad people. And his job as a blood splatter expert for the Miami police department puts him in the perfect position to identify his victims. But when a series of brutal murders bearing a striking similarity to his own style start turning up, Dexter is caught between being flattered and being frightened -- of himself or some other fiend."

Review:

On Hole's 1994 album, Live Through This, Courtney Love sang "I fake it so well/I am beyond fake." Love might well have been singing about Dexter, an amiable serial killer who has a ghostly resemblance of a conscience, given his adherence to the "Harry Code" (the set of rules laid out by Dexter's adoptive father, Harry, on how to be a "good" person and still indulge the "Dark Passenger" that lurks in Dexter's head). Dexter, by his own admissions, seems to care about certain people around him -- namely his sister, Deborah (who's a cop, like Harry was), and Cody and Astor (son and daughter of Rita Bennett, the woman he's been dating for two years, for the sake of "cover").

This is a fast, difficult-to-set-down read. On the surface, given Dexter's relatively breezy tone, it'd be easy to pass this off as a pleasantly-written, hip serial-killer read. But it's more than that -- Dexter is a unique and memorable serial killer, who deserves to be remembered along with other top literary slashers like Patrick Bateman (American Psycho), Hannibal Lechter (Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, etc.) and others.

This is a slyly subversive work, challenging readers' comfortable notions about society, and the (possibly) true nature(s) of those who surround us -- especially friends and family members.

Superb, clever, burn-through read, with a chuckle-worthy end-line.

Followed by Dearly Devoted Dexter.

The Dexter book series (thus far, it numbers three novels) inspired a still-running Showtime/cable series, Dexter, which began airing on October 1, 2006. Michael C. Hall plays Dexter Morgan. Julie Benz plays Rita Bennett. Christina Robinson plays Astor. Preston Bailey plays Cody. Jennifer Carpenter plays Debra Morgan. James Remar plays Harry Morgan. Erik King plays Sergeant James Doakes (the cable-series equivalent of Sergeant Albert Doakes in the book series).