The novel constantly challenges readers' understanding of what's real through its unreliable narrators, shifting perspectives, and physically impossible spaces, suggesting that reality itself might be more subjective and malleable than we assume.

Through its multiple layers of academic analysis, personal journals, and film documentation, the book explores how we attempt to make sense of the inexplicable through the act of recording and studying it, often leading to further questions rather than answers.

The house's expanding darkness serves as a metaphor for the characters' declining mental states, as both the Navidson family and Johnny Truant experience progressive psychological breakdown while trying to comprehend the incomprehensible.