Hi Steemians!
So it's been a hot minute since I've read Night Film by Marisha Pessl, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about it ever since and really wanted to share my thoughts on it.
Night Film is a mystery/thriller/horror novel that follows investigative journalist Scott McGrath who is looking into the mysterious horror movie director Stanislas Cordova. Cordova is an incredibly elusive figure; he's never been photographed or caught on film and because of this and his incredibly mindfuck-movies he has established something of a cult following.
McGrath had looked into Cordova before but was completely blocked off from that line of investigation and has been disgraced as a journalist ever since. At the start of the novel, Cordova's 24-year old piano-prodigy daughter Ashley suddenly committs suicide. This combined with McGrath's recent run-in with a strange woman who he suspects to have been Ashley leads him to look into the situation and dive into the mystery around Cordova once more. He is aided in his endeavours by a young man who claims to have been sent a weird package by Ashley and a young woman who was pretty much the last person to see her before her death.
This book starts off with McGrath looking into the suicide and then pretty much spirals completely out of control. Just like McGrath, the reader gets drawn into the world Cordova has created - you question what is real and what isn't multiple times thoughout the book and the feeling of paranoia grows with every page turned. The descent into the mysterious world that is Cordova's life is so subtle and yet unavoidable. Just as McGrath starts to fear for his sanity, so does the reader. Even when you think it's over, you'll quickly realize you're still very much in the middle of it all.
This book truly had everything - an eerie premise, a tiredless investigative reporter as the main character (who was not an idiot and didn't make typical horror-movie-mistakes), insinuations of black magic, suspense so strong it could keep you up at night, all coming together in a downward spiral of mindfuckery to make you question everything you thought was true. Extremely well executed, extremely well written and a great, fitting ending.
Night Film certainly was one of the best books I have read in the past year and one of the best and most engrossing horror novels I have EVER enjoyed. I highly, highly recommend this one!
Happy reading,
xx
ivymuse