Night Film

A Novel

By: Marisha Pessl

Narrated by: Jake Weber

Length: 23 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Brilliant, haunting, breathtakingly suspenseful, Night Film is a superb literary thriller by the New York Times best-selling author of the "blockbuster debut" (People) Special Topics in Calamity Physics.

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 30 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.

Night Film, the gorgeously written, spellbinding new novel by the dazzlingly inventive Marisha Pessl, will hold you in suspense to the final minute.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2013 Marisha Pessl (P)2013 Random House Audio

Jake Weber's narration + Solid Mystery Novel = A+

Narrator: Jake Weber's narration is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! He's one of the few narrators who can handle the voices of multiple characters, and his rich deep vocal range makes listening a real treat! Please make him narrate more books, he is one of the best narrators on this site! More please! : )

The Book: While the clip + w/ this narrator drew me to the book.. I found the book itself was GREAT listen overall. Solid plot, interesting characters, the perfect blend of action and exposition, well done! A+

EDIT:
It really is a unique book. Hopefully there is more to come, more from the lead character, more that he uncovered, more. It’s heartbreaking to dive so deeply into a character only to have the book end.

More books please! it would be great to have a 3 part series,
with the same main character, same narrator (!),
delving into further answers.

Freak the ferocious out!

“‘Anyway,’ he added softly, ‘a man’s ghoulish shadow is not the man.’” –Night Film, Marisha Pessl

Night Film by Marisha Pessl is a big, bold statement of a book; released at the perfect time, right before Halloween when everyone is craving a scary story told in the dark. Pessl brings us “a myth, a monster, a mortal man” in Stanislas Cordova, the film producer at the core of the novel. He’s described as “a crevice, a black hole, an unspecified danger, a relentless outbreak of the unknown in our overexposed world.” Cordova’s films are outlawed (an inspired copycat killed a girl in imitation of one film), and bootlegged “black tapes” are passed among obsessive Cordovites. Renegade underground screenings of Cordova’s films take place, and fans flock to a secret website where they post their darkest secrets as well as the most mundane bits Cordova trivia. The film producer’s beautiful but haunted daughter Ashley commits suicide, and a ragged journalist past his prime, Scott McGrath, decides to look into the death. McGrath reluctantly picks up a few delightful sidekicks, and they begin to unravel the mystery surrounding Cordova, his family, and his films.

I was originally listening to Night Film from Audible, and I realized I must be missing something as at times the narrator seemed to be reading captions from photos and newspaper articles. I discovered a used copy of Night Film at Diesel Books for $8 (score!) and was glad I did. The book features photos of Ashley before her death, articles and pictures from the New York Times on Cordova and his films, and other pieces of evidence displayed as they are discovered. Until they add a .pdf to the audiobook, I’d recommend grabbing an actual copy of the book to avoid missing out on the full story. There is additional media built around the book, including an app called the Night Film Decoder and Night Film found footage on the web. I’m sure cynics will see this as too much hype, but I saw it all as a great addition to the story.

Night Film is reminiscent of the post-modern masterpiece House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and the terrifying European hit Syndrome E by Frack Thilliez. All of these books are built around creepy (and nonexistent) films; in House of Leaves, a documentary about a house with shifting boundaries is studied, and in Syndrome E, a terrifying old film is found and blinds a man who watches it. I’m not sure why reading imagined documentation is so irresistable and terrifying. In Night Film, Pessl takes care to blend Cordova and his horrors into our current culture, pointing out details of the films in which fans have found meaning. This careful interweaving of fiction and reality heightens fear by making stories feel real. All these imagined dark films are made all the more terrifying by people’s reactions to watching them, which in the real world we just don’t see or experience. A man begins to lose his mind when reading about the documentary in House of Leaves; Cordova’s films are “so horrifying, audience members are known to pass out in terror.”

I haven’t read Pessl’s first book, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, even though it was highly praised. It is now at the top of my list of books to get next. The plot of Night Film is fantastic, but being able to place the looming figure of Cordova believably at the center of our world took some serious writing talent. Pessl has wit, and displays it Night Film‘s moments of much-needed comic relief. The Night Film Quotes page on Goodreads is full of memorable gems. Night Film is the best kind of horror novel, with just the right amount of brains and brawn on board.

Just WOW

I saw this was a book a lot of people were reading for a while now and I started the audio book not knowing what to expect.

WOW.

This was phenomenal. I spent every moment I could trying to finish the book. The way the book is weaved with characters and films is really great. There's one chapter that I could have done without -- towards the end -- but overall, I was thoroughly sad when this was over. 9/10!

Deadly. Sovereign. Perfect.

A phrase used my Marisha Pessl in her book that summarizes it entirely. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time as everything grew darker as the truth grew clearer. Jake Webber delivers an amazing performance, rife with emotion and dread.

Wonderful horrible tale

Beautifully written, brilliantly creative, masterfully told tale filled with richly described characters and compelling excursions into the hell of the imagination. Absolutely loved it!!!

Mind Fuck.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. No one should be deprived from reading this brilliant book.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. It's cloaked in mystery that doesn't give any hints.

Which scene was your favorite?

McGrath in the panopticon of The Peak.

Chillingly Captivating

Each bit of beautifully written information, you get while listening to this book is one more jeweled puzzle piece that you think will fit to make what you think is the whole picture, but if you are like me, you'll find the piece doesn't fit no matter where you think it may belong. It goes somewhere else.
I loved this book and wish I could paint, like Marisha writes. It's a real life mystery. The performance was right on and the story one of my favorites. I will definitely be looking up more titles from Ms. Pessl in the future.

If you love film and mystery...LISTEN!! SO FUN!

It's long, but worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I haven't had this much fun or been so intrigued in a long time. It may not be for everyone, especially people who aren't that into film. The references were great. I loved the writing and the characters. I didn't want it to end...even after 29+ hours!! Had a blast. I hope you enjoy. Great narration!!!

Sovereign. Deadly. Perfect.

I've never cried at the end of a book before. Never felt such closure at the end of a mystery. This enrapturing tale of one mans search for the truth around the death of an artists daughter through a dream version of New York City is beyond words.
If I could remove my knowledge of the plot from my head and relive this book over and over again, I feel I would read no other book until I died.

Captivating

I don't watch horror films. If NPR hadn't given away the first chapter for free, I never would have read this. It's one of my favorite books of all time.