Night Film

by Marisha Pessl

Night Film is a breathtakingly suspenseful literary thriller that makes you question how you decide what is real and what isn't from the critically acclaimed author of Special Topics in Calamity Physics

On a damp October night the body of beautiful Ashley Cordova is discovered in a Manhattan warehouse.

Though her death is ruled a suicide, investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise.

The last time McGrath got too close to the Cordova dynasty, he lost his marriage and his career.

This time he could lose his mind.

• ISBN10: 140006788X
• ISBN13: 9781400067886
• Publish Date: 20 August 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 20 April 2017
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Random House
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 624
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Night Film is an utterly fascinating story that moves at a ridiculously slow pace. Scott, an investigative journalist, wants to know the truth about the death of one Ashley Cordova. It's being called a suicide, but Scott's not buying it. Besides, the mysterious Cordova has blindsided him before.

To me, this book feels like something between film noir and an Alfred Hitchcock film. Cordova himself is the man behind the curtain, the Maltese Falcon, and I wanted to know more about him. I drank up the history of the cult director and the details of his films. At about 75%, Scott finds himself on the Cordova estate and that part of the book was AMAZING - so immersive and interesting. It took a lot to get to that point, though, and there was a lot afterwards.

I really like Marisha Pessl's writing style - I enjoyed her novel [b:Special Topics in Calamity Physics|3483|Special Topics in Calamity Physics|Marisha Pessl|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1442699779s/3483.jpg|910619], despite my personal expectations - but it does take a bit of patience. She's a patient, philosophical fiction writer and will bring you into the dark folds of her characters' minds. She fascinates me, and I devour her books like candy.

My two criticisms of Night Film are the length (I was happily done with the book at about 80%, but finished it anyway), and the main character. I found Scott to be flat, cynical, and generally uninteresting. I was there for his "sidekicks", Nora and Hopper, all the way though. Both were colorful, interesting characters and a testament to Pessl's ability to create interesting voices.

I also really love her endings... how they're never quite finished. This could be a huge pet peeve to the wrong person, though.

Overall, I'm glad I read this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'd even read it again but not for several years. I'm also very happy that it's done.

[Stephanie]

I should've seen that coming.

[clq]

It's hard to be that specific about all the good things I want to say about Night Film. I think part of the strength of it is that it doesn't en up being the kind of book you'd expect it to be, but I'm still not sure what I kind of book it actually is. Suffice to say, I really liked it, but not for the reasons the blurbs on the cover said i would.

The one thing it's safe to call Night Film is a mystery, and as a mystery it works very well. It also has the potential to be a really thrilling thriller, but unfortunately it didn't thrill me as much as I think it could have done. It had some moments of page-turning, but for me it never really built up the kind of suspense I think a book like this could and should have been able to do.

That said, I still found Night Film to be a really good book. It is a genuine mystery in a very well constructed setting. It left me feeling that it was always holding back, not just in what it told me, but also with the speed at which it was told. There are several set-ups for what seems like it is about to become a five page high-paced build-up to a climax. Night Film instead draws it out, more often than not stopping short of where it could have gone. I really liked this. I, as a reader, never get to know everything I want to know, but I get to know more than enough that I want to continue and find out what else the book will be kind enough to tell me.

It's worth mentioning that I read this book on actual paper, as I was tipped off to it containing elements other than text. I'd pass on that recommendation. The pictures, newspaper-cuttings, screenshots and other non-standard content in this book probably could be made readable in a cleverly formatted ebook, but paper is probably needed to do it justice.

I wouldn't have any reservations against recommending this book to anyone, but be prepared for a book that it not really a thriller, nor a crime-novel in the traditional sense. It's a mystery, and a really good one.

[ross91]

Reading this book was like an incredible journey. I loved every moment of it.

[mary]

Scott McGrath is a man who pretty much self-destructed via his own career – he’s an investigative journalist who took things one step too far in an attempt to expose one of the most reclusive men on the planet in Stanislas Cordova. And it’s only by accident that he ends up being pulled back into the Cordova story after the apparent suicide of Cordova’s daughter, Ashley.

Finding himself, rather unwillingly, with two young sidekicks, he sets out on a journey to find out the truth both about Ashley Cordova’s death, and Cordova himself. I found it rather difficult to get a handle on McGrath as a character – he’s obviously driven by the fact that Cordova turned his life upside down. He’s also a father, still in love with his ex wife, and rather lost in his own life. He’s a real example of how obsession can drive people to the brink of madness – and at times his obsession was actually rather overwhelming for me, too.

The irony, perhaps, of Night Film is that for huge chunks of this rather substantial book very little happens plot-wise. There are moments of heart-pounding addictive reading, but for me it was definitely the excitement of pulling apart the layers in slow-motion. There wasn’t really a point where I felt bored or that I didn’t want to keep reading, it was more when I’d finished that I realised for over 600 pages not a great deal had actually happened. Despite its length, I found this book to be a very quick read.

I would highly recommend reading this book in paper form because of the visual additions of the web pages, notes, and pictures really were a key part in hooking me into this book initially, and it kept my interest so high through out.

[leahrosereads]

Review will be in a couple of days.

[empressbrooke]

I picked this up off the "new releases" shelf on a whim, and it sat on my own bookshelf while I read a book for a book club and a couple things that had to go back to the library soon. The entire time I was doing that, all I could think about was how much I wanted to be reading this book instead. Between the summary from the dust jacket (investigative journalist investigates the death of a reclusive cult horror filmmaker's daughter) and the glimpses of the different pieces of media sprinkled through the insides, I was completely intrigued.

Once I finally sat down with it, I seriously considered taking a day off work to finish it. I was completely immersed in the world and dying to know more. The epistolary bits really added to the world building and I had to remind myself a few times that Stanislaw Cordova is not a real filmmaker. Last night before going to bed, I read a sequence where the main character snuck into a place where he wasn't supposed to be, stayed up too late frantically reading about what he encountered there and then couldn't bring my adrenaline down in order to fall asleep.

Marisha Pessl joins [a:Gillian Flynn|2383|Gillian Flynn|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1232123231p2/2383.jpg] and [a:Tana French|138825|Tana French|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1277505771p2/138825.jpg] in my list of women who are totally killing it in the mystery/thriller genre these days. Pessl isn't as good with characters are those other two authors are - the mysterious horror filmmaker and the dead daughter have more personality and presence than the actual main character and his investigative sidekicks. Pessl's writing also isn't as as refined as the others' - there were places where it felt clunky. But I still loved, loved, loved this book, and I'm so thrilled to have all these women in this genre.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Night Film started out with a strong concept, missing girl turns into dead girl, turns into suicidal girl, a very mysterious girl at that. Scott McGrath, the washed up reporter digs deeper into her death and like Dorothy is slowly accompanied by the Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion. (no one has a heart in this book) Anyway, the armatures dig deeper and valiantly congratulate themselves with each new rock they unturned, eventually becoming rather dull. Due to my kindle I can positively contest that the first 20% was interesting and had the potential to "go somewhere" but looking back realize that 15% was basic set up.

Unlike the thrill of one's first legal drink, number 21 was a let down. Fatally, voodoo, and witchcraft, and psychics (oh my) get involved and frankly just gets weird. There are also several characters (both young and old) who are on the same creepy factor as the little girls in The Shinning. I could get more intricate on why Night Film was strange but I think the first three descriptive words say it best and truthfully, I just don't have the energy.

[dpfaef]

I am a little on the fence about this book. I think that it follows the noir very well...but it goes off in a direction..... that really didn't interest me.