Norm Billings Met His Match
If I were a billionaire, I’d buy a copy of Marion for every single horror fan on earth—and then dare the non-thriller readers to try it.
What an absolute ride! From page one, Leah Rowan hooks you with multiple moving parts that keep the adrenaline pumping and the action propelling forward.
The story follows Marion, a mild-mannered ad agency employee tasked with depositing a massive cash payment for her boss. But she can’t focus—she’s consumed with anxiety over her sister, whose husband is notoriously violent. When her sister stops answering the phone, Marion makes a split-second decision to head to Saratoga Springs to save her. But fate intervenes: her bus breaks down, leaving her stranded at the Billings Motel—the only place in town with a vacancy. Enter the proprietor, Norm Billings. He’s young, handsome, charming, and the sole caregiver to his cancer-ridden mother. He also happens to have a dangerous fixation on pretty blondes.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because the novel is a brilliant, subversive twist on Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. But in this version, the script is flipped. We get a fierce, resilient woman fighting like hell to survive, refusing to be taken down in a shower by a madman.
Leah Rowan’s reimagining of this classic is something to cheer about. Her female characters are unapologetically fierce. As Marion calculates how to right the wrongs and protect her sister, you can’t help but rally behind her. I wanted her to win so badly, and I wanted the men who exploit women to get exactly what they deserve. But in true thriller fashion, nothing goes completely to plan—especially when a pesky private investigator looking to make a name for herself gets thrown into the mix. Hannah, the investigator, is such a uniquely captivating character; I would absolutely love to see an entire spin-off series dedicated to her and her cases!
To top it all off, the epilogue is so beautifully written—it truly feels like the perfect bow on a gift.
This book is so good. I dual-wielded the digital copy and the audiobook, and it is officially on my permanent spooky-season re-read list. Leah Rowan, you have a certified super-fan in me. Thank you for giving us such a creepy, fiercely feminist masterpiece!
