i wish i could erase my memory and read this for the first time again...such a fantastic mystery that creates an incredibly, unsettling tone throughout. i also LOVE a good fake media tie-in with screenshots of websites, paparazzi photos, newspaper clippings etc. to truly immerse yourself ( )

This was a very atmospheric novel. Her language, imagery, and the multimedia clips created a spooky and paranoia driven world. i was disappointed with the ending. ( )

Oh, how I LOVED this book. It was exactly what I needed after being in a reading slump for so long. Spellbinding, beautifully written, with amazingly vivid characters that leapt off the page. I wanted to live in this world, and when I turned the last page, I was heartbroken because I didn’t want it to end. I was a little disappointed in the ending, but I think my feelings about it had less to do with the story itself and more with the fact that I just wanted to keep reading. I would have gladly read 600 more pages about Scott, Nora, Hopper, Ashley and Cordova - not to mention the myriad walk-on roles that were at times repulsive, fascinating, and endearing. I adored NIGHT FILM. It reminded me that there are amazing books out there for me, and there’s no need to slog through the ones that don’t captivate me like this one did. ( )

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

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! ( )

Over a thousand pages long, but never ever a dull moment. I was completely captivated at page one. Didn't want to put it down, and couldn't wait to pick it up again. One of the darkest, yet most fascinating novels I've read in a good long time. ( )

Te lank. Storie onduidelik. Gedink dis horror en toe skielik verander alles. ( )

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!!! ( )

This book just blew me away. I read it in a day and then wanted to read it again. It has everything I've ever wanted in a story. I can't even express how wonderful it is. ( )

Way too long for the level of entertainment it provides. ( )

Journalist Scott McGrath is obsessed with Stanislas Cordova, a reclusive filmmaker whose frightening night films are eventually banned, driving his fans to host underground showings of new films and—in some cases—copycat crimes. But McGrath goes too far when he states on live television that Cordova is a predator in the same league as Charles Manson, and calls for the filmmaker’s termination. One lawsuit, a lost career, and a divorce later, McGrath is adrift, his wallet much lighter but his fixation still intact.

Years later, a shocking text from an old friend informs McGrath that Cordova’s daughter Ashley was found dead, an apparent suicide. McGrath can’t help himself. He begins to snoop once more through the tangled underworld that is Cordova’s life. As rumors lead to clues and clues to witnesses, the filmmaker’s darkness begins to overtake the journalist’s life until McGrath begins to think Cordova may not be satisfied taking just McGrath’s money. This time, McGrath may lose his life.

I love a good mystery, and Marisha Pessl’s Night Film delivered. The more I read, the deeper I was drawn in, down twists and dark alleys of the many-layered underworld of Cordova until it got difficult to put the book down at all. Every time McGrath thought he had it figured out, some new twist would trip him up or some new evidence, clue, or rumor would come to light. Each witness tells the truth as they saw it, but as McGrath knows all too well, Cordova is really good at obscuring his tracks with misleading information. McGrath doesn’t know who to believe. All he can do is keep following the trail, and hope to find out what really happened to Ashley, and what part Cordova played in her tragic demise.

As an added element of realism, the book is sprinkled with graphics of news clippings, magazine articles, photos of victims or witnesses, pages from police files, ads torn from newspapers, etc. Each and every one added hints and clues, all of which lent plausibility to the story. The overall effect made me feel like I was truly part of a real-life investigation.

Much of the story takes place in New York City. While I’m not a resident of NYC, and haven’t even spent a great deal of time there, I liked the way Pessl peppers the story with tidbits of that city. Street names, and scenes in Central Park complete with landmarks, cab rides and traffic, coffee shops and late-night parties. All the things that make that city unique bring a real-life feel to the setting. Readers who happen to live in the city will no doubt appreciate the familiarity that appears on almost every page.

There is a hint of the occult in this book, though the story itself is not a supernatural tale. Some of the clues McGrath follows suggest black magic and witchcraft was used by Cordova or others in his world, and in light of this I must credit Pessl for her balanced representation. She aptly depicts an occult shop in several scenes, as well as the type of assistance one might look for therein. The character of Cleo, a magical practitioner in the shop, is shown in a positive light. Even the dark magic specialist Cleo calls on for help unraveling a potential curse is portrayed as a beneficial character. Pessl deserves kudos for showing this fairly realistic view of those characters without making them stereotypically antagonistic or evil.

McGrath himself is a great character, flawed, yet relatable. Pessl gives us a good look inside his mind. His innate inquisitiveness, emotions regarding his failed marriage, his obsession with Cordova, and his desire to maintain a relationship with his young daughter all conspire to drive his decisions, sometimes in the wrong direction. Supporting characters Nora and Hopper add their own flavors to the mix. Nora’s innocence contrasts well with McGrath’s cynicism. Hopper’s bitterness plays well against McGrath’s refusal to draw conclusions from incomplete data.

One thing I really liked about this story is the constant shadowy presence of Cordova threaded through every moment, every scene, every thought in McGrath’s head. He, as a character, is the heart of the mystery that is Night Film. The more McGrath uncovered, the more enigmatic the filmmaker grew until I began to expect someone ten feet tall and bulletproof. When he finally appeared on the page—

Well. I don’t want to spoil it for you, so I’ll withhold that comment. Suffice to say I was not disappointed. Pessl kept my attention through the very last page, and left me wanting more. If you enjoy a good mystery, I highly recommend Night Film. ( )

Did this mostly on audiobook, although I did order the print version from the library once I realized there was so much to look at inside the book-screen shots of the protagonist's internet searches, notes, photographs, copies of police reports and medical records, and other research materials he uses in his investigation. It was a neat way to tell this particular story, and I read there's also an app out there to provide an interactive element.

Her descriptive style impressed me from the start. In the opening scene, the protagonist is jogging in New York City in the middle of the night and keeps catching glimpses of a woman.

Yet the longer I ran, the path unspooling like an underpass to some dark new dimension in front of me, the more I found the encounter unfinished, a song that had cut out on an expectant note, a film projector sputtering to a halt before the pivotal chase scene, the screen going white.

There are lots of gems in the book, but one of my favorites didn't even have anything to do with the plot-just a beautifully written segment as the narrator watches a woman he just interviewed leave a dog park with her aging companion. I loved how the author perfectly conveyed the relationship of the woman and her dog as the author watched them walk away together.

The story sucked me in and pulled me along its twists and turns, and even when I thought I'd figured it out, I still enjoyed it. It's a story told with stories, told by the people the journalist Scott McGrath is interviewing to get to the bottom of the death he's investigating. While this was largely intriguing, by the end of the book, I was growing weary of yet another character launching into another story, providing a piece of the puzzle that may or may not be true. Many of these characters had an unsettling level of adoration for Cordova (the filmmaker McGrath suspects of wrongdoing). By the end, it seemed McGrath had joined the ranks of the awestruck, and I didn't really like that.

The author thoroughly established, through interviews from actors, quotes from magazines, movie reviews and fan sites, Cordova's film style. This eventually eases the reader into the realization that Scott is living a Cordova film , and that's one of the things I liked most about this book. This is the point when I started thinking the whole thing was an elaborate set-up of Scott, and all the people willing to help him in his investigation, including Nora and Hopper, were plants. With an ending that was as ambiguous as a Cordova film ending, I still don't know if there was any truth to that theory, but I don't think Hopper and Nora played him false, and that would have really bothered me. While the ambiguous ending made sense structurally, I still felt let down, and the enchantment faded a bit for me. To be fair, I'm not sure how this could have ended in a way I would have been completely happy with after the wild ride of the book.

Jake Weber did a nice job with Scott (the narrator) and the other main characters' voices. He seemed a little shaky on accents, but he didn't have to do them very often. It works as an audiobook, for the most part, but I do recommend having the print version at home so you can page through all the neat visuals. And the app sounds really cool.

A 4-star book with 5-star writing. ( )

Update 9/6/19. This isn't just a story you read, but one you live, which is maybe the rarest kind of book. As dark and memorable as Cordova himself. I rarely re-read anything, though I bet this isn't my last trip through Night Film. Someday, probably a year or so from now, I'll go back for a third.

Original review:

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. ( )

I’m not a re-reader by nature. I can count on one hand the number of books I’ve read more than once, but “Night Film” takes the crown for most times read at three. Ever hear a song for the first time that is just catchy? You have no idea what it is about because you don’t know the lyrics and you like it anyway? This book is like that. Each time I read it, it gets better, and I finally understand and appreciate the scenes at The Peak.

First time through, those chapters felt like a slow and unwelcome intrusion into unraveling the truth behind Ashley’s death. This time, it is within those chapters that we see Scott McGrath become a true believer. Maybe it’s the Mad Seeds or a side effect of the embedded thorn… or maybe he’s been inside a Cordova narrative all along.

The scenes are critical to Scott’s conversion from skeptic and make the reality that much starker when Inez Gallo reveals the “truth” behind Mathilde. Better to chase the mermaids, I think.

“Night Film” is a genius tale, expertly told and with characters whose motivations stay with you. The Cordovas live on the razor’s edge and isn’t life meant to be experienced? This one goes down as my favorite book of all time. Inspired, brilliant, and highly recommended. ( )

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

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. ( )

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. ( )

I couldn't finish Night Film. The use of italics was overwhelming and grating to the point that I found myself looking for the next formatting abuse rather than paying attention to the story. And then I kind of lost it when I read that Sam Spade would turn over in his grave. Seeing as how Spade is a fictional character, he probably doesn't have a grave. But Dashielle Hammett would probably turn over in his if he saw this example of "private investigator" fiction. ( )

I found this book rather disappointing, both in the writing and in the overall story. I had gone into it with reserved expectations; I don’t always trust publisher blurbs but I do value peer reviews, of which I found many positive ones on Goodreads, so I was hopeful that this book would be a fun read and a good mystery.

From the beginning, I had a problem with the author’s writing style. Her tendency to embellish scenes with over-long metaphors took me out of the action that was happening, so much so that I found myself skimming some of her longer paragraphs. I did enjoy the story for the most part. They mystery was interesting and the characters were quirky if not really distinct, they all seemed to share the same voice. But I hated Scott McGrath. Did Pessl mean to write a character so self-centered and stupid? I had no sympathy for him regarding his childcare woes and was amazed that he was so clueless to the mysteries throughout the story. As the book went on, I questioned more and more his motives for investigating Ashley Cordova’s death. McGrath comes off as a man obsessed with Stanislas Cordova, completely buying into Cordova’s deliberate manipulation of his fans and foes alike. I did not trust McGrath, nor did I agree with his actions. And, frankly, I was more interested in viewing Cordova’s films than in finding out the details behind Ashley’s death.

Pessl basically lost me when the crew snuck into the Cordova compound. What the hell was that weird hallucination scene?! Did it have to take that long? I did really like the revelation that the fans took over the property. But those tunnels, and the whole Mermaid thing. Come on! And the end was ridiculous. It felt a bit like Pessl couldn’t decide on an ending, so she put in all of her ideas.

I don’t think Pessl thought this book through. It reads like it was written by someone who really isn’t familiar with the mystery genre. I think she had some good ideas, but didn’t put the needed work into this book (despite its hefty page count!). This could have been a better story at half the size. ( )

I went back and forth on this, it's certainly longer than it needs to be, and some of the dialogue was too perfect to be believable, but overall a really enjoyed it, and read the second half in a day. It was hypnotic and gripping and the use of different media to tell the story worked well. ( )

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. ( )

This book is amazing. Atmospheric and layered, it allows you to enter a dark, beautifully rendered world. It doesn't connect all the dots for you and leaves you still trying to figure out the truth, but in a satisfying manner. ( )

"Boring"� doesn't even begin to describe it. I bought this book because the news articles and other insertions intrigued me. Then they ended up having very little to do with the overall story. I'd say about 1% of the info found in the collection of "extras" did anything for plot and/or character development. In all honesty, I skipped large portions of this book before I even made it half-way. I'd read the first sentence of every paragraph, get the gist, and focus on the dialogue. I didn't miss much. And I won't miss this book as it gets donated to the nearest Goodwill. ( )

Had to give up on this one--it's basically Dan Brown stuff. ( )

boring as hell ( )