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Night Film
Overview
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "A hair-raising mystery that's equal parts family drama, horror movie, and jigsaw puzzle. . . . It's impossible to look away."-- People (four stars)
"Maniacally clever . . . like an M.C. Escher nightmare about Edgar Allan Poe . . . You'll miss your subway stop, let dinner burn, and start sleeping with the lights on."--The Washington Post A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: NPR, Cosmopolitan, Kirkus Reviews, BookPage 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.
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Details
- ISBN-13: 9780812979787
- ISBN-10: 0812979788
- Publisher: Random House Trade
- Publish Date: July 2014
- Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.51 x 1.07 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
- Page Count: 640
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A smart, spellbinding mystery, Marisha Pessl’s Night Film is a worthy follow-up to the author’s acclaimed debut novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Filmmaker Stanislas Cordova has an underground following—his dark, disturbing movies have been banned from theaters and become bona fide cult classics. Stanislas’ daughter, Ash ley, a piano prodigy, is featured in his final film. Gorgeous and gifted, Ashley plays Carnegie Hall as a preteen and is dead by the age of 24, when, to all appearances, she commits suicide. Journalist Scott McGrath, an expert on Stanislas and his work, believes there’s more to Ashley’s demise than meets the eye. Along with two friends, Scott begins an investigation into the father-daughter bond and the circumstances surrounding Ashley’s death. Pessl bolsters the story with fictionalized documentary materials—transcripts, articles, screenshots—creating a sense of authenticity that adds to the novel’s appeal. This hypnotic, cleverly crafted thriller provides further proof that Pessl is a writer to be reckoned with.
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New paperback releases for reading groups
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FINAL CUT
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