Marion by Leah Rowan | Dark Fiction Review
Not as marketed but still good!
This a book inspired by Hitchcock’s Psycho, but it twists things around and a modern-day Marion survives and does so with a vengeance! From there it is a completely different story. It’s more thriller than any kind of creepy horror so keep that in mind if you’re looking for an atmospheric slow burn horror tale like Psycho because this isn’t it.
But what it is is fun. It’s not quite what I was expecting from the blurb - it’s not any kind of “alternate history” but I thought it was imaginative, over the top and fun in a very dark way. The “Marion” in this book was raised to fight back, to survive, and to protect. When she discovers her sister is married to a man who abuses her it sets off a chain of events that lead her to Norm’s motel/cabin rental b&b kind of thing and from there she sort of goes into a murder spiral.
“Marion wasn’t someone to be fucked with. Marion wasn’t afraid of her own power. Marion fought back.”
Love that for Marion.
It’s mostly told from Marion’s POV but there is also a tenacious young private investigator named Hannah who is hot on her heels. She’s driven as well and intends to find a missing woman because she feels like it’s her life’s work or something. Blah, blah, blah. Hannah’s POV wasn’t as thrilling as Marion’s, she’s very young and it shows and I would’ve been just fine without it. It stopped the momentum many a-time for me because her story seemed lackluster in comparison to what was going on with Marion. Despite those breaks, I never considered shutting the audio off because I had to know what would happen next and it didn’t disappoint. My only slight issue with the book, because this isn’t horror (though sort of marketed that way), was the fade to black murder scenes that sometimes happened a little later in the story. Slamming that door in my face made the scenes less impactful. What we did get of the murder scenes felt a little bland but perhaps I’m too bloodthirsty at this point in my life.
The narrators do a good job with the material. I’m starting to prefer duo/multiple narrators in stories like these because it cuts down on the confusion that can happen when the voices sound too similar. The dates are read aloud but it’s easy to tune them out sometimes. They both had a professional, casual tone that fit the book and kept things moving.
Anyhow, it's a good time. If this sort of story sounds like a good time to you!
Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Publisher Plot Synopsis
A twist on Hitchcock’s iconic classic Psycho —where the leading lady doesn't die, but instead turns the knife on Norm, kicking off a crime spree that turns the silver screen victim into a heroine for our times.
NORMAN WAS HER FIRST.
Marion is in deep. She's stolen money from the Manhattan ad agency where she works in a desperate bid to help her sister escape an abusive marriage, but the bus breaks down before she can make it to Saratoga Springs. It's late at night, and the only place with vacancies is an old set of cabins on the outskirts of town. She pays for a room in cash, and ends up chatting with Norm, the young innkeeper who's handsome, charming and a touch hung-up on his elderly mother. Back in her room, she steps into the shower, scrubbing off the late-summer heat, when the curtain is pulled back...
Norm Billings is there with a knife. He raises his arm to strike, but before he does, Marion knees him in the balls, grabs the knife, and stabs the life out of him. Now, she's covered in blood, and she's a woman on the run—not just a thief, but a killer, too. Where will she go? How will she save both herself and her sister? And what mysteries will she uncover as she does?
In Psycho, Hitchcock shocked audiences when he killed off his protagonist. But what if the leading lady had fought back? Marion offers an alternate history of the most famous dead blonde to ever grace the silver screen. Only this time, the knife is in her hands—and she's no victim.
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