(69)Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Monday, August 19, 2013

Night Film 

Publication Date: August 20, 2013
Pages: 624


Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh!  Oh my gosh!  Marisha Pessl has just changed the whole "reading a book" experience with her new novel, Night Film.

In Night Film we meet Scott McGrath, a disgraced investigative journalist who chased after the wrong story and ended up on the losing end of a libel suit.  He lost his career and his wife over his relentless pursuit of the reclusive horror film director, Stanislas Cordova. Now here it is five years later and Scott is out for a midnight run when he notices a lone figure watching his run, it is Ashley Cordova.  The daughter of  Cordova,  she was once a child prodigy and is a mysterious figure in her own right.   And just a few days later she is dead, plunging Scott back into the depths of the madness that is Cordova's world.  Scott starts with tracing Ashley's last days and comes across two young people who end up helping him sort out the underground world that consists of Cordova's fans. With the help of Hopper and Nora, Scott starts uncovering a world that he never knew existed, from secret societies to black magic and on to the frightening compound where Cordova lives, Night Film is an incredibly fast paced novel that will suck you into a dark and frightening world.  But the question remains, will McGrath and his companions find out the truth about what happened to Ashley or will their investigation end with something much sinister than a lawsuit?

From almost the very first page of Night Film I knew I was reading something great.  The dark, gritty world that Scott McGrath plunges into as he investigates Cordova is frightening, yet captivating.  I could not stop reading, no matter how much the hair on the back of my neck was standing up.  It was amazing.  I loved how McGrath took on Hopper and Nora, obviously very reluctantly at first, and then as the book continued it was obvious that he had grown quite fond of the two young people. I almost thought it was sad the way that they parted ways, because I knew that Scott felt a little lost without them.  I LOVED the mystery that surrounded Cordova, especially his home, The Peak,  with every chapter, the author was teasing the reader with bits and pieces that were revealed. I was desperate to get to the end to find out the truth about Cordova, his daughter, and the mysterious world that they live in.

So the part where Marisha Pessl changes the way we read a book?  Well, Night Film, is just not words on a page, it is a completely interactive book!  From news clippings to magazine article to a decoder app that you can download and open up even more of Cordova's world.  An app!  (Click here to download the app & read more)  The app works with both e-book version and print version and will enhance your reading experience tenfold.

Bottom line, Night Film is not for the faint of heart.  It is gritty,mysterious, and at times, utterly terrifying.  But it is an absolute must read novel.  This novel has been getting a lot of positive press for months leading up to the release date and now I know why.  If you want to be part of publishing history and read the book that everyone will be talking about, you must read Night Film, it is on sale tomorrow at all of the usual places.

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