Night Film: A Novel

** spoiler alert ** I am stumped for a way to write this review spoiler-free while describing what’s so amazing about this book, so I won’t. Be forewarned there are a few vague details best left uncovered while reading. I finished NIGHT FILM late last week and have been trying to decide how exactly I feel about this book as a whole—the prose, the length, the addition of multi-media—since. On the one hand, I’m thinking this is a solid four-and-a-half star read. Not quite paced to perfection. A couple of times (particularly during Scott’s exploration of Cordova’s Adirondack estate) I felt the prose was too slow, a tad overwritten, but THEN (and this happens several times during this book) the plot twists and I’m drawn right back in to what feels maybe like the best thing I’ve ever read. Ten stars! I will be thinking on this one for some time to come. Why? For one, I love the characters. Disgraced journalist and quasi-failure dad Scott McGrath is a man who has lost everything after taking a public jab at Cordova. He is kind of a wreck, and had he not gotten a hand from Nora and Hopper I’m not sure he’d have ended up so far down the rabbit hole. Still, motives of self-preservation aside, his dedication to finding out what exactly happened to Ashley Cordova is admirable. Nora is nuanced and just this side of crazy in her transvestite’s wardrobe with her archaic bird, but she is so compellingly sweet that I rooted for her and Scott to make a go of things the entire time. Septimus added color to her (and what she did to get that bird back from a birdnapper was both terrible and proof of how far Nora would go to protect what she loves). Hopper turned out to be a loveable not-so-screw-up, and his and Ashley’s background is nothing short of star crossed. In a story about heartbreak, theirs might be the saddest plotline of all. Cordova is pure legend. This reclusive horror film maker’s story is as compelling as it is dark, disturbing, and beautiful. The head of a family who lives life on its own terms, consistently on the edge, I want to be Cordova. The love he had for his daughter, and the mystery about “what exactly he does to the children,” is shattering. Had he really believed he could trade one soul for another? The black magic component of NIGHT FILM had me utterly spellbound. In a book with so large a cast, never once was I confused about who was whom. Each player, large and small, has a past and present of their own with the victim—the brilliant, engaging, talented, and mysterious Ashley. Like father like daughter. I wanted so badly to believe in the supernatural story she spun versus what may (or may not have been) the truth about what happened to her. The Devil’s Bridge? Brilliant. In the end, much comes together but so much is left to interpretation. There’s a clear sense that the logical one isn’t the only answer. One of the best books I’ve read, I can’t, in good conscience, rate NIGHT FILM four stars for a couple plot drags in so long a book. Five stars. Highly recommended for folks who want to read something that makes them feel part of the investigation.

Scott McGrath can't let it go. When news breaks that Cordova's daughter Ashley has committed suicide, Scott must find out why. It may be the answer to his fall from grace all those years ago, when he first started investigating Cordova, the recluse film director. It may be his answer back to the top. It may be darker than he ever imagined. Throw in a pair of amateur detective side kicks and Scott is doing more than investigating the "suicide". He's babysitting two kids who have more to do with Ashley Cordova than he first thought. But as they dive deeper and deeper into the director's legacy, what is real blurs into Cordova's films. Fiction is too close to reality and who says it can't be replicated in real life? I loved Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics. It still is one of my favorite books. So I had high expectations for Night Film. The dark, eerie tone of the book starts off from page one, thrown into this seemingly real world where Cordova's name is feared and revered in the same sentence. The name is bigger than the man, his power unlimited as he explores evil of the human condition in his films and directing. There is tons of Cordova world building, which I love. There's a biography of Cordova, interactive media, "research" pages, synopses of films and actors. The book fully submersed me into the world of Cordova, his films, his mysteries and most of all, his crazy fans. His fans are crazy. They are crazy pants. Have you seen any crazy pills? No? It's because Cordova's fans have eaten them all! The general malicious and dangerous feeling of the book wrapped around my heart, allowing me to only digest the book in small segments. (It took me quite a long time to read it because I was hanging on every word.) And that is something amazing. Cordova, who is merely a ghost through the book, is one of the biggest characters through the story, silently lurking in the shadows. His fans and his films are equally large characters, making the evils of the world faceless strangers weaving in and out of Scott's investigation. These were my favorite parts of the book- Cordova's life, the speculation, the world. I fully believed in this place, this alternate world. Scott, our investigator, is not a favorite. He's selfish, stubborn and only set on one thing- investigating Cordova to find out the truth. He blames his failings on the director and if he could just find out about Ashley and in turn, Cordova's secrets... The characters in Cordova's world are super creepy and interesting. I really loved how the plot twists again and again going from reality to fiction, never knowing what should be believed. There's black magic, death, illness, mysterious items and sacrifices. There's everything and maybe all of it is true and maybe none of it is true. That's part of the beauty of the book- how Pessl rolls them together until no one knows what is possible. The writing is stellar and awesome. There were only a couple of things that bothered me. First off- everyone is eager to talk to Scott. In fact, as far as investigative detectives go, he's pretty lucky. Even when they are told NOT to talk to them, characters can't seem to come out of the woods and secretly hold meetings for him with hidden information, baring their soul and how they knew Ashley Cordova. I found this to be a little bit unbelievable because Cordova's entire world is about secrecy and yet, every place they went, they found someone who was willing to talk to them. Mental hospital security tight? Don't worry- a red headed nurse will run after your car and give you a lead. Security Guard can't talk? Not to fret! He will meet you in the woods outside his house later on. And so forth. Also, I was a bit disappointed in the characters at the end. There wasn't a lot of self reflection, learning, redemption. I liked the plot ending, and the closing scene. That made my day, but Scott's journey was shallow and I still didn't like him by the time I closed the book. I usually need to like the main characters in order to love the book, but Night Film is filled with so much more, it didn't hinder my reading experience at all. Overall, a wonderful book to be read as the weather gets cold and the days get dark

Night Film is an entertaining read on many levels. It is fast-paced, diving right in to the story from the first page and holding your interest, at least for most of the book. The main characters were a little flat but that was not so bothersome to me as this book is driven by the plot and the manufactured aura of the great film director Stanislas Cordova. I give it 5 stars for the creativity of the accompanying articles, web pages AND app. The aspects of the book that were bothersome are significant, starting with Cordova. I do not have one fangirl bone in my body, and I loathe celebrity culture, but I just wasn't convinced as to WHY legions of people went completely bonkers for this guy. Perhaps as others pointed out, we didn't get enough of a sense for the films of Cordova. The closest Pessl comes to immersing the reader in the Cordova repertoire was during McGrath's foray through the film sets. I did think this was one of the best and most suspenseful sections of the book. Spoiler alert: Ultimately what I find most disappointing is the lack of explanation for several key experiences encountered by McGrath, notably the nested hexagonal coffin. What the heck was that? We're supposed to brush it off as a hallucination brought on by plant seeds, or was it something else - ? And no explanation of whether the citizens of Crowthorpe Falls are all satan worshippers, not at all satan worshippers, or somewhere in between? Worst of all were the last 5 or so pages that felt like both a rush to end the book, and something from a completely different book at the same time. </spoiler> Overall worth reading, but flawed.

I had heard so much about this book that I knew I had to read it and have a personal copy to treasure and that is the reason why I waited for its paperback to be available at its right price like a devoted Christian waiting for the return of Christ and the wait turned out to be well paid and that too in double fold for not only the story was gripping from the first page but the whole layout of the book is spectacular .For me personally, the book is a piece of artwork. I love how the story is narrated through visuals and in a very intriguing fashion, making it so exciting and spicy. In my opinion if you wish to read the book then do so in paperback so that you can experience the whole collaboration of graphics and text giving you a hair raiser narration. What I felt unique about the whole book and concept is that how it helps us to be part of investigation. With all the documents and papers given in its graphical forms the author actually gives us the feel that it is us, the readers who are actually investigating the whole story which according to me is brilliant and clever way to indulge the readers The book is a gradual growth yet very powerful to stir your brain matters. At the same time it is also a long one and tests your patience and concentration but to be frank the nature and treatment of the book is completely new and in fact in simple terms is "weirdly good" and it kept sending me into state of awe and creepiness simultaneously Do you know how long is this book ? 700 pages.... !!!! Did you hear? 700 looooong pages and I m not even sure that bible runs this long ..... But am I complaining ? Of course I m ? I would not read my school texts because they had 100 Pages to it. But given a second chance would I do this again? HELL YA!!! Because it is haunting... Intriguing ... Intelligent .....crazy and a whole lot of other adjectives all basically saying that it was awesome The book was like a roller coaster ride that gave you all the thrills and chills in the initial phase but after sometimes, also started giving you headache and left your head spinning so bad that all you wanted was to get out of the ride. As after the initial excitement and flow the things were getting so twisted and creepy that I was gasping for air and not necessarily in the best of way and there was a point where everything stopped making sense and started messing with my brain matter and I m pretty sure I have none left now.

When I read a book, and I'm completely engrossed in it, and am satisfied with the way it ends, I rate it on enjoyment. The experience I had while reading it. I gave it five stars, not because it's FLAWLESS, because it's not, but because I enjoyed ripping through this. I think that the book ended perfectly, with just enough detail, just enough story, character development, everything. It was perfect to me. Listening to some interviews with Marisha, you can tell she loved writing it. I did find it got a bit dull a bit after half way, but it picked up again, confused me, spun me around, and played on my expectations quite wonderfully. Marisha said that book could have two possible endings, and it's true. There is evidence for both of the endings throughout the book, so you choose what you want to believe. Which, in fact, is a theme of the book; Believe what you want, because everything is shrouded in mystery. Great read, read it in under 4 days -- while working every one of those days. Fantastic! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

A very addictive story. Loved it.

Marisha Pessl has written a totally different novel this time. When you hold the book, it is heavy and the paper body is lanced with black lines - actually pages that are printed white on black. It intrigues you immediately and reminded me on negatives of pictures of the milky way where stars are not visible as little white pin heads against a black background but just the opposite, black points on a white universe. To me it looked like a set of orbits of planets and asteroids crossing the book. Without giving too much away the story goes like this at the beginning: Scott McGrath an investigative journalist and book author is informed by his layer of the suicide of Ashley Cordova, daughter of the famous but secretive film maker Stanislas Cordova. He is told to stay away from the case, because McGrath some years back, while collecting background information on Stan Cordova was supposedly trapped with incorrect information and had to pay 250 grand in a libel suit. In the wake of this carrier ruining affair his marriage broke up and McGrath does not have much of a life now. But as every true investigative journalist he cannot leave this opportunity go by. He starts investigating the suicide and teams up with two more or less unwanted assistants, Hopper and Nora, who are both loosely connected to Ashley. Hopper it seems a bit more than Nora, who just met her once. Step by step they try to piece together the last days and weeks of Ashley Cordova's life. This proves difficult as the Cordova family is powerful enough to effectively guard their interests and secrets. And theres seem to be a lot of secrets. Building up the characters abd setting the scene takes some time but after Chapter 50 the pace shifts and the book develops into a real page turner. So, good writing and fun to read. So much, that at the end, I was actually surprised that is was over and the only thing left were acknowledgements and image credits and some interesting instructions. Definitely 5 stars this time.

Sometimes I discover books in the most random of ways. One of my personal challenges for 2014 is to read more chunksters – any book over 500 pages. And I picked Night Film randomly because I find crime-mysteries one of the fastest genres to read. What I didn’t know when I ordered my copy is that Night Film also uses multimedia to enrich the story. 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. That, however, is a testament to the storytelling and character development that Pessl invested in. Night Film is most definitely a book I recommend reading in paper form. Although I don’t doubt the ebook version would work well, and I’ve heard that the audio version is also fantastic, it’s the visual additions of web pages, notes and pictures that really hooked me in initially, and kept my interest so high. There is also a (free) app available that contains even more multimedia – music and speech clips and picture montages that add yet another dimension to the story. If you like crime mysteries, or books that are slightly quirky and different, I can highly recommend Night Film – it’s a bit of an investment time-wise but I found that time flew by when I was reading. Engaging, creepy and unusual, Night Film is definitely one of my 2014 favourites so far.