Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Night Film

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

9 reviews

weewiz's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The character perspective make the book hard to get through sometimes but the side characters are one of the only redeeming things about the book.

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kristareads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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judassilver's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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dielesemotte's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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erinbarton's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

3.5

so many mixed feelings on this

brief summary: scott mcgrath is an investigative journalist who begins investigating the apparent suicide of ashley cordova, who is the daughter of a reclusive and controversial director stanislas cordova. prior to the beginning of this book, scott had previously become obsessed with the idea that cordova is hiding a dark secret and committing crimes involving child abductions, which led to him being sued for slander and false reporting and his reputation ruined. scott is convinced ashley’s suicide is actual a murder, and begins investigating along with hopper, a drug dealer who has a childhood connection to ashley, and nora, a coatroom attendant who was one of the last people to see ashley before she died.

first of all, i loved the concept of the director with a cult following and his films’ contents having clues that tie in to the plot’s mystery. the descriptions of each of cordova’s films throughout the book make you wish you could watch those films and get swept up in the easter eggs and hidden clues throughout them too. this was a really detailed plot that took a lot of different turns — is there foul play, or dark magic, or possession, or mental illness, or child abuse happening here? the story keeps you guessing with where it’s heading too. this book also has various pictures and newspaper articles that add to the immersion of the story.

however, the issues i have with this book is mainly two points: characterisation, and convenience of clues. in terms of characterisation, for a book of over 600 pages the main three characters still felt fairly flat, and the relationship between them all never felt very developed. i did really like nora’s character but she didn’t feel fleshed out enough and was limited to her past trauma. there could’ve been so much more depth in their relationship changing from reluctantly working together to becoming friends.

their final scene together where they say goodbye and get emotional seems somewhat out of place since they didn’t seem to have much of a bond to begin with. nora’s confession that she loves scott also comes out of the blue. <\spoiler>
scott’s motive for investigating also seemed unclear, and the gang quickly progresses to breaking laws to gain information. when meeting hopper and nora for the first time scott tells them their info can be off the record, but never tries to get any info on the record for any other sources throughout the book. was he actually planning on writing a piece about ashley? how would he be able to include any facts without sources?

furthermore, clues throughout seemed a bit too convenient - everyone they spoke to gave them a plethora of useful info even when they seemed supposedly reluctant to help, such as the hotel employee or the security guard from the psychiatric unit. there were never really any dead ends or new leads cropping up, the investigation seemingly moved from one helpful witness to another. the mystery and tension in a thriller comes from the unanswered questions - what is this person hiding? are they telling the truth? what else do they know? etc - this book probably had about 10 different key witnesses/people of interest the main characters talk to and all of them give exactly enough detail to advance to the next person.

overall, this definitely was a fun thriller and worth the read as long as you are prepared for the slow burn of it.

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michelles_book_nook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

⚠️ TW: suicide, death, brief mentions of child murder, mental health, graphic content, sexual assault, rape, spiking, drug use/abuse, animal abuse, satanic/occult rituals ⚠️
Wow this book had me hooked from the very beginning and it blew my mind!! 🤯 This book follows an investigative journalist, Scott McGrath, who goes on a wild journey of trying to get to the bottom of the apparent suicide of a cult horror director's daughter. However, this isn't his first run in with the Cordova family and last time he lost his career and marriage but this time his sanity and life could be at stake. Honestly this book is impeccably written and uses so many elements to draw you in and make you feel like you are investigating this case alongside McGrath in such a perfect way that you will not be able to stop thinking about it! It is so hard to review without giving away spoilers and even though this is a CHONK of a book I highly recommend it. Marisha Pessl is a brand new author to me and I'm dying to get my hands on more of her work. Overall, this book is incredible if you are into horror/thriller and crime mysteries but please read the TW's around this book before going into it because some of the subject matter is very heavy.

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limina's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I LOVED this book. It reminded me of many others, but especially Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis. I was totally engrossed. Fun Fact- there's bonus material on the author's website. At the end of the book it mentions an app but it appears to be defunct.

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smillas_tales's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

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therefugeofbooks's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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