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The Night Class
The college winter break is over, and Caleb Prentiss faces yet another semester of higher education. Struggling with alcoholism and frustrated by his irrelevant classes, Cal seeks solace in the arms of his scholastic-conscious girlfriend and in somnambulistic conversation with a mystifying college radio DJ.
But Cal's ennui is shattered when he discovers evidence of a murder which occurred in his room over the Christmas recess. Obsessed with unearthing the particulars of this gruesome and haunting event, Cal wanders down the grotesque hallowed halls of a university gone mad.
Run-ins with the two hard-nosed campus security guards, relationship hurdles with both friends and lovers, and enigmatic signals from the Dean's icily eminent wife force Caleb to question his place in the bizarre night classes of higher education.
Even as he gets ever closer to the truth, Caleb is plagued by the supernatural occurrence known as stigmata: his hands bleed in imitation of the wounds of Christ whenever someone close to him dies.
And Cal's hands are bleeding a lot these days.
But Cal's ennui is shattered when he discovers evidence of a murder which occurred in his room over the Christmas recess. Obsessed with unearthing the particulars of this gruesome and haunting event, Cal wanders down the grotesque hallowed halls of a university gone mad.
Run-ins with the two hard-nosed campus security guards, relationship hurdles with both friends and lovers, and enigmatic signals from the Dean's icily eminent wife force Caleb to question his place in the bizarre night classes of higher education.
Even as he gets ever closer to the truth, Caleb is plagued by the supernatural occurrence known as stigmata: his hands bleed in imitation of the wounds of Christ whenever someone close to him dies.
And Cal's hands are bleeding a lot these days.
278 pages, Paperback
First published December 28, 2000
17 people are currently reading
901 people want to read
About the author
Tom Piccirilli
185 books388 followersThomas Piccirilli (May 27, 1965 – July 11, 2015) was an American novelist and short story writer.
Piccirilli sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. He was a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He was a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and the winner of the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".
Piccirilli sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. He was a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He was a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and the winner of the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
April 20, 2011
Several years back I read Tom Piccirilli’s Dead Letters, and gave it a negative review. It was the only thing I’d ever read by him, and for some reason his mixture of horror and noir just didn’t click for me. I may have to revisit that book, because I loved his Bram Stoker award winner, The Night Class. Interestingly, as the book came to a close, I went from thinking the dominant influences of Poe (“Tell Tale Heart) and Shakespeare (“Macbeth” “Out damned spot”) had shifted, with the big influence being, if anything, Jim Thompson. So much so (Piccirilli clearly knows the genre), that I’ve also added this book on my crime/noir shelf. Lines, of course, blur with the various genres. One could easily make the argument that The Killer Inside Me is also a horror novel. And as someone said, horror is not so much a genre but an emotion. For all of that, I’ll just simply say that The Night Class is one hell of a book.
The Night Class tells the story of Caleb Prentiss, a senior college student struggling to hang on. Caleb is a binge drinker, and he has a horrible past, one where he witnessed his sister’s suicide. On top of that, upon his return to school after break, he finds that a girl has been murdered in his dorm room while he was away. No one wants to talk about it, and Prentiss, haunted and drunk, sees blood on the walls, his hands (as stigmata!), while hearing the voices of his sister and the murdered girl. Picirrilli’s depiction of Prentiss’disoriented state of mind here is outstanding, creating an oppressive and surreal atmosphere that feels like you’re caught in a David Lynch movie (and we know how creepy that can be). People say and do weird things, but can you trust Caleb’s account? The setting, a college, really adds to the horror. (If you were less than thrilled with your college days, this book is for you.) Friends cannot be trusted, while the teachers and the administration seem connected to something shadowy and controlling. I’ll say no more about the story because I don’t want to reveal too much. Piccirilli is probably one of the more literary horror writers I’ve run across in some time. It’s pulp, but very thoughtful pulp, the influences (see above) are incorporated seamlessly, and never feel tacked on in a name dropping Look-What-I’ve-Read sort of way. Piccirrilli strikes me as a pro, and I intend to read more by him. Highly recommended. 5 (within genre) stars.
The Night Class tells the story of Caleb Prentiss, a senior college student struggling to hang on. Caleb is a binge drinker, and he has a horrible past, one where he witnessed his sister’s suicide. On top of that, upon his return to school after break, he finds that a girl has been murdered in his dorm room while he was away. No one wants to talk about it, and Prentiss, haunted and drunk, sees blood on the walls, his hands (as stigmata!), while hearing the voices of his sister and the murdered girl. Picirrilli’s depiction of Prentiss’disoriented state of mind here is outstanding, creating an oppressive and surreal atmosphere that feels like you’re caught in a David Lynch movie (and we know how creepy that can be). People say and do weird things, but can you trust Caleb’s account? The setting, a college, really adds to the horror. (If you were less than thrilled with your college days, this book is for you.) Friends cannot be trusted, while the teachers and the administration seem connected to something shadowy and controlling. I’ll say no more about the story because I don’t want to reveal too much. Piccirilli is probably one of the more literary horror writers I’ve run across in some time. It’s pulp, but very thoughtful pulp, the influences (see above) are incorporated seamlessly, and never feel tacked on in a name dropping Look-What-I’ve-Read sort of way. Piccirrilli strikes me as a pro, and I intend to read more by him. Highly recommended. 5 (within genre) stars.
January 27, 2016
This surreal, somewhat confusing novel didn't push my horror-book buttons. Piccirilli doused the present story with frequent flashback bits; this only works when done sparingly, and so it didn't work here.
University life is always challenging, but for this character, it's unreal. Half the time I really didn't know what was going on. There were some awkward shifts in scenes and sequence. Caleb has his hands full being preoccupied with the mystery of a dead girl no one brings up, memories of his sister's suicide, consulting a strange friend who is a sleeping prophet, all while unraveling bizarre actions of the university leads. Really the story sounds quite good with it's summary - lots going on to mess with the mind and keep interesting - but it just doesn't do that.
The beginning stands as the best part as things unravel, but the middle grew sluggish as it was pulled into too many confusing directions, topped with going back and forth between memories and different shifts of reality. The ending starts to conclude with a decently solid wrap-up/betrayal, but then ruins it all by an ending that's supposed to stand as an ironic twist it doesn't deliver.
Caleb is likeable enough - clearly troubled and it grows worse because of the bizarre university life. Why was he considered so special? The stigmata is cool but nothing comes of it besides it being there, letting him know when someone died. I just don't get his connection with the teacher he hates and what he's seeing beneath the layers. Perhaps if I could grasp the book better, I'd have enjoyed it more.
Overall I'll have to slap a failing grad on The Night Class. It dares to be different - kudos for that. I generally like surreal stories, but this one is so surreal it just loses connection. It's hard to care much about a story that shifts this much. The writing style made it easy to read and quick to finish (although the irrelevant song and poetry lyrics weren't welcome), but that's not enough to save it.
October 15, 2021
Un horror de lectura. Cada página ha sido un suplicio y ni siquiera le vi mucho sentido a lo que se contaba porque no había una línea argumental clara. Se vende como una historia de terror, pero lo único que tiene de eso es que resulta una tortura conseguir acabarla.
Caleb, el protagonista, es un universitario que supuestamente sufre un shock cuando descubre que una chica ha sido asesinada en su habitación del campus. Pues bien, eso es algo meramente anecdótico en la trama. Es más, yo diría que simplemente es una especie de aderezo que a la hora de la verdad aporta poco. Aunque, en verdad, no hay trama que comentar.
Esta novela son puros devarios, y encima carece de un eje que ayude a verle un propósito a los acontecimientos que se van dando. A veces ni siquiera está claro si estamos hablando de hechos del pasado o del presente, ya que se mezclan sin ningún orden ni lógica. Además, hay que soportar traumas familiares del protagonista, dramas sentimentales, conflictos con maestros y divagaciones que no conducen a nada. Admito que en ocasiones hasta me perdía y no le veía contexto a lo que se contaba.
No se investiga ningún crimen y el protagonista va sin rumbo todo el tiempo. Luego, a última hora, el autor nos quiere meter un rollo de sectas o de psicópatas que urden planes no sé para qué, pero nada tiene lógica. De hecho, hay instantes en los que no se sabe si lo que está pasando es real o si es que el protagonista sufre algún tipo de problema mental.
El libro solo tiene 230 páginas, pero lo he terminado por terca, ya que leer más de 20 páginas seguidas me suponía un esfuerzo monumental. El ritmo de la narración es lento, los personajes secundarios están desdibujados y cuesta distinguirlos, el desarrollo de la historia es caótico y el desenlace no aclara gran cosa.
Cada cual es libre de darle una oportunidad si lo desea, pero yo no os lo recomendaría si buscáis algo tenebroso, ya que solo vi una escena ligeramente inquietante. Si lo leéis, espero que se os atragante menos que a mí.
Caleb, el protagonista, es un universitario que supuestamente sufre un shock cuando descubre que una chica ha sido asesinada en su habitación del campus. Pues bien, eso es algo meramente anecdótico en la trama. Es más, yo diría que simplemente es una especie de aderezo que a la hora de la verdad aporta poco. Aunque, en verdad, no hay trama que comentar.
Esta novela son puros devarios, y encima carece de un eje que ayude a verle un propósito a los acontecimientos que se van dando. A veces ni siquiera está claro si estamos hablando de hechos del pasado o del presente, ya que se mezclan sin ningún orden ni lógica. Además, hay que soportar traumas familiares del protagonista, dramas sentimentales, conflictos con maestros y divagaciones que no conducen a nada. Admito que en ocasiones hasta me perdía y no le veía contexto a lo que se contaba.
No se investiga ningún crimen y el protagonista va sin rumbo todo el tiempo. Luego, a última hora, el autor nos quiere meter un rollo de sectas o de psicópatas que urden planes no sé para qué, pero nada tiene lógica. De hecho, hay instantes en los que no se sabe si lo que está pasando es real o si es que el protagonista sufre algún tipo de problema mental.
El libro solo tiene 230 páginas, pero lo he terminado por terca, ya que leer más de 20 páginas seguidas me suponía un esfuerzo monumental. El ritmo de la narración es lento, los personajes secundarios están desdibujados y cuesta distinguirlos, el desarrollo de la historia es caótico y el desenlace no aclara gran cosa.
Cada cual es libre de darle una oportunidad si lo desea, pero yo no os lo recomendaría si buscáis algo tenebroso, ya que solo vi una escena ligeramente inquietante. Si lo leéis, espero que se os atragante menos que a mí.
July 20, 2015
Humanities student Caleb Prentiss is haunted by the tragic suicide of his sister and the bizarre stigmata that occurs whenever someone close to him dies. But even more horrific and inexplicable is the truth behind the death of a fellow student, found dead on the Christmas break, in his dorm room. But even as Cal struggles with the ghosts of past and present, he discovers something even more sinister than a killer on campus. And his mind, body, and soul may be what's at risk next.
Surreal, haunting and horrific, Piccirilli writes with an almost blazing and lyrical intensity that's both startling and disturbing, peeling back layers with the deft skill of a master surgeon. While not for the casual reader perhaps, he is certainly one of the most uniquely best. Piccirilli recently passed away from a long battle with cancer, but he wrote extensively in the horror and crime noir genres, as well as a couple westerns.
Highly recommended.
Surreal, haunting and horrific, Piccirilli writes with an almost blazing and lyrical intensity that's both startling and disturbing, peeling back layers with the deft skill of a master surgeon. While not for the casual reader perhaps, he is certainly one of the most uniquely best. Piccirilli recently passed away from a long battle with cancer, but he wrote extensively in the horror and crime noir genres, as well as a couple westerns.
Highly recommended.
July 7, 2021
Whenever I start a new Tom Piccirilli novel, I always ask myself: "Why has it been so long since I read something by Tom Piccirilli?" Then, when I finish, and I'm a gasping, twitching, emotional wreck, I realize I haven't read anything by Tom in so long because I really can't read too much Tom Piccirilli in a short span of time, because I might not emotionally survive it.
The above is partially tongue-in-cheek (and partially true), but regardless: there will never be another writer like Tom. I've never read anyone who writes such bleak and despairing noir fiction with such grace, style, and poetry...and he's able to mix supernatural themes in with these stories effortlessly. This one is no exception, and the portrait he paints of a lone young man trying to hold onto who he is and not lose himself is darkly engrossing, to say the least.
The above is partially tongue-in-cheek (and partially true), but regardless: there will never be another writer like Tom. I've never read anyone who writes such bleak and despairing noir fiction with such grace, style, and poetry...and he's able to mix supernatural themes in with these stories effortlessly. This one is no exception, and the portrait he paints of a lone young man trying to hold onto who he is and not lose himself is darkly engrossing, to say the least.
March 6, 2015
Well, that was...different! THE NIGHT CLASS didn't have any of that dark, introspective moments that is Tom Piccrilli's calling card in crime fiction, but it was different in a good way. Think of it as 1980s horror movies meet the old school White Wolf role playing games. It's quite a unique atmosphere Piccirilli created for that novel, which I believe more than compensated for one of his weakest protagonists.
THE NIGHT CLASS created its own paradigm that operates within the margins of supernatural horror without fully committing to it, therefore truly exploring the fear of the unknown and the boundaries of human imagination. I've had more of a technical admiration than a visceral pleasure to read THE NIGHT CLASS, but it had a couple moments that kept me reading because I wouldn't have dared to go to bed right away.
THE NIGHT CLASS created its own paradigm that operates within the margins of supernatural horror without fully committing to it, therefore truly exploring the fear of the unknown and the boundaries of human imagination. I've had more of a technical admiration than a visceral pleasure to read THE NIGHT CLASS, but it had a couple moments that kept me reading because I wouldn't have dared to go to bed right away.
February 12, 2020
The meaty stench of blood stains beneath the fresh paint.
Pretty much sums up my 7 years of Junior College.
Well...maybe not.
Pretty much sums up my 7 years of Junior College.
Well...maybe not.
September 17, 2021
What the heck did I just read!?
January 24, 2015
The first half of this book was great. It had me hooked! I thought I was in for something amazing. Unfortunately the second half fell short. I was quickly disappointed and probably won't be reading any more from Piccirilli. This is my second novel from him and the writing is superb but the style is surreal and vague, leaving much to the imagination. He almost strikes me as someone who would do better writing dark poetry. 3 stars for me.
January 23, 2015
Tough book to rate because the style is so unique. Parts of the plot were quite vague and left me feeling like some things went over my head. I can understand why the book is award winning and enjoyed it quite a bit, but I do wish it had been more accessible.
March 10, 2023
Quería tener una primera toma de contacto con Tom Piccirilli porque tengo otro libro de este autor (Un coro de niños enfermos) que me llamaba mucho la atención. Y no diría que la experiencia ha sido nefasta. Pero desde luego ha sido mala.
A mi parecer este libro tiene un total fallo de estructura. No hay ninguna trama que seguir, ya que no hay un problema claro ni un un desenlace. Además de que los personajes,al contrario que en los libros atrayentes de terror, no interesan para nada.
Se supone que el problema principal de la novela es que en la habitación de la universidad del protagonista matan a una chica, pero, además de que nunca queda claro del todo, y de que la policía no investiga nada en absoluto, lo cual ya no tiene ningún sentido, ese problema se difumina y no tiene importancia alguna en las acciones de los personajes.
Y eso solo es un ejemplo.
Yo me perdía cada dos por tres, ya que de repente leías que por ejemplo un personaje había sido asesinado, sin explicar ni cómo ni cuando, ni porque estaba hablando en ese instante con el protagonista. De repente meten un tema sectario, o unos estigmas sin sentido. Incluso en ocasiones no sabes si algunas muertes son reales, o incluso si algunas de las personas que hablan con el protagonista son derivadas de su imaginación.
Todo ello, con una buena estructura, quizás hubiera funcionado, pero en este libro tan caótico, se mezcla todo y no funciona bien.
A mi parecer este libro tiene un total fallo de estructura. No hay ninguna trama que seguir, ya que no hay un problema claro ni un un desenlace. Además de que los personajes,al contrario que en los libros atrayentes de terror, no interesan para nada.
Se supone que el problema principal de la novela es que en la habitación de la universidad del protagonista matan a una chica, pero, además de que nunca queda claro del todo, y de que la policía no investiga nada en absoluto, lo cual ya no tiene ningún sentido, ese problema se difumina y no tiene importancia alguna en las acciones de los personajes.
Y eso solo es un ejemplo.
Yo me perdía cada dos por tres, ya que de repente leías que por ejemplo un personaje había sido asesinado, sin explicar ni cómo ni cuando, ni porque estaba hablando en ese instante con el protagonista. De repente meten un tema sectario, o unos estigmas sin sentido. Incluso en ocasiones no sabes si algunas muertes son reales, o incluso si algunas de las personas que hablan con el protagonista son derivadas de su imaginación.
Todo ello, con una buena estructura, quizás hubiera funcionado, pero en este libro tan caótico, se mezcla todo y no funciona bien.
February 19, 2026
This is a very good novel about a young man who suffers a lot of loss and trials and tribulations while enrolled in college. Cal Prentiss is haunted by his sister's suicide and returns to campus after winter break to find a murder has been committed in his dorm room while he was away. It's an unreliable narrator story, and Cal slips into the madness of surreal nightmare. There are a lot of flashbacks, so you really have to pay attention, but I enjoyed it. It won the Stoker award for best horror novel in 2002.
January 28, 2025
Overly-written purple prattling that really goes nowhere, propping up what should have been a short story.
August 21, 2012
This book was somewhat of a disappointment considering how much I liked Piccirilli's The Last Kind Words. It's well-written, and the basic plot is interesting, but Piccirilli simply fails to execute on this. I like a cerebral horror story as much as the next person but this book went over the top, with characters acting in bizarre and unnecessary ways and saying non-sensicle things which didn't serve to help the story at all. The resolution was an intersting concept but explained in such a bizarre and confusing way that it lost any intended effect. Piccirilli needed to tone down the dream-like way in which the story unfolds and just have the plot play out naturally, which I think could have worked effectively. Lots of promise that was never delivered.
January 31, 2012
1.5 stars. I have little patience for books that use a lot of poetry quotes or song lyrics when they're not extremely relevant. Add to that a plot that made NO sense and a lot of incoherent writing, and this book was really not so good.
January 11, 2022
Bram Stoker 2003
2.5/5
Definitivamente, él autor quizo meter todos los temas en un libro tan corto, que al final, se pierde en la trama, hay ocasiones en que no sabes si es real o imaginación del protagonista, Y ese final, esperaba mucho más.
2.5/5
Definitivamente, él autor quizo meter todos los temas en un libro tan corto, que al final, se pierde en la trama, hay ocasiones en que no sabes si es real o imaginación del protagonista, Y ese final, esperaba mucho más.
September 30, 2015
First off I loved the writing style in this one: evocative, literate, and language-driven. And fun. The writer had fun with this and that makes it a fun read, too. A genre bender. Horror, crime-noir, comedic. I was expecting a slasher attack, or a werewolf or other creature, maybe even vampires, heck I didn't know what to expect but expected something along those lines. What we have here, however, is psychological horror. Think Poe. Caleb Prentiss might be insane or he might just be on a binge, but he most certainly is a deranged Poe-ian character. Piccirilli kept shifting back and forth in the narration between Caleb and Cal, sometimes in sequential sentences so that I kept expecting we were dealing with a split-personality, but that did not materialize. At least I don't think it did. He does have stigmata. And that is the most overt horror aspect of this novel. Don't want to give away any plot details. Just dig in and enjoy the wild ride.
February 28, 2021
Esto fue... rarísimo. Por momentos me gustaban los elementos de "historia de terror" que tiene, pero por otros no se entendía nada lo que estaba pasando y llegó a ser aburrido, luego tomó otro rumbo distinto al que yo quería y terminó siendo algo inesperado.
Ahora entiendo el título del libro pero no disfruté esta historia en su totalidad, aunque si algunas partes.
La idea me gustó, pero no soy fan de que me mareen tanto.
Que asco como me hicieron imaginarme al decano en esas escenas desagradables xD
En general fue entretenido pero no sé si lo considero merecedor de ese Bram Stoker que se ganó 🤔
Ahora entiendo el título del libro pero no disfruté esta historia en su totalidad, aunque si algunas partes.
La idea me gustó, pero no soy fan de que me mareen tanto.
Que asco como me hicieron imaginarme al decano en esas escenas desagradables xD
En general fue entretenido pero no sé si lo considero merecedor de ese Bram Stoker que se ganó 🤔
October 22, 2017
¡Ofu! Y sigue el lote de ganadores del Stoker para vomitar, en este caso el del 2003.
Un chico que está en la universidad, ve a una chica asesina. Comienza a investigar debido a que se aburre mucho. Acaba metiéndose donde no le llaman, y la lía parda. CACA.
Un chico que está en la universidad, ve a una chica asesina. Comienza a investigar debido a que se aburre mucho. Acaba metiéndose donde no le llaman, y la lía parda. CACA.
January 9, 2021
Al final si es tan malo como lo pintan.
Yo no soy muy exquisita con el terror, me gusta casi todo pero esta historia... ¡buf! se hace aburridísima y predecible. Por suerte me la compré de segunda mano y no gasté mucho.
Yo no soy muy exquisita con el terror, me gusta casi todo pero esta historia... ¡buf! se hace aburridísima y predecible. Por suerte me la compré de segunda mano y no gasté mucho.
August 5, 2010
hard to get into at the beginning...hooked me into the story in the middle ...then a big let down at the end ...
December 31, 2021
Don't expect full on horror here...more like a weird and creepy satire on college life. A lot is going on - besides a bored to death student there is a nasty murder in a dorm room that nobody seems to care about and stigmata that suddenly occur to signal a murder. Yeah, crazy stuff but never boring! Definitely not for everyone but if you enjoy the sarcasm of Chuck Palahniuk and crazyness of Bentley Little you should give this one a try!
August 11, 2025
Jag tror inte jag förstod den tillräckligt för att ge den en rättvis recension
May 21, 2014
I'll warn people ahead of time: this is a very, very surreal book. As such, there were several portions of the book that just came across as incoherent at times, which will probably turn off some readers. Overall, this is a fairly well done book and I can see why it won the Stoker Award in the early 2000s.
The book's initial plot line would have you believe that this is pretty much a supernatural-ish mystery, but the book goes a lot deeper than that. Cal's obsessed with the murder of the girl who lived in his room during intersession, but everything is pretty much a way to show his inevitable spiral into self-destructiveness and madness. The murder and the eponymous "night class" are just sort of things that bring it about and to me the implication is that Cal would likely have gone through something similar even if his school and dorm room had been completely normal. Cal is a man unhinged and as such, an extremely unreliable narrator.
I think that this unreliable narration aspect is why we have the scenes that are a little hard to figure out at times. Rather than tell us that Cal is going insane (or is already there), Piccirilli decides that he's going to let us glimpse Cal's inner workings and try to discern for ourselves what is real and what isn't. It really makes you wonder how much of this is actually happening and how much of it is really in Cal's mind. Since the ending leaves off fairly suddenly, you're left to figure this out on your own. It's kind of what I'd expect if I mixed a Bentley Little novel in with the movie Pi, I suppose. It's pretty much one guy's nightmare in literary form. I've some spoilers here to discuss why I view Cal as an unreliable narrator.
As such, I don't think that this book will really appeal to everyone. It's a strange little book and if I wasn't such a fan of similar-ish authors, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did. I do recommend this since the e-book admission price is fairly cheap, but with some reservations.
The book's initial plot line would have you believe that this is pretty much a supernatural-ish mystery, but the book goes a lot deeper than that. Cal's obsessed with the murder of the girl who lived in his room during intersession, but everything is pretty much a way to show his inevitable spiral into self-destructiveness and madness. The murder and the eponymous "night class" are just sort of things that bring it about and to me the implication is that Cal would likely have gone through something similar even if his school and dorm room had been completely normal. Cal is a man unhinged and as such, an extremely unreliable narrator.
I think that this unreliable narration aspect is why we have the scenes that are a little hard to figure out at times. Rather than tell us that Cal is going insane (or is already there), Piccirilli decides that he's going to let us glimpse Cal's inner workings and try to discern for ourselves what is real and what isn't. It really makes you wonder how much of this is actually happening and how much of it is really in Cal's mind. Since the ending leaves off fairly suddenly, you're left to figure this out on your own. It's kind of what I'd expect if I mixed a Bentley Little novel in with the movie Pi, I suppose. It's pretty much one guy's nightmare in literary form. I've some spoilers here to discuss why I view Cal as an unreliable narrator.
As such, I don't think that this book will really appeal to everyone. It's a strange little book and if I wasn't such a fan of similar-ish authors, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did. I do recommend this since the e-book admission price is fairly cheap, but with some reservations.
January 20, 2008
Tom Piccirilli, The Night Class (ShadowLands Press, 2001)
Tom Piccirilli, who has been working in relative obscurity since at least 1990 (Dark Father, a Bram Stoker nominee for Best First Novel, disappeared off the shelves relatively soon after and to my knowledge has never been reprinted), started getting attention again towards the end of the last decade. He pivked up two Stoker nominations in 1999, another in 2000, and then went over the top, winning the Stoker for Best Novel in 2002 with The Night Class. Which, I surmised, made it a fine place to start reading his stuff. I couldn't have been more right.
He first few pages of The Night Class showed up as chapter-a-day mailings about six months ago, and I wasn't too impressed. Re-reading them as a portion of the whole book, they still have the air of "we're starting off way too slow for a book that's barely two hundred fifty pages, and that's with the illustrations!", but in the general scheme of things, that's not necessarily bad. The book never really increases in pace, but the plot here (and the underlying mystery) are far less central points in the novel than is the building of the main character, Caleb Prentiss. Caleb, a senior at an unnamed university somewhere (though I don't think it's ever actually mentioned, I got the distinct feeling it's in a rural area just outside the suburbs of Chicago; don't ask me why), returns from a very bad Christmas break to discover that a girl named Sylvia Campbell, who was staying in his room while taking a class during that time, was murdered there. He becomes fascinated with finding out who she is after discovering her name and address were faked for the transcripts. In doing so, he also tries to work out the old demons of watching his sister kill herself when he was still a kid.
There's a lot going on here, including various subplots with his girlfriend, his best friend and HIS grilfriend, Fruggy Fred (a late-night radio DJ and the book's token mystic), a mysterious girl from his Ethics class who's obviously attracted to him, and another from the same class he's attracted to who doesn't care that he exists, etc. In other words, your basic stew of college life, except that there's a murder involved.
Perhaps that's what's best about it; Piccirilli does a fantastic job of using the murder, and the underlying metaphors of it (all of which lead to a rather predictable ending, truth be told), as a great parallel to the normal, everyday chaos that is life at the collegiate level. (Obviously, either Piccirilli or someone very close to him didn't enjoy college nearly as much as I did, but then they probably didn't spend those four years drunk to the point of oblivion, either.) Because of this, the various plot elements fading into the background didn't bother me in the least, and neither did their overly-quick resolutions in the final few pages (and the loose ends left untied; the ending of The Night Class is as simultaneously frustrating and satisfying as the end of Jack Martin's Videodrome). I was too busy being impressed by Piccirilli's quiet authority, his refusal to bow to the usual horror conventions and willingness to spit in a few faces in that regard, and more than anything his ability to keep the first section of the book, which bounces around in time like a superball in a rubber room, coherent. The reviews already posted on Amazon make me think that perhaps fans of more conventional horror novels will like this a lot better than I think they will. I can guarantee those who like more eclectic, existential horror (Robbe-Grillet or Dalton Trumbo, for example) will definitely get a charge out of The Night Class. Gets a point off for really sloppy editing (way above an acceptable number of typos, especially towards the end). ****
Tom Piccirilli, who has been working in relative obscurity since at least 1990 (Dark Father, a Bram Stoker nominee for Best First Novel, disappeared off the shelves relatively soon after and to my knowledge has never been reprinted), started getting attention again towards the end of the last decade. He pivked up two Stoker nominations in 1999, another in 2000, and then went over the top, winning the Stoker for Best Novel in 2002 with The Night Class. Which, I surmised, made it a fine place to start reading his stuff. I couldn't have been more right.
He first few pages of The Night Class showed up as chapter-a-day mailings about six months ago, and I wasn't too impressed. Re-reading them as a portion of the whole book, they still have the air of "we're starting off way too slow for a book that's barely two hundred fifty pages, and that's with the illustrations!", but in the general scheme of things, that's not necessarily bad. The book never really increases in pace, but the plot here (and the underlying mystery) are far less central points in the novel than is the building of the main character, Caleb Prentiss. Caleb, a senior at an unnamed university somewhere (though I don't think it's ever actually mentioned, I got the distinct feeling it's in a rural area just outside the suburbs of Chicago; don't ask me why), returns from a very bad Christmas break to discover that a girl named Sylvia Campbell, who was staying in his room while taking a class during that time, was murdered there. He becomes fascinated with finding out who she is after discovering her name and address were faked for the transcripts. In doing so, he also tries to work out the old demons of watching his sister kill herself when he was still a kid.
There's a lot going on here, including various subplots with his girlfriend, his best friend and HIS grilfriend, Fruggy Fred (a late-night radio DJ and the book's token mystic), a mysterious girl from his Ethics class who's obviously attracted to him, and another from the same class he's attracted to who doesn't care that he exists, etc. In other words, your basic stew of college life, except that there's a murder involved.
Perhaps that's what's best about it; Piccirilli does a fantastic job of using the murder, and the underlying metaphors of it (all of which lead to a rather predictable ending, truth be told), as a great parallel to the normal, everyday chaos that is life at the collegiate level. (Obviously, either Piccirilli or someone very close to him didn't enjoy college nearly as much as I did, but then they probably didn't spend those four years drunk to the point of oblivion, either.) Because of this, the various plot elements fading into the background didn't bother me in the least, and neither did their overly-quick resolutions in the final few pages (and the loose ends left untied; the ending of The Night Class is as simultaneously frustrating and satisfying as the end of Jack Martin's Videodrome). I was too busy being impressed by Piccirilli's quiet authority, his refusal to bow to the usual horror conventions and willingness to spit in a few faces in that regard, and more than anything his ability to keep the first section of the book, which bounces around in time like a superball in a rubber room, coherent. The reviews already posted on Amazon make me think that perhaps fans of more conventional horror novels will like this a lot better than I think they will. I can guarantee those who like more eclectic, existential horror (Robbe-Grillet or Dalton Trumbo, for example) will definitely get a charge out of The Night Class. Gets a point off for really sloppy editing (way above an acceptable number of typos, especially towards the end). ****
June 8, 2018
3.5
Una sociedad secreta de profesores cachondos
Estigmas sin sentido
Fantasmas que se comunican por sueños
Secretos por los que gente muere
Eso, acompañado de otras cosas más, es esta novela.
Lo mejor
La prosa y narrativa
Es magnífica. La manera de narrar del autor y el vocubalario que utiliza nos adentran en la historia y nos hacen vivirla como si fueramos parte de ella. Tiene una narrativa que no es lineal. O sea tiene partes en el presente y partes en el pasado, pero un pasado muy cercano. Al principio no me convenció pero era necesario para conocer a nuestro protagonista y otras cosas.
El personaje principal y su novia
Caleb, nuestro protagonista, está muy bien construido. El autor nos muestra sus pensamientos y deseos y sabemos que está trastornado. Sabemos por que es como es, su sufrimiento, pero aunque no nos hubieran revelado su pasado doloroso sabríamos que está mal. Su pasado y sufrimiento enriquecen al personaje.
Jodi, la chica protagónica de la película. Aunque es presentada como la típica chica buena e inteligente que sirve como interés romántico para el protagonista es mucho más. Resulta que no es nada de eso. Ella, al igual que Caleb, ha tenido un pasado horrible pero a diferencia de nuestra protagonista, ella está dispuesta a lo que sea para superarse. Al final comprendemos porque hace lo que hace y vemos lo terrible que se siente al pertenecer a la Clase nocturna, pero solo entrando a esa sociedad puedes lograr lo que quieres. Aunque al principio te sientas culpable, se supone que al final vaya la pena.
El erotismo y la sexualidad
Muy bien descrito sin caer en lo poético ni en lo vulgar.
El twist final
No me lo imaginé. Me sorprendió y me gustó. Pero no me gusto la última página, no sabemos que pasó con Caleb. No sabemos si pasó o suspendió el "examen final."
Lo peor
Los toques sobrenaturales.
Ese fantasma comunicándose por sueños por medio de un personaje de relleno me pareció fatal. Lo mismo con los estigmas del protagonista. No tienen propósito y me sorprende ver que cuando la clase nocturna ve esos hechos sobrenaturales no se sorprendan ni se inmuten.
La novela hubiera funcionado perfectamente sin lo sobrenatural. Hubiera sido un thriller de horror con una mezcla de Urban Legend con The skulls. Lástima.
Los personajes secundarios
Algunos de relleno, otros muy caricaturescos. Muchos necesitaron mejor desarrollo.
El desarrollo y ritmo
Me fascinan las historias que se construyen lentamente pero esta novela es muy corta por lo que se enfocan más en ciertos detalles más rápidos y directos. Es necesario pues es corta pero debieron desarrollar más cosas o al menos no construirla de manera tan lenta dejando así tan poca intensidad.
En conclusión, estamos ante una novela que es terror solo por lo sobrenatural, de lo contrario sería un thriller. Está bien escrita, tiene cosas interesantes y el final no me pareció correcto. A pesar de sus fallas es una novela que no queda en nada. Nos pone a reflexionar sobre que haríamos por tener éxito y una vida fácil. La recomiendo. Una película seria buena idea.
Una sociedad secreta de profesores cachondos
Estigmas sin sentido
Fantasmas que se comunican por sueños
Secretos por los que gente muere
Eso, acompañado de otras cosas más, es esta novela.
Lo mejor
La prosa y narrativa
Es magnífica. La manera de narrar del autor y el vocubalario que utiliza nos adentran en la historia y nos hacen vivirla como si fueramos parte de ella. Tiene una narrativa que no es lineal. O sea tiene partes en el presente y partes en el pasado, pero un pasado muy cercano. Al principio no me convenció pero era necesario para conocer a nuestro protagonista y otras cosas.
El personaje principal y su novia
Caleb, nuestro protagonista, está muy bien construido. El autor nos muestra sus pensamientos y deseos y sabemos que está trastornado. Sabemos por que es como es, su sufrimiento, pero aunque no nos hubieran revelado su pasado doloroso sabríamos que está mal. Su pasado y sufrimiento enriquecen al personaje.
Jodi, la chica protagónica de la película. Aunque es presentada como la típica chica buena e inteligente que sirve como interés romántico para el protagonista es mucho más. Resulta que no es nada de eso. Ella, al igual que Caleb, ha tenido un pasado horrible pero a diferencia de nuestra protagonista, ella está dispuesta a lo que sea para superarse. Al final comprendemos porque hace lo que hace y vemos lo terrible que se siente al pertenecer a la Clase nocturna, pero solo entrando a esa sociedad puedes lograr lo que quieres. Aunque al principio te sientas culpable, se supone que al final vaya la pena.
El erotismo y la sexualidad
Muy bien descrito sin caer en lo poético ni en lo vulgar.
El twist final
No me lo imaginé. Me sorprendió y me gustó. Pero no me gusto la última página, no sabemos que pasó con Caleb. No sabemos si pasó o suspendió el "examen final."
Lo peor
Los toques sobrenaturales.
Ese fantasma comunicándose por sueños por medio de un personaje de relleno me pareció fatal. Lo mismo con los estigmas del protagonista. No tienen propósito y me sorprende ver que cuando la clase nocturna ve esos hechos sobrenaturales no se sorprendan ni se inmuten.
La novela hubiera funcionado perfectamente sin lo sobrenatural. Hubiera sido un thriller de horror con una mezcla de Urban Legend con The skulls. Lástima.
Los personajes secundarios
Algunos de relleno, otros muy caricaturescos. Muchos necesitaron mejor desarrollo.
El desarrollo y ritmo
Me fascinan las historias que se construyen lentamente pero esta novela es muy corta por lo que se enfocan más en ciertos detalles más rápidos y directos. Es necesario pues es corta pero debieron desarrollar más cosas o al menos no construirla de manera tan lenta dejando así tan poca intensidad.
En conclusión, estamos ante una novela que es terror solo por lo sobrenatural, de lo contrario sería un thriller. Está bien escrita, tiene cosas interesantes y el final no me pareció correcto. A pesar de sus fallas es una novela que no queda en nada. Nos pone a reflexionar sobre que haríamos por tener éxito y una vida fácil. La recomiendo. Una película seria buena idea.
January 11, 2026
The Night Class — Tom Piccirilli
The Night Class was an interesting read, but it quickly became an exhausting one. Piccirilli’s approach is disjointed, and more than once I found myself confused—not because the story is deep or complex, but because the structure feels needlessly tangled. The heavy reliance on flashbacks to tell the story of the murder becomes frustrating fast, and at one point I hit what felt like a flashback inside a flashback… and honestly, that’s where I started asking myself: why?
Not “why did this happen?” in a compelling mystery sense—more like why am I being forced to read the story this way?
That’s the most maddening part: Piccirilli can write. His prose flashes real talent. Some passages are genuinely lyrical, even bordering on poetic brilliance. You catch glimpses of what this book could’ve been if the narrative had been handled with more control and less gimmickry.
But the strong moments aren’t enough to save it.
The ending, especially, left me emotionally limp. After all the buildup and all the narrative back-and-forth, the payoff felt weak, even lazy—like the book chose the easiest possible exit instead of delivering something satisfying. I finished it feeling a bit irritated.
But don’t take my word for it.
You be the judge.
The Night Class was an interesting read, but it quickly became an exhausting one. Piccirilli’s approach is disjointed, and more than once I found myself confused—not because the story is deep or complex, but because the structure feels needlessly tangled. The heavy reliance on flashbacks to tell the story of the murder becomes frustrating fast, and at one point I hit what felt like a flashback inside a flashback… and honestly, that’s where I started asking myself: why?
Not “why did this happen?” in a compelling mystery sense—more like why am I being forced to read the story this way?
That’s the most maddening part: Piccirilli can write. His prose flashes real talent. Some passages are genuinely lyrical, even bordering on poetic brilliance. You catch glimpses of what this book could’ve been if the narrative had been handled with more control and less gimmickry.
But the strong moments aren’t enough to save it.
The ending, especially, left me emotionally limp. After all the buildup and all the narrative back-and-forth, the payoff felt weak, even lazy—like the book chose the easiest possible exit instead of delivering something satisfying. I finished it feeling a bit irritated.
But don’t take my word for it.
You be the judge.
didnt-finish
October 25, 2012October 2012 -- Read to page 151 out of 278 pages.
I gave this a decent go, but it's just weird and confusing. The premise was interesting: a college student returns from Winter Break to find that a girl had been killed in his dorm room. And it's got several elements that I always love in a story: a murder mystery with lots of snow and a college campus setting. But the style of writing just wasn't for me. Lots of dreamy, fantasy-type tangents, and the storyline jumping around in a confusing fashion. I only got as far along into the book as I did because there were portions that were more clear and realistic, which I enjoyed. But ultimately, after reading a few reviews and finding that a lot of readers didn't like the ending, I didn't feel that it was worth continuing. I hope I remember not to try anything more by this author!
I gave this a decent go, but it's just weird and confusing. The premise was interesting: a college student returns from Winter Break to find that a girl had been killed in his dorm room. And it's got several elements that I always love in a story: a murder mystery with lots of snow and a college campus setting. But the style of writing just wasn't for me. Lots of dreamy, fantasy-type tangents, and the storyline jumping around in a confusing fashion. I only got as far along into the book as I did because there were portions that were more clear and realistic, which I enjoyed. But ultimately, after reading a few reviews and finding that a lot of readers didn't like the ending, I didn't feel that it was worth continuing. I hope I remember not to try anything more by this author!
August 20, 2013
A little too surreal and phantasmagoric for my taste, but there's no question the book is far more ambitious and imaginative than most genre fiction, and I hold it in great respect without actually loving it. Likening a horror novel to a bad dream is pretty cliched, but the book really does sustain the feeling of being trapped in a nightmare.
I'm surprised to see so many reviewers question the ending, which struck me as perfect, and the only conceivable way to finish the story without betraying it.
I'm surprised to see so many reviewers question the ending, which struck me as perfect, and the only conceivable way to finish the story without betraying it.
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