Marisha Pessl

Reporter Scott McGrath investigates the apparent suicide of Ashley Cordova, which brings him into the strange world of her father, a reclusive cult-horror-film director. He also delves into the death of another person connected to the family.

Night Film

"Ashley Cordova, the mysterious gifted daughter of the reclusive film director Stanislas Cordova, is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Her death is ruled a suicide, but veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. What happened to Ashley? As McGrath tries to uncover the truth, he is drawn into a spell-binding quest in the underworld of the Cordova family's life. With breakneck pace and dazzling inventiveness, Night Film will hold you in suspense until you turn the final page."--Page 4 of cover.

a novel

Emma Carlson

“But then maybe it was better that way: Rather early in the chain of disasters, there was nothing left standing to destroy”

Im gonna pretend it was cults and witches and ghosts and mermaids and a curse and shit because otherwise i would be really upset lmao it was captivating for sure! I do love a good horror film lore 

Vicky

*** spoilers ***

Im gonna pretend it was cults and witches and ghosts and mermaids and a curse and shit because otherwise i would be really upset lmao it was captivating for sure! I do love a good horror film lore 

Ryan Mateyk

Our narrator here could be almost unbearable with some of his ignorant smartass comments but this book was an incredible pageturner

Colton Ray

This book had an interesting enough premise, but a terrible execution. Somehow, almost nothing happens throughout the whole book. It's just the main journalist guy going around and talking to a person, then talking to someone else, then talking to his sidekick, then traveling to talk to someone else; in short, it's 600 pages of painfully drawn-out conversations with one or two action scenes thrown in. There's not all that much actual investigation on Scott's part.

Night Film should have been cut in half and even that might have been too long. The author felt it was necessary to explain every single detail to the point where the narrative gets so bogged-down with so many inessential characters and subplots that the entire structure feels ready to collapse. The only thing that saved it were a few interesting scenes and a genuinely (view spoiler)[sweet (hide spoiler)] ending. It's a shame, because this could have been a cool 300 pg. suspense novel, but instead, it's a bloated 600 pg. slog. Disappointing.

Oliver Magnanimous

The overuse of italics was really weird. I ended up figuring out how to edit the ebook file just to turn them off entirely.

Also pretty misogynistic now and then, that was kind of disturbing.

Didn’t really care about any of the characters.

Nabila Azahra

Sovereign. Deadly. Perfect.

I love everything about this book, well except the ending. I was giving this book a solid 4 stars but now that I think about it, I'm gonna give it 4,5 stars. 
- The characters were so realistic. Stanislas Cordova was really detailed in the way that you wanna watch his films, you wanna have him in real life.
- And the underground site aka The Blackboards was so dang cool! 
- Although I didn't really enjoy reading dark magic and all that but not with this one. The black magic aspect really well thought and researched. When you read it, you will really hooked to the world that's why I was dissatisfied with the ending. 
- Some part of the book was too slow for my likings but since The Peak scene, I definitely couldn't put this book down.

But overall this was an amazing read!

3 of 5 stars

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This is quite underwhelming. I've always wanted to read this book because a lot of people recommended this. Maybe I just set my expectation too high. For the most part, it bored me to death. I mean it was unnecessarily long and could have been made a few pages less. I didn't particularly like where the story led me and I was so unattached with any of the characters. It took me so long to finished this. The thing that I liked about this is the format of the book in which the readers were provided with newspaper clippings, websites, pictures, etc. to make us easily visualize the story. I appreciate that. But overall, it was just an average book for me, nothing too fantastic, maybe even disappointing.

Jaden Nelson

Wow that was really long. I just looked back on my activity on this book and I was very shocked to see that it has been only 7 days since I started this book. It kind of seemed like forever. I don’t know how to feel about this book really. A lot of people I saw loved it and thought it was “mind f***ing”—similar to the effect Dark Matter had—but it just didn’t quite hit home for me(that’s an expression, right??) That being said, I do appreciate the way it was just basic or predictable mystery book. It played with your expectations, weaved a lot of intricate plot(this was good and bad to me), and it did have some deeper themes being conveyed that could stick with you (it didn’t really have that effect on me for some reason). Pretty good book, definitely written by someone who knows what they’re doing, but not the greatest in my eyes. If you’re like even a little bit emo though or contemplate life multiple times a day, then this might be your s**t.

Aine Meehan

This is a riviting read under the covers till 3am and get caffeine shakes the next day book. I think i would definitely classify it as a horror/ drama and really im still not sure which it is. For those who do not read the horror genre, dont worry, its much less grisley than a cornwall. Like another reviewer stated this is very hard to define without giving away the plot. Its a superb read, with twists and turns and excentric well developed characters that you are rooting for all through the book. The dark side of the novel, the "horror" is juxtaposed nicely with the good in life, although there are times when you do have to come up for air from under the duvet and turn the lights on. like i said, superb.

Colleen

4.5 Stars

This review contains some spoilers.

  “Life was a freight train barreling toward just one stop, our loved ones streaking past our windows in blurs of color and light. There was no holding on to any of it, and no slowing it down.” 
 I read Pessl's debut book Special Topics in Calamity Physics last year and enjoyed it. Pessl distinct writing style was still very visible in Night Film, however these two books were also quite different in other ways. While they both were first person narratives with a mystery element, and they both tended to take rabbit trails and red herrings, the stories overall had different airs. Special Topics in Calamity Physics had a distinct Southern drawl to it, Night film veered away from that and was set in New York City. Aside from the colloquial differences, Special Topics in Calamity Physics was narrated by a teenage girl and despite dark events still carried that hallucinogenic optimism of youth. On the other hand, Night film was narrated by a washed-up, middle-aged man whose life was not quite at rock bottom but steadily sliding towards it. The author clearly is not a middle aged man, but she managed the different view well. I quickly forgot anything about the author because I was sucked into the story itself.

Five years before the start of the story, investigative journalist Scott McGrath started writing a story about the illusive horror film writer Stanislas Cordova whom Scott suspected got his inspiration for his horror films from more than just his imagination. But Scott was setup and lost his credibility and his career. Fast forward to the present day and Scott is once again drawn back into the story when Cordova's only daughter is found dead nearby from an apparent suicide. Scott quickly learns that there is much more going on with the Cordova family that he thought. Scott and the reader quickly fall down a sinister rabbit hole. 

The beginning circumstances reminded me of The Cuckoo's Calling in a few ways. They shared the general setup of a talented, beautiful, famous, young woman falling to her death in an apparent suicide then each being investigated by washed-up, middle age man whose live is a mess. But the stories quickly take different directions, and I have to say that I enjoyed the writing of Night Film much more than The Cuckoo's Calling. Even with this book being written in first person, I was still drawn into the story because the characters were unique and the writing was so vivid.
“Life had been a suit I'd only put on for special occasions. Most of the time I kept it in the back of my closet, forgetting it was there. We were meant to die when it was barely stitched anymore, when the elbows and knees were stained with grass and mud, shoulder pads uneven from people hugging you all the time, downpours and blistering sun, the fabric faded, buttons gone.”  Admittedly, Pessl's stylized writing will not appeal to everyone. Her stories seem to be slow burns with lots of rich, vivid descriptions and similes as well as much reflection of life itself. Despite there being many twists and turns, this story still seemed very character driven at times. This is also a long book but with very short chapters (606 pages with 118 chapters!). At times the short chapters disrupted the flow of the story, and many of the breaks seemed unnecessary. In keeping with the journalistic theme, the book included "outside sources" that Scott was using in his research such as pictures, interviews, news articles, transcripts, and web pages. The pictures were interesting but the news articles tended to be infodumps and broke up the rhythm of the story too much at times.

But still, Pessl's writing is so eerie and elegant that it made up for the smaller things I did not like. 

  “Mortal fear is as crucial a thing to our lives as love. It cuts to the core of our being and shows us what we are. Will you step back and cover your eyes? Or will you have the strength to walk to the precipice and look out? Do you want to know what is there or live in the dark delusion that this commercial world insists we remain sealed inside like blind caterpillars in an eternal cocoon? Will you curl up with your eyes closed and die? Or can you fight your way out of it and fly?"
 I also liked that Pessl kept up the suspense on whether there was a supernatural twist versus a real-life explanation. Many authors are not able to maintain that suspense for long. The ending did drag on for too long though. After such a heart-pounding edge of your seat climax, the ending felt slow and anticlimactic. It was basically an epilogue that dragged on for several chapters. (view spoiler)[The only other aspect I did not like was the romance angle thrown in so haphazardly. I spent much of the beginning of the story so very glad that unlike The Cuckoo's Calling, this book did not have the awkward, creepy romance between the middle-aged man and the barely legal young woman. But then they just had to through the awkward love in their anyway, and that was a major disappointment for me. True, it was not that surprising that after going through such intense events two people might mistake those strong feelings for romantic ones... but I just could not believe in their love being of a romantic variety. (hide spoiler)] Those things kept this from being a perfect five for me, but I still enjoyed it thoroughly enough to round up to five stars.

Pessl's writing is haunting, and it does not fit neatly into any one box. There were parts of the story I would call Mystery, but other parts veered towards Suspense, Horror, and Literary Fiction. It all blended together masterfully. 

Sadly, it seems that Pessl is one of those authors who takes a few years to finish each book. Her results seem to be worth it, but I cannot help but be impatient. It has been four years since Night Film was published, but there is no word on her next book. I will undoubtedly read whatever she writes next... whenever it eventually gets published. 


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 5 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 5 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 4 Stars
Level of Captivation: 5 Stars
Originality: 5 Stars

Brittany Levely-Connolly

What is real and fiction? How can you really know what you perceived as reality is the truth. This book literally had me glued to the pages, dedicating (subconsciously) all my spare waking time in the past three days.Marisha Pessl gives the reader a whole new experience by making the novel an interactive by combining print and technology. After reading, download the app and even more will be revealed. Pessl keeps the readers on their toes and guessing where the plot twists will take you next. By combining standard horror tropes:the gothic haunted house, the witch, the ghost story with a murder mystery, Night Film takes you on a rollercoaster ride of twists and turns that just when you think you know where the story is going or will end Pessl challenges your assumption by taking the reader and story in an entirely new, exciting direction. I found the book to be well written and I loved amount of character development in the 3 main protagonists throughout the novel. They cannot go through the process of trying to solve Ashley’s murder and face their realty unaltered after what they’ve experienced and with themes relating to what is real vs fiction, based in real world vs fiction, the reader is invited to go on a journey to discover who they really are, while asked to question everything in the process. I definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a fast paced horror thrill ride.

I wanted to put this down halfway through because of how campy it was, but pushed on thinking it would get better. It would have gotten an extra star had it ended 100 pages sooner (with a denouement similar to the classic Rebecca), but instead we got an unnecessary "twist" ending. 

Ashlyn

Rachel Kanyid

I really enjoyed this. It was a thrilling read and filled with so much intrigue!

Carah Gedeon

This book was such a let down. It was exhausting to read. I was just so happy to be done with it. The “twist” isn’t a twist and I’m MAD. Every other word was italicized and it was so annoying and distracting.

Jeannette Ordas

This was a frustrating read for me. It's not well-written and every character seems resistant to tell their story, but somehow in the next paragraph everyone is spilling their guts. And that is just the beginning of the preposterousness going on here. Still, in middle of the book I found everything quite compelling, but the further I got into the mystery, I felt like I had been duped. There are clever gimmicks sure, but the whole thing was a let down. 2.5 stars but bumped to 3 stars because I really was into the ride for a couple hundred pages worth at least.

Anne 

What a wild ride. An extremely impressive piece of fiction. I love it.

Jayme Bosio

** spoiler alert **
           This was another book where I enjoyed it...until the end. If you are going to take me down a supernatural road, you better not Scooby Doo me at the end. Don't tell me there are g-g-g-ghosts and then have it turn out to be the creepy old man from the gas station. 

Still, I enjoy Ms. Pessl's writing and character development, so I suspect I will be reading Neverworld Wake at some point. I especially enjoyed the description of Cordova's films. I wish they had been real.

Lauren Tabor

Night Film had me captivated from beginning to end. I love this book and the feelings it gives me. I think Marisha Pessl did a wonderful job at creating intriguing characters and she had me wanting more. This book could have been scarier and more thrilling, but all in all it was a fantastic read.

I could not put this down. It was creepy and suspenseful and sad and beautiful all at once. It's a good 600 pages and I read it in two and a half days because it was so compelling. I can't wait to go read Pessl's other work.

Julie D.

This book was actually really interesting. It's kind of boring in certain spots (too many descriptions) but its so intriguing. I thought I had it all figured out about half way through but NOPE. 

p.s: im pining away for hopper. damn.

Flavia Louise

4.25 stars
This was a truly amazing and at times also very haunting story that I am very happy to have gotten the chance to read. However I felt - like I felt a few times lately - that the buildup was epic and the ending wasn't and that's definitely not something I like.

When the daughter of a cult horror film director is found dead in an abandoned Manhattan warehouse, investigative journalist Scott McGrath, disbelieving the official suicide ruling, probes into the strange circumstances of the young womanʹs death.

Alexa Jade

Robin M Cabana

I like how Night Film took a lot of twists and turns to places I didn't expect. I was pretty scared at some points as journalist Scott McGrath investigates the suicide of a horror film director's daughter and his life becomes caught up in a mystery that is right out of one of those movies. I don't think I'd want to watch a Cordova film!

Lorraine Fernando

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I particularly liked the ending and how it was consistent with the rest of the novel. I loved seeing though the analytical mind of Scott McGrath. As the reader, you get tricked, betrayed, and shocked right alongside McGrath.

Bryanna M

I don't know anything. My mind feels so messed with. Maybe more like a 4.5 and only knocking the .5 because it took a while for me to get into it and I'm so dang confused (even though I get that that was the point). 
Sovereign. Deadly. Perfect.

Night Film

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