The blurb says, "Check in. Relax. Take a shower." Hitchcock made the Bates Motel the haunted house on the hill that we all fear, but the novel on which it is based is also a pretty fright-inducing piece of work. From the moment Mary Crane takes the money and runs, the pace never lets up. Spare and with never a word too many or out of place, this short novel is masterwork of its sort, and it is easy to see its appeal for Hitch, the old necromancer. It is much better value than the Gus Van Sant remake of the film that came out at the end of last year.
Vincent Banville
