Hi all! 

Today I am bringing you a spoiler-free review of Night Film, an adult thriller/murder mystery by Marisha Pessl. I have quite a lot to say about this book. If you’re interested in acquiring a copy, please click here. I will be keeping my review entirely spoiler-free. Without further ado, let’s get into it! 

THE PLOT 

When Ashley Cordova – daughter of cult-film director, Stanislas Cordova – is found dead, it is ruled as suicide. Investigative journalist, Scott McGrath, believes it to be murder. The last time he went up against the Cordova family, he lost his career and marriage. This time, he is determined to reveal them as the dark sadists he knows them to be.

The main thing I loved about this book was the mixed media. There are photographs, newspaper articles, website pages and more (see below). It makes the story feel more authentic and engaging. I am a huge fan of novels being presented in different formats. It was the primary reason I invested in this book to begin with. 

THE CHARACTERS 

Here is where it went a bit downhill for me. Scott McGrath, our protagonist and investigative journalist, was extremely irritating. For starters, he is terrible at his job. Not only does he divulge information about the case to complete strangers, he invites a drug dealer into his home, where his young daughter stays when she is not with her mother. Obsessed with the Cordova family, Scott brings his daughter to an abandoned warehouse to follow up on a lead, endangering her and occasionally badmouthing her mother. He did not feel realistic to me in the slightest. Characters are meant to be flawed, but he was ridiculously selfish, naive and downright stupid at times. I deducted a star, due to him alone. 

His sidekicks, Nora and Hopper, were also quite unrealistic. Nora was over-the-top eccentric and Hopper appeared and disappeared whenever he wanted to. I couldn’t buy into them. I found it so hard to believe they would want to tag along with Scott, offering all their time and energy into finding out what happened to Ashley. 

I will say, I liked the mystery surrounding the Cordova family. Marisha did a great job building their back-stories, without actually introducing them. That was clever. 

THE WRITING STYLE 

The writing style for me was the biggest negative of all. The dialogue was 100% unrealistic. The way the characters spoke was not normal. For example, 19 year old Nora would express herself like: “as I rose, I noticed her standing there and I placed my…” Teenagers do not speak this way. The book was set in modern day. This continued throughout the whole novel, irritating me to no end. Also, almost every second sentence was italicised incorrectly. I found myself very annoyed by this repetition. On the plus side, it was paced well (albeit a big too long) and flowed nicely. There were some instances that were a bit too convenient for my liking, but I guess they had to push the plot along somehow. The ending was not overly satisfactory and the writing style cemented I will not be reading Marisha’s other works.

STAR RATING

I gave this book 3/5 stars. It wouldn’t be the first mystery/thriller book I recommend to others, but it had enough redeeming qualities to get a decent rating. 

I hope you enjoyed this honest, spoiler-free review. Feel free to order a copy from the link above.

Thank you for reading

Peace & Love xoxo