Robert Bloch is the author of Psycho.
The Hitchcock film is a classic and the novel is just as potent, a terrific read. Night World was written by Bloch in 1972. Not on the same level, but a quick, entertaining read if you take it for what it is, a pulp thriller of its time.
Karen has been granted a visit to the private sanitarium where her husband Bruce has been recovering from Vietnam war trauma. Arriving on a dark fogbound night, she discovers the doors open, the staff murdered and five patients have vanished including Bruce. Is her husband the ruthless killer, or was he coerced by a deranged patient? The doctor's car is gone, and the police called in. The escapees with various degrees of psychosis are on the loose in San Francisco - but once they split up, each to their personal safe place or home, someone is hunting them down - one by one they meet with a grisly death over the next few days. Karen is teamed with a police bodyguard, following her in case Bruce tries to make contact.
This is 1972, when the police were the 'Fuzz' and 'The Man', and although it seems tame now, it might have been a tense read at the time. Surprisingly seedy, this is the time of the Son of Sam and the Tate/LaBianca murders - the city on edge hearing another psychopath is roaming the streets. Bloch is a great thriller writer, he revels in the maze of the unhinged mind and there are brilliant turns of phrase. Each patient has their own backstory - one dealing with psyching out on LSD and the hippie music scene.
This reads like going back in time to the 1970's. A speedy thriller that rips along at a fast pace. This is what you want when you pick up a book about a psychotic killer - nasty, grim and enjoyable.
My other review for Robert Bloch:
1972 / Paperback / 176 pages
Comentários