Night Film: A Novel

Written by Marisha Pessl

Narrated by Jake Weber

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A hair-raising mystery that’s equal parts family drama, horror movie, and jigsaw puzzle. . . . It’s impossible to look away.”— People (four stars)

“Maniacally clever . . . like an M.C. Escher nightmare about Edgar Allan Poe . . . You’ll miss your subway stop, let dinner burn, and start sleeping with the lights on.”—The Washington Post
 
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, Cosmopolitan, Kirkus Reviews, BookPage
 
On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley’s life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova—a man who hasn’t been seen in public for more than thirty years.
 
For McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence. Though much has been written about Cordova’s dark and unsettling films, very little is known about the man himself. Driven by revenge, curiosity, and a need for the truth, McGrath, with the aid of two strangers, is drawn deeper and deeper into Cordova’s eerie, hypnotic world.
 
The last time he got close to exposing the director, McGrath lost his marriage and his career. This time, he might lose even more.

*Includes a downloadable PDF of interactive images from the book

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9780307932662

Reviews for Night Film

[indygo88 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When the daughter of famous cult movie director Stanislas Cordova is found in an abandoned warehouse from an apparent suicide, investigative journalist Scott McGrath sets out to discover the underlying details of her death. Having come to infamy in the past when researching Cordova and his film dynasty, McGrath is determined to redeem himself by finding out the truth behind Ashley's death -- was it really a suicide or was something darker happening behind the scenes? As McGrath's obsession leads him further and further into the world of everything Cordova, he must decide what he's willing to risk the second time around.

I remember this book getting a lot of hype after it was released and it's been on my radar for a while. It's a somewhat dark but very immersive novel. As a reader, you're aware that you're reading a work of fiction, but the writing is such that it puts you, the reader, right in there and once you put the book down you have to take a second to readjust to real life again. The book is long and at times I wasn't sure what the point of McGrath's investigation was. However, the story really is so immersive and well written that I found myself not caring. I just wanted to know what was going to happen next. My review of this doesn't do it justice but there are a lot of good reviews out there. It won't appeal to everyone, but I commend Marisha Pessl for creating such an atmospheric and hypnotic novel.

[kwagnerroberts · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very interesting concept for the storyline, but again 200 less pages would have accomplished the same.

[nogomu · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Had really high hopes, but for some reason I just couldn't get through it.

[danielle.desrochers · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was so well written!!!
I felt like I was there with the characters going through this investigation and learning things as they did. Loved it!

[jfranklin592262 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Wow! Outstanding! ** Spoiler Alert*** No major spoilers, but info about the ending.

I've had this book setting on the bookshelf forever. When I purchased it, I was intrigued by the unique direction and style the writer took with this story, but never could seem to gather motivation to actually read it. On a mission to read all of the dust gatherers sitting on my shelves for years, I grabbed this one and prepared to moil through no matter what.

To my immense surprise I loved it immediately! The articles, news clippings, medical records, photos, etc. give the story a very true crime feel. This lends an exciting and almost magical atmosphere to a story containing black magic, curses, mystery and an enigma of a man who supposedly orchestrates it all.

The characters make, what's already a great book, even better. Each character has a story of their own, a mystery that unfolds as you read. Pessl managed to give each great character development, but never giving away to too much too soon.

The pace of the story is spot on, a page turner, without the break neck speed of many thrillers, that leave you feeling like it was over too soon.

A mystery, thriller, suspense, horror, drama, love story......this book is all of those at once.

I didn't hate the open ending......I don't generally care for obscure meanings or ambiguous endings. I'm not a fan of symbolism or poetic prose. I prefer stories with transparent plots and closure upon the finale. However, for this story....it works beautifully.....nothing else would have sufficed.

This is my first Pessl story, but certainly won't be my last. This is going on my shelf of favorites!! A 5 star read!!!

[bradleyjrowen · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Way too long for the level of entertainment it provides.

[jimdr-236203 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Fun for lovers of random italics. Everyone else: nothing to see here.

[tuusannuuska-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not a book for me. Tried too hard and ended up being mostly pretentious and underwhelming. I do like mixed media so points for that, but mostly I was just waiting for this to be over and got nothing out of all the hours I invested in the book.

[dominiquedavis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I probably would have liked this book better if it was shorter and more contained. It was extremely well written, but the thriller largely felt like it went nowhere in the end. If it was the book was shorter I could have forgiven that, but since it was as long as it was the ending felt disappointing.

[luminous4path · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Five stars in spite of flaws. Because overall it's always engaging, full of twists and turns. Flaws: the two sidekicks are not as fully realized as they should be. The audio narration is either divine or cringe worthy, depending on who Weber is voicing. If it's the protagonist, he's wonderful. If it's any other character, he's at best listenable. But most often his other voices jolt you out of the narrative. And if he's voicing someone speaking English as second language, he makes them sound like idiots.

[akbouterse · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is probably a little bit more than a 3 star read for me but I just can't bring myself to rate it 4 stars. I'm going to put my spoiler thoughts under a hidden spoiler bit at the end but this first part will be spoiler free.
I liked most of this books I thought it was suspenseful, the mystery intrigued me, and I didn't expect or predict that many elements of the mystery. I thought the characters were quite well written and I thought they fit the plot very well and they were quite realistic. There were parts where they did annoy me, however. I never felt like their actions were out of character or anything it was just the some of their actions annoyed me and sometimes I felt like certain characters stories weren't wrapped particularly well. There were also some characters I wanted to learn more about like the film professor that Scott, the main character, consulted with who we only saw twice. There were also several times Scott's friends are mentioned but we never actually meet any of them. Throughout this mystery, a lot of characters were introduced and because of that, I had a really hard time remembering who they all were. There is a mixed media element to this book. There are newspaper articles and pictures and the like scattered throughout this book. Some of you may know that I love this sort of thing in books but in this story they were really heavy at the beginning of this book but for the last 400 pages, there were almost none so I wish there was a bit more of the mixed media throughout the whole book. There is an online element as well. some of the pictures have an additional element where you can go to the author's website and there will be an audio clip or pictures that go along with the story. These used to be accessed through an app but the app has been discontinued but everything can still be accessed through the website which I would highly recommend because I really liked the clips and hints that were there. Without giving too much away I was a little disappointed by the ending. I don't necessarily think it was awful but it just wasn't what I was looking for. It was also somehow way too long at the end and too abrupt. I think this book would have benefitted from being shorter. Its 600 pages long and I think some of the story does not have to be there. I thought the part where Scott was lost in Cordova's mansion was very tense but it was in a part of the book that I really did not like. I really did not like the occult elements that were added to the book. At first, I was fine with them but then I thought it got just too crazy and some of it was just never explained. I don't think that is necessarily bad but I do think there should be some sort of satisfaction that I did not get. I also did not like the explanation for who the people at the Peak were. It was very offhand. There were also so many different twists and revelations at the very end of the book that it was like whiplash. The whole book had been sort of ending in one direction and then all the sudden there were so many other possibilities. I think a plot twist it to be expected in a book like this but I wish there had been a few less plot twist and personally, I would have wanted an ending that explained a bit more. I feel like the weird club, Scott being in the plot of a Cordova film, whether the films were real or not and ana a could of other plots were never satisfyingly dealt with and I want a bit more information. Overall I liked this book and the mystery but there were a few times I wanted more information, I wish it had been shorter, and there were a few plotlines I did not care for.

[usuallee · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Just didn't come together. A rather ingenious premise squandered. Bitterly disappointed. I got about halfway through so I think I deserve to count it as a "read" book. Very over-verbose and thus overlong. Every incidental character that is interviewed by our heroes conveniently and unbelievably spills their guts. Pointless twists and turns, a few would have been great but there was just too many thriller/horror tropes thrown into the pot and the characters were trekking willy-nilly following leads and it could have been streamlined. And the excessive use/abuse of italics was driving me flipping crazy!!

I can see why the author released no books in 7 years - this one has a kind of tortured quality that gave me the impression it was endlessly fussed over, tinkered with, and added to. It is like a dish that should be tasty, but the chef could not resist adding a pinch of this and a dash of that until it's a muddled mess.

[richardderus · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

To be fair to this quite popular author's work, I picked this book up when it came out. Even longer than that calamitously ponderous physical blob; not one iota better.

No more of Pessl's piffl for me.

[kakadoo202 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Page turner for most of the time. Some scenes a bit drawn out but good writing and good ending

[christopherswann · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's hard to pin this one down. On the one hand, I see what some reviewers are saying: some characters seem thin at times, the highly-wrought overuse of italics, etc. On the other hand, I was sucked in by this book and had to know what happened next. It's haunting me a bit. Gothic fiction in the 21st century, complete with the virtual reality of the Internet. The fact that I didn't want to stop reading and am going to think about this book for a while prompts me to give it 4 stars. Melodramatic? Yes, but so is Shakespeare, in the best sense: pushing boundaries to try and shock an audience that is jaded and not easily surprised.

[stephanie_m-868484 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I am about 3/4 done and hesitate each time i pick it up to continue...I just cannot find the will to do it. I have been listening to the audiobook for weeeeekssssss...! I had to re-borrow it three times already, and I don't really want to do it a fourth time just to finish this book. It's been weeks since, and I cannot even find the will to care about it, or finishing it. This is not like me at all.

And it's not because of the audiobook not having any if the cool picture/case files that others are finding so neat. I didn't even know those were included until just now, when I went to see what other readers had felt about this novel, and found out!

The audiobook of this novel leaves me feeling flat, & I disliked the actors who did the voices. If you can call them actors.....not because they are reading an audiobook, but because they rather suck at acting. I cannot connect with any of the characters at all, and it have an overwhelming sense of ennui about the whole thing.

I don't know, I just think it should be more. I think it was all just a lively babbling brook of boring, for me. it had some promise in the beginning I was intrigued; but then it began dragging on and on.... The attempts at levity fell flat, the whole magic aspect makes me roll my eyes and the whole "bad juju"-burning-herbs-thing was just silliness. I am not caring enough to find out about the elusive Ashley. I really don't care. ugh. Did her father really kill a couple of kids? Meh.....

Even with the hype i didn't have high expectations but I think I will just leave it at the library and let someone else hopefully enjoy it. I really, really hope they do......

[obtusata · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely gripping and worth a few very late nights.

[steller0707 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I picked up this book for my 2015 book challenge (a book that scares you) and indeed it did scare me, especially near the end. Journalist Scott McGrath becomes obsessed with getting at the truth of horror filmmaker Stanislav Cordova, whose daughter has committed suicide. The chapters are short and constructed so that even though you plan to "read one more chapter" you can't help reading on to the next. The narrative is compelling and creative, so that though it is not usually my genre, I did enjoy the the book.

[viviennestrauss · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very different from Topics in Calamity Physics but just as good. A little long but the prose makes it all worthwhile. Not to mention the rollercoaster plot.

[jonfaith · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Mercy me, why am I a masochist? Why do I pursue to suffer? To what do I atone? There was little doubt after Night Film's opening that it was crap, a crap larded with Sebaldean images and page freezes from Twitter and ominous blogs, sure, but I KNEW it was shit. Maybe we should return to the opening. It rained here all day Saturday; we had close to five inches. A friend and I were early for a holiday gathering and ducked into the library. I pulled Night Film off the shelf and quickly read the Wilkie Collin beginning to the One Percent noir. Instead of white, this lady wears red, I see. It is raining there as well and this haunted man is jogging in Central Park in the middle of the night, okay. Why is the prose so clunky, the clichés ridiculous and the whole scheme so impossible? Because all beautiful people who attend elitist schools feel entitled to be Nabokov. I won't bore anyone with a synopsis of the plot. I will say that to hinge so much of the reveal and the protagonist's torment on imagined films, films which appear so central to the novel's subconscious, well one must approach such balancing with aplomb for it to be convincing, much less compelling. Ms. Pessl isn't close.

[carlahaunted · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Review: Night Film Thanks to painsomnia, I have spent many darkened hours this week listening to this novel, expertly and deliciously read by Jake Weber. What an odd, previous gift to receive from physical pain.

Deadly, sovereign, perfect


Dario Argento's Suspiria

screams and bright red birds, and astounding hints of hope, as the sun can, in an instant, christen the blackest sea


Dario Argento's Tenebrae

the edge of the end

[decaturmamaof2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It took me forever to get through this book... still can't decide what I think of it.

[lmjenkins · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a deeply-woven, dark and enticing story.

[wassilissa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Zunächst einmal: Mir hat das Buch gut gefallen. Ich habe es als Hörbuch gehört und fand es von vorn bis hinten spannend und interessant. Die drei Hauptpersonen Scott McGrath, Hopper und Nora sind sympathisch und die Verwicklungen, denen sie bei ihrer Recherche begegnen, sind immer genau so, dass man interessiert weiterhört. Überhaupt sind die Nebenfiguren gut, ich hatte z.B. auch ein schwache Seite für den Film-Professor Beckman.
Es geht um den Regisseur Stanislaus Cordova. Seine Filme sind legendär, da sie kaum erträgliche dunkle Elemente darstellen. Er selbst ist ein Phantom, das so gut wie nie in der Öffentlichkeit auftritt. Als sich seine Tochter Ashley mit 24 Jahren das Leben nimmt, versucht der Journalist Scott MacGrath die Hintergründe aufzudecken. Schon vor Jahren hatte er intensiv zu Cordova recherchiert, war aber böse gescheitert, was ihn letztendlich seine Karriere gekostet hatte. Die Recherche zu Ashleys Tod nimmt dabei immer mehr Züge eines Cordova-Films an. Werden die drei manipuliert? Ist Magie im Spiel? Was kann man noch glauben?
Mit gefiel das Buch, weil es spannend ist und immer neue Wendungen nimmt. Das Thema selbst, Horror in Kunst zu verwandeln, ist mir eher fremd. Auch die Faszination Ashleys, die alle in ihrem Umfeld spüren, selbst noch nach ihrem Tod, oder die Faszination Cordovas selbst, konnten sich nicht völlig auf mich übertragen.
Dennoch hat mir das Buch- wie gesagt- gut gefallen und ich fand es auch als Hörbuch gelungen

[amalieturner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Before the ending I would have given this book 5 stars but after the last 75 pages or so, I'm not sure what to do. I absolutely loved the mixed media format and how every few pages of text had some sort of image or case file or other type of media. It really helped to shake up the monotony of text, especially in a book this long. I charged through this book with high hopes for the ending to blow my mind. I have to say, I am so disappointed. I truly enjoyed this book because it was so unique and there were many parts where I was so lost in the story that I forgot where I was for a second. It gets so dark and twisty and some characters honestly make you feel grimy and oily just by being near them in your mind. I loved these elements so much that I am SO disappointed by the ending. The hype really let me astray on this one. I wanted a bang, I got a slow release of air that just fizzles out and dies. The ending dragged a bit for me. You are chugging forward at high speed for so long then the narrative sort of ends and slowly drags on for another 70 or so pages. I know the choice for the ending was on purpose but I just didn't feel satisfied. I think it's because everyone on Goodreads announces this book is a mind*uck and leaves you reeling so I was expecting a big reveal, mic-drop type ending. What I got was a fizzled out ending with no real release from all the tension that is built throughout the whole book. With that said, I would absolutely suggest readingit. It was so unique and mysterious and different from anything else I've read. I just wish I had a better knowledge of what to expect.

[hardlyhardy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When a mystery or suspense novel opens with a suicide, you know it will soon be discovered to have been a murder. Not so in Marisha Pessl’s “Night Film,” where the suicide of lovely and mysterious Ashley Cordova really is a suicide. The investigation launched by freelance journalist Scott McGrath is aimed more at answering the question why than the question how.

McGrath suspects the young woman’s father must somehow be responsible. Legendary film director Stanislas Cordova has long been the target of his reporting. Cordova made a series of horror films, now favorites of an underground cult, but McGrath has long thought that not all the horror was fake or recorded on film. His reporting has gotten him in trouble in the past, jeopardizing his career, yet he still thinks he was right and that now he may be able to get the goods on Cordova.

The reporter is soon joined by two unwanted and unlikely assistants. Nora, an aspiring actress, was among the last people to see Ashley alive. Hopper once went to camp with her and, it turns out, was her boyfriend. Soon the pair prove to be indispensable and are the novel’s most interesting characters.

The investigation keeps descending into darker and darker territory, not unlike one of Cordova’s films. There’s black magic. There are disappearing witnesses. There is a late-night visit to the Cordova estate where he made those movies and where the sets remain just as they were seen on film.

This 2013 novel’s greatest claim to fame is that Pessl illustrates it with page after page of things mentioned in the text, newspaper and magazine articles, photographs, websites, police reports, etc. All this gives the story the appearance of reality, even as it gradually descends into unreality. The last half of the novel doesn’t live up to the expectations promised by the first half.

[jenn88-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The body of young, beautiful Ashley Cordova has been found in an abandoned warehouse. It appears as though she has committed suicide. But investigative journalist Scott McGrath believes this is not true. Ashley's father is Stanislas Cordova, an enigma. He's a film director whose dark, unsettling work can be found underground along with a cult following. Scott believes he may have had a hand in what happened to his daughter. As Scott digs deeper into the Cordova's lives, interviewing those closest to both Stanislas and Ashley as well as those who last seen Ashley before her death, he begins to wonder if he's the next victim.

The hardcover was on sale for $5! Where could I go wrong? I love the iridescent letters and luckily the story inside is good. It's long, I'm happy it's over, but it's solid all the way through. The thing that really bothered me throughout was the excessive italics. Not only was it annoying, it was distracting. I also didn't like the ending. Towards the end I was like 'oh my God, this is good!' then the author started to lose me, but then I thought 'well, this isn't so bad' But the actual ending, ugh. No. I really enjoyed the mystery and secrecy surrounding Stanislas Cordova. There were lots of weird things happening, that's for sure! Some things may not be as they seem. I liked all the characters. Each of them were different and they seemed real to me. Speaking of different, I really liked Nora. I hope New York hasn't taken away her sparkle.

[bookwormteri · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There is a lot to like about this book. I loved the idea of these banned underground movies that have this huge cult following. The idea that the films might be real, or at least be real to the actors, also fantastic. The multimedia usage was an interesting idea. The problem lies in the fact that it wasn't super memorable. I read this book a couple weeks ago and had to look up the premise to even review it. Enjoyable but forgettable.

[novelcommentary · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I recently completed Night Film by Marisha Pessi, which was a long investigative /detective type novel. It was fast-paced and kept my interest, but the writing was not as good as I was hoping. The story centers around an investigative journalist named Scott McGrath, whose career went down the tubes when he asserted that the legendary horror film director named Cordova (think David Lynch) had some illegal obsession with children. When his daughter Ashley commits suicide, McGrath reignites his quest to expose the family's secrets. He winds up teaming up with a homeless girl named Nora and Ashley's friend, Hopper, to run down what appears to be a labyrinth of clues that lead to a fast paced revealing of the truth. I wasn't expecting this type of novel from Pessi and though I enjoyed it, I wouldn't put it out there as a personal recommendation.

[jothebookgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Disappointed that all Scott McGrath thought happened did not.