The New York Times bestselling author of Night Film spins a twisted web in this masterful YA psychological thriller about the dark legacy of a notorious games designer.

A seemingly ordinary high school student. A mysterious summer internship. And a legendary games designer, now dead.

When an ad for an internship with the Louisiana Veda Foundation appears, Arcadia 'Dia' Gannon rushes to apply. Veda's game-making empire, Darkly, was renowned for its ingenious and terrifying games back in the day and Dia is as obsessed with them as anyone.

The remaining games are priced like highly sought-after works of art, with the rarest and most notorious commanding tens of millions of dollars at auction. Now, Dia is thrust into the enigmatic heart of the operation. But who are these other interns? Why do they all seem to have something to hide? And why was she really chosen? It soon becomes clear that this summer will be the most twisted Darkly game of all.

The mesmerizing "New York Times "bestseller by the author of "Night Film"
Marisha Pessl's dazzling debut sparked raves from critics and heralded the arrival of a vibrant new voice in American fiction. At the center of "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" is clever, deadpan Blue van Meer, who has a head full of literary, philosophical, scientific, and cinematic knowledge. But she could use some friends. Upon entering the elite St. Gallway School, she finds some--a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods. One drowning and one hanging later, Blue finds herself puzzling out a byzantine murder mystery. Nabokov meets Donna Tartt (then invites the rest of the Western Canon to the party) in this novel--with visual aids drawn by the author--that has won over readers of all ages.

Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics is an unforgettable debut novel that combines the storytelling gifts of Donna Tartt and the suspense of Alfred Hitchcock: a darkly hilarious coming-of-age tale and a richly plotted suspense story, told with dazzling intelligence and wit. 'I wrote this account one year after I'd found Hannah Dead. I thought I'd managed to erase all traces of that night within myself. But I was wrong. Every night when I tried to sleep, I'd close my eyes and see her again, exactly as I found her, hanging from a pine tree by an orange electrical cord, her neck twisted like a tulip stem, her eyes seeing nothing. Or else that was the problem. They'd seen everything.' Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a mesmerizing debut. As teenager Blue van Meer tells her story we are hurled into a dizzying world of murder and butterflies, womanizing and wandering, American McCulture, The Western Canon, political radicalism and juvenile crushisms. Structured around a syllabus for a Great Works of Literature class (with hand-drawn Visual Aids), Blue's wickedly funny yet poignant tale reveals how the imagination finds meaning in the most bewildering times, the ways people of all ages strive for connection, and how the darkest of secrets can set us free. 'Beneath the foam of this exuberant debut is a dark, strong drink' Jonathan Franzen, author of, The Corrections 'Any [Donna] Tartt fan disappointed that her second novel had little in common with her debut should rush out and buy this book immediately... It's a brilliant debut, guaranteed to join the ranks of The Secret History and The Virgin Suicides as one of those rare books to become a cult hit and instant classic' Sunday Telegraph 'One of the most impressive debut novels I have ever read ... It stops you doing anything apart from reading it ' Independent on Sunday 'Special Topics in Calamity Physics made me stay up all night reading; in the morning it seemed like one of those parties where everyone is too cool for you but you desperately want to know them anyway . . . I loved this book' Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife Marisha Pessl was born in 1977 and lives in New York. This is her first novel.

"NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY
NPR - "Cosmopolitan - Kirkus Reviews - BookPage"
A page-turning thriller for readers of Stephen King, Gillian Flynn, and Stieg Larsson, "Night Film "tells the haunting story of a journalist who becomes obsessed with the mysterious death of a troubled prodigy--the daughter of an iconic, reclusive filmmaker.
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.
Praise for "Night Film"
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""Night Film" has been precision-engineered to be read at high velocity, and its energy would be the envy of any summer blockbuster. Your average writer of thrillers should lust for Pessl's deft touch with character."--Joe Hill, "The New York Times Book Review"
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"Mysterious and even a little head-spinning, an amazing act of imagination."--Dean Baquet, "The New York Times Book Review"
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"Maniacally clever . . . Cordova is a monomaniacal genius who creeps into the darkest crevices of the human psyche. . . . As a study of a great mythmaker, "Night Film" is an absorbing act of myth-making itself. . . . Dastardly fun . . . The plot feels 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"
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"Haunting . . . a suspenseful, sprawling page-turner."--"USA Today"
"Entrancing and delightful . . . a] whipsmart humdinger of a thriller . . . It feels, above all things, new."--"The Boston Globe "
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"Gripping . . . a masterful puzzle . . . Pessl builds up real suspense."--"Entertainment Weekly"
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"A very deeply imagined book . . . sprints to an ending that's equal parts nagging and haunting: What lingers, beyond all the page-turning, is a density of possible clues that leaves you leafing backward, scanning fictional blog comments and newspaper clippings, positive there's some secret detail that will snap everything into focus."--"New York"
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"Hypnotic . . . The real and the imaginary, life and art, are dizzyingly distorted not only in a Cordova night film . . . but in Pessl's own "Night Film "as well."--"Vanity Fair"

"From the Hardcover edition."

Cult horror director Stanislas Cordova hasn't been seen in public since 1977. To his fans, he is an enigma. To journalist Scott McGrath, he is the enemy. To Ashley he was a father. On a damp October night, Ashley is found dead. Her suicide appears to be the latest tragedy to hit a severely cursed dysnasty. For McGrath, another death connected to Cordova seems more than coincidence.