Debut author delivers a razor sharp, modern “rage thriller” adaptation of Hitchcock’s iconic movie, PSYCHO. The story flips the classic horror script on its head, centering on a woman who is on the run with stolen money when she meets up with a deeply unstable man.
Marion Cage, the name she uses when she checks into the secluded, outdated Billings Motel, is full of contemporary fury over toxic power dynamics and a situation of spousal abuse involving her sister. When she’s attacked in the shower by a knife wielding Norman Billings, things don’t end in the familiar way. Now she’s started something.
I had such high hopes for this novel and it started out with a fast pace. The core suspense and the angry woman aspects were good, but then it got over the top and veered into the unbelievable. I particularly didn’t care for so much repetition and also this constant voice of Marion’s mother in her head. The attempted twists and red herrings were a bit far fetched and kept the reader off kilter. There are several unanswered questions and I was not a fan of the ending.
The story alternates between the point of view of Marion (we never learn her real first name) and a private investigator named Hannah. Now Hannah really irritated me with her social commentary and virtue signaling and I didn’t care for her character at all.
I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrators, Tawny Platis and Natalie Naudus, had a satisfactory, if not somewhat overwrought at times, performance. Some of my annoyance might be due to the text they had to speak and the repetition of certain words. Since most of the novel involved female dialogue, they both managed to come up with accents and tones to try to make them sound unique and different. Listening while reading always enhances my enjoyment of a book.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre tags: spousal abuse, murder, toxic masculinity, rage, revenge, embezzlement, adaptation or reimagining of Hitchcock’s movie Psycho
