Latest Review: Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Summary Blurb:
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.

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

My Blabberings:
I'm not normally much of a thriller fan (especially when it actually gets downright scary in parts) but I really loved this book!  I rooted for the main character, the side characters were quirky and added dimension to the story, and I was on gnawing my hand off due to anxiety-inducing scenes.

I would probably classify Night Film as a multimedia literary thriller - strange concept, no?  I loved the little newspaper clippings and fictional webpage screenshots peppered throughout the novel.  It made it easier to suspend my disbelief and get swallowed into this gritty world created by Pessl.

Another aspect of this book that struck me is the parallel between Scott McGrath and Stieg Larsson's Mikael Blomkvist.  Both are investigative journalists that have been recently disgraced.  Both are seeking redemption by investigating the very thing that caused their disgrace.  I almost cringe to point out this similarity because the books are so different overall.  I wonder, is this typical thriller trope?  I don't read enough thrillers to really recognize if this is a common protagonist used in this genre.

ANYWAYS, went on a bit of a tangent, but the overall takeaway I want to impart is: this book is awesome!!  Even if you don't particularly like thrillers, I would recommend that you give Night Film a shot.

5/5 stars

Friday Finds

Friday Finds is hosted by Should Be Reading and allows readers to showcase books they have discovered over the past week.  This week I found a unique thriller and historical fiction book:

First up, I read great things about The Last Letter from your Lover by Jojo Moyes...it sounds like a perfect beach read!

Goodreads Summary:
When journalist Ellie looks through her newspaper's archives for a story, she doesn’t think she'll find anything of interest. Instead she discovers a letter from 1960, written by a man asking his lover to leave her husband – and Ellie is caught up in the intrigue of a past love affair. Despite, or perhaps because of her own romantic entanglements with a married man.

In 1960, Jennifer wakes up in hospital after a car accident. She can't remember anything – her husband, her friends, who she used to be. And then, when she returns home, she uncovers a hidden letter, and begins to remember the lover she was willing to risk everything for. Ellie and Jennifer's stories of passion, adultery and loss are wound together in this richly emotive novel – interspersed with real 'last letters'.


I also discovered The Hangman's Daughter by Oliver Potzsch.

Goodreads Summary:
A historical thriller set in Germany, 1660: When a dying boy is pulled from the river with a mark crudely tattooed on his shoulder, hangman Jakob Kuisl is called upon to investigate whether witchcraft is at play in his small Bavarian town. Whispers and dark memories of witch trials and the women burned at the stake just seventy years earlier still haunt the streets of Schongau. When more children disappear and an orphan boy is found dead—marked by the same tattoo—the mounting hysteria threatens to erupt into chaos.

Before the unrest forces him to torture and execute the very woman who aided in the birth of his children, Jakob must unravel the truth. With the help of his clever daughter, Magdelena, and Simon, the university-educated son of the town’s physician, Jakob discovers that a devil is indeed loose in Schongau. But it may be too late to prevent bloodshed.

A brilliantly detailed, fast-paced historical thriller, The Hangman’s Daughter is the first novel from German television screenwriter Oliver Pötzsch, a descendent of the Kuisls, a famous Bavarian executioner clan.

Latest Read: In the Woods

Goodreads summary of In the Woods:
A 12-year-old girl is found murdered at an archaeological site at the center of a controversial highway construction project. Katy Devlin was a popular girl who had recently been accepted to the Royal Ballet School; her father is an outspoken opponent of the new roadway. But what haunts Detective Rob Ryan about this case is its location: the quiet town of Knocknaree, Ireland -- in the very woods where he used to play as a child.

Twenty years ago, a young Rob and his two best friends went into the woods, chasing each other, playing in a castle of ruins. But they didn't return to their homes at sunset. A search party was dispatched to canvas the woods, finding only a catatonic Rob clawing at a tree, his clothing ripped, his shoes filled with blood.

Detective Ryan has always guarded this secret of his past, but the recent murder forces him to reveal it to his new partner, drawing them closer together in the search for the perpetrator. Is there a connection between Rob's childhood trauma and Katy Devlin's murder? And is Detective Ryan prepared to confront the secrets that lie deep in those woods? Suspects abound in this fast-paced mystery -- a stunning debut that examines the complexities of the human mind and the cost of discovering the truth.

In this well-written and delightfully creepy psychological thriller, you realize from the opening of the prologue that this is not your typical police mystery:

"Picture a summer stolen whole from some coming-of-age film set in small-town 1950s.  This is none of Ireland’s subtle seasons mixed for a connoisseur’s palate, watercolor nuances within a pinch-sized range of cloud and soft rain; this is summer full-throated and extravagant in hot pure silkscreen blue."

I loved the depth of the main characters (and secondary too)!  Thankfully, the author didn't create too-good-to-be-true individuals...instead their flaws were shown as prominently as their virtues and you loved them all the more for it.  Rob and Cassie are wonderfully realistic and their banter is so much fun to read.  In fact, I became so attached I hoped that she might reuse the characters in subsequent novels...and thankfully, Cassie is resurrected in French's next book The Likeness.

The wooded setting also seemed to be a sinister character unto itself and got my heart thumping on more than one occasion.  The storyline was chilling, kept me guessing and, unfortunately for my vanity, had me chewing my nails down to nubs!

Overall, I highly recommend!  The themes and characters haunted me long after I finished the book...

4/5 stars.

Latest Read: The Passage

Whoa, a vampire book...how original!  I know that's what you'd probably think after reading a short synopsis of this novel...but really, it's nothing like the Twilights and such of current literature (although I understand the draw of those books).  This is not some teenage angsty romance novel with some vampires and werewolves thrown in for a bit of a twist, rather, it's militarized, glowing, freaky-as-all-get-out vamps.  In the same sense, it's not a quick read, but rather a dystopian saga that will take you through a horrifying apocalyptic reality. The author weaves together many story lines that develop into a tale encompassing one hundred years and almost 800 pages.

I liked it...I did.  Just, once again, given the hype...I thought it would be better (maybe I should just stop believing hype, eh?).  The book is great, really, once you get past 130 pages of intro...and still I was only beginning to be mildly interested. Then, after a bit, I was completely sucked into the story.  But, if it hadn't been for the glowing praise of this novel...I may have given up on it before the narrative drew me in.  So, main complaint: the beginning is too long with too many story-lines (I know they're needed...but there must be a better way to condense all of this information and slim down the book a bit).

The other thing that I think everyone should know about The Passage is that this is the first book in a planned series.  Sooo...be prepared for an unsatisfactory ending in that, it leaves you wanting more.  But really, if you can get over the first 130 pages or so...you will be completely drawn into this story.  I don't want to say too much because, as always, I don't want to give too much away.  I will say that I highly recommend...I'll be interested to see what more Cronin has coming our way!

3.5/5 stars.

Summer Reads: Hits and Misses

Besides crafting, I've also been catching up on my reading.  A voracious reader since the 1st grade...I needed to whet my long neglected appetite for books!!  Booklist rundown (for those looking for some suggestions):

• First, I had to see what all the ruckus was about concerning the Dragon Tattoo series...and boy was it fun to read!  Great page turners (the 1st and 3rd were my fav) - oh, and the Swedish film is not too terrible (as far as films based on books go)...

• Next, The School of Essential Ingredients.  If you like books about food...you'll like this book.  It was simple and sweet.  It didn't blow my mind, but I quite liked it.  I followed up with Katherine which was sad, but good historical fiction.

• Then, I read The Book of Lost Things.  It's an interesting twisted fairytale...I can easily see this becoming a well-liked film as it is not too lengthy and very fantastical.  I also read the similarly titled The Book Thief.  It's a young adult book that I loved so much...it made me cry like a baby, so that says something :)

• I followed up with The Secrets of Jin-Shei.  For some reason, this was in the library's "Science Fiction" section...and I have no idea why.  It's a good book about friendship between women...along the lines of Snowflower and the Secret Fan (which I highly recommend).
• I subsequently went on a spell of books that were okay/bad...so I won't even mention them!  Then, during a recent trip to Atlanta I read The Pleasing Hour and the Year of Wonders.  Both were pretty good...the first about a troubled au pair and the second about the plague.

• Finally, I hit paydirt with Good Omens...the cover says "The apocalypse has never been funnier!" and that really proved true!!

• My good fortune stuck and I subsequently read two other great books!!  The first called, The Magicians...a Harry Potter for grownups heavily influenced by the Narnia series.  The second was titled The Rosetti Letter which combined historical fiction with mystery...a great read!  I'm already ordering the sequel (entitled The Devlin Diary)!