Book 49 of my 2021 Reading Challenge
The Final Girl Support Group
by Grady Hendrix
Summary (via the book jacket)
published 2021
In horror movies, the final girl is the one who's left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied and victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moved on, what happens to her?
Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she's not alone. For more than a decade she's been meeting with five other actual finals girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette's worst fears are realized - someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.
But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and now matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.
First Impressions/Judging a Book by Its Cover
I added this book to my 'to-read' list after reading about it in our local newspaper. I'm reading it now because my husband heard me talking about it to my mom, was interested by the premise, and put it on hold at the library. He picked it up thinking it might be a book we could read together (we used to read aloud a lot to each other when we were dating) but after looking at the book and the inserts of articles, photos, and such, this will be one I will read myself.
The premise is what grabbed my attention but the cover probably would've caught my interest if I'd been browsing. The metal folding chair definitely invokes "support group" and the blood drips aren't too overdone.
My Opinion
4 stars
This is the kind of book that I'd love to talk about with someone who read it but can't really write a review for since I never want to spoil anyone's experience. I am passing it on to my mom immediately for her to read.
This first-person book reads incredibly quickly. The writing style adds to the frenetic pace because she talks like she's expelling all of her thoughts in one breath. The dialogue, both internal and external, reads like people would actually talk if they're genuinely shocked, excited, frightened, etc. This is good for the story but also takes a lot of concentration to keep up with.
I had a new theory every few pages. Even though I didn't read it aloud with my husband (which was a good choice), he was still involved because of my random "wait WHAT???", "uh oh is it her?", "oh no I don't think that's true", "what is happening right now?!?!" reactions as I was reading. He was also involved when I read right before bed and woke up after a nightmare and made him talk to me to get over it.
This was almost a 5 star read because it was incredibly readable with a good length and decent wrap-up. However, after a little reflection, I decided on 4 stars because there were just a few too many moments of what I call it the "Dan Brown effect" (when a character is seemingly backed into an impossible situation and then you turn the page and a brand-new person randomly comes in with no explanation, has the perfect piece of info/ability to help, and then disappears from the plot).
