Introduction. At first she thought she was dreaming

At first she thought she was dreaming. A hotel, here, in the middle of nowhere? Impossible. She closed her eyes and opened them again. Yes, it was true. There it was. A small sign shining in the night:

BATES MOTEL

'I don't believe it,' she said to herself as she drove towards the sign. 'This is my lucky night.'

Marion Crane is a secretary from Phoenix, Arizona. She is in love with Sam Loomis, who lives far away in Fairvale,Texas. She wants to marry him, but Sam cannot marry her because he doesn't have enough money. So Marion steals $40,000 from her boss and drives away with the money to be with Sam. It's a long, dangerous journey and, not far from Fairvale, Marion gets lost. It's dark, it's raining, she's tired and hungry. If she can find somewhere to stay for just one more night, then all her troubles will be over...

But for Marion, as she drives through the rain towards the small, quiet motel by the side of the Old Highway, the bad dream is only just beginning.

Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) made the film Psycho in 1960. Hollywood believed that the book, by Robert Bloch, was impossible to film, but Hitchcock had different ideas. Working in black and white, he made one of Hollywood's most frightening films ever.

Robert Bloch was born in Chicago in 1917. His first book, The Scarf, came out in 1947. He wrote many mystery and science fiction books and stories for television. He also wrote the films Psycho II (1982) and Twilight Zone:The Movie (1983). He died in Los Angeles in 1994.