If you loved
Nocturnal Animals
Film · 2016
You were drawn to Nocturnal Animals because of how the past violently intrudes upon the present through haunting, meta-fictional narratives.
Books on the same thread
It Ends with Us
Colleen Hoover · Book · 2016
Like the fractured marriage in Nocturnal Animals, this story forces a reckoning with past trauma that threatens to dismantle the protagonist's carefully constructed current life and sense of security.
Dark Matter
Blake Crouch · Book · 2016
This narrative mirrors the existential regret found in Nocturnal Animals, exploring how the choices we make ripple through time to create unrecognizable versions of our own lives and identities.
The Falling Woman
Pat Murphy · Book · 2013
Much like the protagonist of Nocturnal Animals, Elizabeth must confront the guilt of abandoning her family, as the shadows of her past life begin to bleed into her reality.
The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity
William P. Young, Wayne Jacobsen, Brad Cummings · Book · 2009
This story echoes the deep, visceral grief present in Nocturnal Animals, centering on a parent forced to revisit a traumatic vacation tragedy that shattered their entire world and faith.
Series on the same thread
Your Friends & Neighbors
Jonathan Tropper · Series · 2025
If the moral decay and suburban malaise of Nocturnal Animals captivated you, this dark descent into a life of crime following a divorce will satisfy your appetite for tension.
Disclaimer
Alfonso Cuarón · Series · 2024
This series functions as a thematic companion to Nocturnal Animals, utilizing the meta-fictional device of a manuscript to expose long-buried secrets and force a confrontation with past moral transgressions.
Utopia
Dennis Kelly · Series · 2013
The way a mysterious manuscript triggers a brutal reality in Nocturnal Animals is mirrored here, as a legendary graphic novel pulls its readers into a dangerous and uncontrollable conspiracy.
Revenge
Mike Kelley · Series · 2011
This series captures the cold, calculated quest for vengeance that fuels the narrative of Nocturnal Animals, focusing on a protagonist who methodically dismantles the lives of those who wronged her.
Podcasts on the same thread
To Live and Die in LA
Tenderfoot TV & Audacy · Podcast · 2023
This investigation mirrors the obsession found in Nocturnal Animals, where a missing person case leads to a dangerous confrontation with systemic corruption and the weight of past family secrets.
S-Town
Serial Productions · Podcast · 2024
Similar to the way Susan Morrow is pulled into an unsettling narrative in Nocturnal Animals, this investigation explores the decay of a man's life through the lens of a stranger.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is Nocturnal Animals based on a book?
Nocturnal Animals features a storyline where the protagonist receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband. While the film centers on Susan Morrow reading this fictional writing, the movie itself is not an adaptation of a specific literary source material.
What is the plot of Nocturnal Animals?
Nocturnal Animals follows Susan Morrow after she receives a manuscript from her ex-husband. As she reads the book, she becomes immersed in the fictional story of Tony Hastings, a mathematics professor whose family vacation descends into a violent ordeal.
Who is the main character in the manuscript within Nocturnal Animals?
The manuscript featured in Nocturnal Animals tells the story of Tony Hastings. He is a mathematics professor who experiences a violent event during a family vacation, which Susan Morrow reads about after her ex-husband sends the draft for her opinion.
Why does Susan Morrow read the manuscript in Nocturnal Animals?
In Nocturnal Animals, Susan Morrow reads the manuscript because her ex-husband, whom she left twenty years earlier, sends it to her specifically to ask for her opinion on his writing. This request draws her into the fictional narrative of Tony Hastings.