Book picks similar to
Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock


film
non-fiction
horror-gothic-weird
criticism

The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer


Kate Summerscale - 2016
    Their father had gone to sea the previous Friday, the boys told their neighbours, and their mother was visiting her family in Liverpool. Over the next ten days Robert and Nattie spent extravagantly, pawning their parents' valuables to fund trips to the theatre and the seaside. But as the sun beat down on the Coombes house, a strange smell began to emanate from the building. When the police were finally called to investigate, the discovery they made sent the press into a frenzy of horror and alarm, and Robert and Nattie were swept up in a criminal trial that echoed the outrageous plots of the 'penny dreadful' novels that Robert loved to read. In The Wicked Boy, Kate Summerscale has uncovered a fascinating true story of murder and morality - it is not just a meticulous examination of a shocking Victorian case, but also a compelling account of its aftermath, and of man's capacity to overcome the past.

Kids Who Kill


Charles Patrick Ewing - 1990
    They are responsible for over ten percent of the nation's homicides. They are often victims themselves of neglect, violence and sexual abuse, of drugs and poverty. They murder alone or in groups -- in anger and frustration, for attention . . . or for thrills. And they have one thing in common: they are all children.

Wasting More Police Time


David Copperfield - 2011
    'Wasting more police time' takes us back into the mad world of British policing for more amazing stories from the front line against crime.

Barton Fink & Miller's Crossing


Joel Coen - 1991
    The former is a psychological thriller set in the Hollywood of the 1940s, while the latter reinvents the 1930s gangster film.

Gang of One


Gary Mulgrew - 2012
    Initially known as the 'Enron guy', Mulgrew attempts to survive the prison gang culture and preserve his own sanity. Driven by his desire to return to his son in England, he is increasingly haunted by the heart-breaking disappearance of his daughter. Meanwhile the dangers around him grow ever closer.Told with wit and humanity, GANG OF ONE, reveals a man constantly confronted by the moral and physical challenges of prison life in America, where evryone is encouraged to turn their back and 'see nuthin'

Killing State


Judith O'Reilly - 2017
    She is. Michael North is a hero, with a bullet in the brain to prove it. A bullet which has rewired his neural pathways and heightened his sense of intuition. A bullet which is driving him mad. Working for an extra-governmental agency called The Board, North knows one thing for sure. He is very good at killing very bad guys. But what happens when a hero is ordered to kill a good woman rather than a bad man? Because it turns out that rising political star, Honor Jones, MP, can't stop asking the right questions about the wrong people. He should follow orders. Shouldn't he?