Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

179 reviews

lue_moon's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This is a difficult book for me to rate. The premise is good and it did draw me in. I was more into it in the last 100 or so pages, which had many pieces i did not see coming and was overall intriguing. But I spent a good portion of the book confused and had a hard time following a lot of the characters and their stories/monsters. I found myself googling a character list because I felt lost and didn't want to re-read. Came across the helpful suggestion to link each of the final girls to the horror movies their stories were seemingly based on (click spoiler below if you want the list). After that information, it was much easier to follow. I suspect if I was more knowledgeable about horror movies, I may have picked it up quicker, but I do not watch nor like horror movies (books I can sometimes do, but movies are a no go).

May be a better read for you if you are already a horror movie fan? 

● Lynette-had to deal with a situation dubbed the "Silent Night Slayings" (Silent Night Deadly Night)
● Marilyn-was attacked by bloodthirsty cannibals(Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
● Dani-brother Nick escaped from a mental asylum and on Halloween, slaughtered anyone who stood between him and his sister.(Halloween)
● Julia-was left a final girl after her boyfriend and one of his friends decided to turn her into a final girl (Scream)
● Heather-had to face a "Dream Killer" (Nightmare on Elm Street)
● Adrienne-survived the slaughter at Camp Red Lake(Friday the 13th)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Excrement, Vomit, and Police brutality

Minor: Cannibalism

sstewart89's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

gamerreaper13's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I was very unsure at the beginning whether or not I would enjoy this one, but then the plot very quickly drew me in, holding me in a chokehold for hours! I slowly came to love and adore the main characters after beginning to understand their experiences.

The plot is fast paced and thr book quickly becomes impossible to put down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Cancer, Drug abuse, Gore, Police brutality, and Gaslighting

kazy's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

a thrilling, fast-paced homage to the slasher genre and their final girls, whose main characters are middle-aged women surviving their trauma with scars fully on display. 
really enjoyed! it’s always fun to see things that are so clearly love letters from the author to the genre itself (not without its own criticism of the genre as well). it certainly felt like watching a contemporary slasher movie, the kind made by someone who’s seen every one and had some notes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Ableism, Drug abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Cannibalism, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

mentions of victim blaming (both external and heavily internal),

mental health professionals violating patient’s trust

, extreme agoraphobia.

A lesbian dies through terminal illness. the black character dies first, though remains relevant to the plot and characters throughout the rest of the book. adult men taking advantage of traumatized young women, including minors, including a man who knew the girls’ father before he died and used his death as a jumping off point to groom her. one of the final girls (though not of the main group) is in a relationship with her slasher, and another is accused of conspiring with hers to kill her family as well as sleeping with him. one of the girls is mentioned to have been “forced to wear a suit made of human skin” during her traumatizing event. at least two young children are explicitly murdered violently, the murder isn’t described in extreme detail but with enough description to fully understand what happened. Someone’s diary/vent journal/mental health exercise is published without their consent.

justmys's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Not sure if I'll actively search out to read any more by Grady Hendrix. This is only my second book and it feels a little...icky? For lack of a better term. He's so determined to have women go through such harrowing events and it's just starting to feel like...like every other man making a living off of women's suffering????? Maybe the others are different but for now I need a break.

andrearutz98's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Excrement, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Alcohol

dblue236's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Trigger warnings: Graphic violence, mass murder, gun violence, violence against women, gore, sexual abuse of a minor by an adult. 

If you are easily upset or scared, this book is one hundred percent NOT FOR YOU. I cannot stress this fact enough. While it is clearly a work of fiction, it is full of murder and gore and stalking and violence against women and if any of those things are a problem for you, you would be best served to never pick this up. Having said that, while it was definitely not an easy read for much of it, I really enjoyed the story and it kept me guessing straight through until the end. As a pretty much lifelong fan of slasher flicks and horror movies, I really enjoyed this, but it is definitely for a fairly specific audience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Terminal illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Vomit

enyltiak's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book—I didn't want to put it down as I was desperate to find out what was going on, but I also really didn't want it to end. This is really a book for horror movie (especially slasher horror) lovers, and in particular will be a fun read for Scream fans. 

I think this book is incredibly divisive when it comes to the representation of the female characters—some think it's flawless, some think it's offensively dreadful—but truly it's just... fine. I think a female author would have more nuance, something different and interesting to say that a man can't understand, but Hendrix clearly wrote these characters with the consideration that they're people, not objects, and so I really didn't have a problem with it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

concon95's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

tiffanne11's review against another edition

tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

2.75

The first 70% or so of this book was a great thriller. Our cast of characters are "final girls", reminiscent of the last one standing in a slasher film but they lived through these traumas. The main character, Lynnette, copes with excessive paranoia, locking herself away and not getting attached to anyone. 
Everything changes when one of the members of their group is killed. No one is sure who they can trust and Lynnette runs. 
The majority of the book is building up this tension about who is hunting the final girls and why. As a reader, you are wondering if it is all in her head or if there is a killer out there orchestrating this whole thing. 
Unfortunately, the "reveal" makes no sense. It's not evidenced in the text. You couldn't figure it out, and that is not what makes a good twist. A good twist is one that makes all of the pieces slot in together and make sense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail