Reviews

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Only show reviews with written explanations

curiously_cate_77's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is my first Riley Sager book and I’m interested to read other, later works from them. This book had a lot of potential and some elements I really enjoyed, but I agree with other reviewers that the pacing was slow in the beginning and it felt unnecessarily long. I thought the red herrings were convincing and interesting, and it will keep you guessing the whole time. If you like slasher books/movies, a who-dun-it mystery, and morally complex characters, I recommend giving this one a try (just know the beginning is a bit of a slog).

aellis10's review

Go to review page

2.0

2.5/5 stars

eggeggegg's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

allylewis13's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

atfw's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious slow-paced

3.75

eesackmann's review

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

becky_97's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.0

I will write out my full thoughts on this book, but first, I have to say that, God, Lord, this was a challenging read. I've read two other books by Riley Sager, and they have both been enjoyable novels that I devoured and praised. Not Final Girls though, oh no, this one was difficult.

The blurb promises a thrilling story revolving around Quincy Carpenter, the Final Girl of a deadly massacre that killed all her friends and left her as the sole survivor. Quincy is trying to move on with her life, but then the murder of another Final Girl sets off her fears that maybe her story isn't over. Maybe someone is coming after any surviving Final Girls, hunting them down and wiping them out...including her.

Firstly, the book is almost 500 pages long, and in those first 300 pages, literally nothing of significant impact happens. We have a split narrative between the present day and the events at Pine Cottage, the scene of the crime where Quincy became a titular Final Girl. For me the events of the past were far more interesting than those of the present, but so infrequent throughout the book that even they failed to grab my attention. As we got deeper into the scene of the crime, an array of stupid decisions made by the main characters made me quickly lose interest in this POV too.

In the present we watch bland unlikable characters talk about baking and their adventures sitting in parks late at night for no reason, all the while having the same phrases continually drilled into the text -Xanax and Grape Soda chaser is one in particular that I am keen to forget, but 'You are a Final Girl!' is also up there - and then when things do happen, they're rushed, nonsensical, and shallow in impact on the overall narrative. The twists feel lazy and don't connect through each character's storyline at all.

Because I've seen how excellent Riley Sager's prose can be, I'm so disappointed and unimpressed with this book. It feels as though he left all the promise delivered in the blurb at the door, and instead presented something flat and underwhelming. I will not be recommending this book to anyone.