Title: Marion
Author: Leah Rowan
Narrators: Natalie Naudus & Tawny Platis
Genre: Thriller, Horror, Retelling
Format: Audiobook (ALC)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.75★)
Release Date: June 2, 2026
Synopsis
Everyone knows how Psycho ends for Marion Crane.
But what if she fought back?
Desperate to help her sister escape an abusive marriage, Marion steals a large sum of money and boards a bus, hoping to start a new life. When her journey is interrupted by a breakdown, she ends up spending the night at a small roadside motel run by a charming young man named Norm.
Yes, that Norm.
Only this time, when he pulls back the shower curtain holding a knife, Marion refuses to become a victim.
And after that single moment changes everything, Marion finds herself on the run from far more than just her own mistakes.
My Thoughts
I have to admit, I have pretty mixed feelings about this book.
Not because I disliked it; I actually think it's a clever premise and a fascinating way to reimagine one of the most iconic scenes in horror history, but because even though a lot happens throughout the story, I still found parts of it surprisingly slow.
As the blurb says, Marion is desperate to help her sister escape an abusive marriage. When she's unexpectedly entrusted with a large amount of money that she's supposed to deposit, she makes a split-second decision and takes off with it, hoping to finally help her sister start over somewhere safe.
Unfortunately, fate has other plans.
A broken-down bus leaves her stranded in a small town, where she ends up renting a room at a roadside motel run by a handsome but slightly unsettling young man named Norm.
And yes...
That Norm.
What follows is the famous shower scene, but with a very different outcome.
When Norm appears with a knife, Marion fights back. Hard.
And from that point onward, the story becomes something entirely its own.
One thing I really appreciated was that the book doesn't stop after its big "what if?" moment. It would've been easy to simply reverse the outcome and call it a day, but instead the story explores what happens after Marion survives.
What does survival look like when you've just killed someone?
What happens when a woman who's spent her life trying to do the right thing suddenly finds herself crossing lines she never imagined crossing?
Those questions were often more interesting to me than the actual mystery elements.
I also appreciated how much female anger runs through the entire novel. Beneath the thriller plot, there's a strong exploration of power, control, abuse, survival and the ways women are often expected to endure impossible situations quietly.
Marion's journey is driven by her desire to save her sister, but it also becomes a story about refusing to remain powerless.
That said, I do think the book occasionally suffered from trying to do a little too much.
The audiobook clocks in at just over ten hours, and while I was never bored enough to stop listening, there were definitely moments where the pacing slowed considerably. Several side plots and additional perspectives get introduced as the story expands, and not all of them felt equally compelling.
I found myself most invested whenever the focus stayed on Marion.
In comparison, Hannah, the PI investigating various aspects of the case, never really clicked for me. She wasn't a bad character, but she felt more like a plot device than someone I was emotionally invested in.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Marion is an ambitious and creative reimagining of Psycho that asks a simple but compelling question:
What if Marion Crane fought back?
I loved seeing the story transform her from victim into survivor, and I appreciated the themes of female rage, resilience and agency woven throughout the narrative.
While I felt like the pacing occasionally dragged a bit and some of the supporting storylines didn't fully work for me, I still found this to be an engaging and memorable retelling.
ALC Disclaimer
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing the audiobook. All opinions are my own.
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