Night Film by Marisha Pessl Review

WARNING: THERE MAY BE SPOILERS BELOW

“Mortal fear is as crucial a thing to our lives as love. It cuts to the core of our being and shows us what we are. Will you step back and cover your eyes? Or will you have the strength to walk to the precipice and look out?”- Night Film, Marisha Pessl

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.

I picked up this book mostly on impulse. The first time I heard about it was because it was on many BookTubers' "Most Disappointing", "Overhyped Books", or "Unpopular Opinions" lists (what an introduction, really), though I wasn't really sure what it was about. It wasn't until another BookTuber I liked talked about it and went into detail on the plot that I finally decided to pick it up. Do I regret it? 

First, let's first address the elephant in the room. Yes, the infamous italics. Seriously, if you took a shot for every instance italics showed up, you'd be dead before the 100th page. It's laughable, really, and I can't believe that Pessl's editor actually let her get away with it. Every time I saw them I felt like giggling. You have to read it to fully appreciate the amount of exercise the little I button must have gotten on her Word manuscript. The writing isn't much to write home about either. Clunky metaphors, overly ornate descriptions, and hitting us over the head with themes (usually courtesy of Beckman) made this book tiresome to read after a while.

Also, Scott McGrath was basically Frank Mackey, but a lesser version of him. I wonder if Marisha Pessl is a Tana French fan, since her writing does seem like someone trying to mimic French's style to the best of her ability, and not really successfully. I was also annoyed by both Nora and Hopper- honestly, though, mostly by Nora, Hopper felt like he had more of a bearing on the plot though his personality was irritating and over the top. 

Ironically though, I had the opposite problem with this book than I usually do with French's work. The beginning was boring, and I had a hard time actually wanting to pick this book up. The middle was when the book really got going for me, and I was fascinated by where it was going. And then the story crashed and I just slogged through the last 100 pages wishing the story would end and I could go back to my life. The intrigue of the mystery had been lost, and the actual answers were a bit of a let down. Yes, even both twists.

But what was good about it? Stanislas Cordova, of course. Much like Big Brother, he is unseen, but his presence is deeply felt. Think Lynch's supernatural surrealism crossed with Kubrick's horror, Hitchcock's birds, and Tarantino's gore fests thrown in there for good measure and you've got yourself Cordova. I could easily place where Pessl likely got her inspiration from from each of these filmmakers. Obviously, Tarantino's evident in the amount of violence said to be in a Cordova film, and certain other things like the never-opened briefcase idea, something used in Pulp Fiction. The way Cordova treated his actors made me think of the way Kubrick was said to have treated Shelley Duvall in The Shining. And, of course, the supernatural elements (especially the idea of the possession of the devil) gave me major Twin Peaks vibes. I had no real desire to watch a Cordova film after reading- his storylines interested me but I am no horror movie fan- Lord only knows how I've managed to sit through Twin Peaks. There's probably some other directors that were key in the creation of Cordova that I'm missing- Roman Polanski and Ingmar Bergman were mentioned in Goodreads reviews, for instance- but those are just the obvious answers. Also, this is the first book about the Occult and Satanism and all that that managed not to completely freak me the hell out (thank you, Jay's Journal). In fact, it made me want more, and want to find more books that also have that element of mystery/horror/supernatural. Progress!

This is another one of those books were the plot interested me more than the characters did, who were really just vehicles of the plot. The supernatural elements, darkness, and horror bits made me want to watch Twin Peaks again (and yes, it is strange watching a show about who killed Laura Palmer when your name also happens to be Laura). I will also say this in Pessl's favor, the research in this book is meticulously done and I loved the references she drops- it's not often Truman Capote or Tennessee Williams or TS Eliot are named in the literature I read, though I have noticed one error- Capote's Black and White Ball was not thrown to celebrate the success of In Cold Blood, it was because he wanted to throw the most exclusive party of the century and invite all kinds of glamorous people there. Which made me wonder what Cordova was doing there in the first place, since he would have only made one or two films before the Ball and may not have been on Capote's radar yet. Perhaps a more accurate place to spot Cordova would be at The Factory- I could see Warhol latching onto him and his bizarre horror films. 

So overall, do I recommend this? I don't know. If you love mysteries, cult films, and supernatural elements, pick this one up. While this book did have a lot going for it that I liked, certain little things- like the excessive and often unnecessary use of italics- made me hesitant to pick up anything else by Pessl. 

8 out of 10