and i thought special topics was fine, just a little too cheekily stylized for me, and a little hyperactive and referential in its prose. i might have said this once or twice or a dozen times on the internet. i am a tough judge of books that claim to be like The Secret History. but it was a Very Big Deal at the time.Īnd it was a book that i personally thought was just okay.

Good lord, remember marisha pessl? she of Special Topics in Calamity Physics fame? remember the immense fawning hordes of fans and the praise surrounding that book? you might not, it was 7 years ago and all. The last time he got close to exposing the director, McGrath lost his marriage and his career. Though much has been written about Cordova's dark and unsettling films, very little is known about the man himself.ĭriven 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. 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 Stanislaus Cordova-a man who hasn't been seen in public for more than thirty years.įor McGrath, another death connected to this seemingly cursed family dynasty seems more than just a coincidence.

Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. On a damp October night, 24-year-old Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan.

Night film by marisha pessl