Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

286 reviews

c_bee15's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Torture, Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders

imogenlj's review

dark tense

3.75

This is my second Grady Hendrix book and each has reflected the genre he’s writing in; so while TSBGTKV was all slow-building, southern gothic horror, The Final Girl Support Group is pacy, relentless and stereotypical- exactly as it’s trying to be. A winking homage to the slasher genre, reading it was an enjoyable ride.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, and Gaslighting

hkrobock's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Cancer, Terminal illness, Torture, and Murder

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Sexual violence

calhudak's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Cursing

emilyliest's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

A re-read of one of my fave Grady Hendrix books. Pace is medium with a few heart-pounding events until a very exciting and tense end. Perhaps slightly rushed towards the end after such a long build-up. Lynette and other characters aren’t really likeable which I actually enjoy because you’re not meant to relate to them! Learning to try and understand minds with trauma and highlights the detachment she feels after her experiences. The writer has such a talent for gory and shocking descriptions that stay with you long after reading. On second read I noticed a couple loose ends which felt open to further development, eg The Dream King and Dr Carol. Overall a fantastic gripping read which fully embraces the horror genre instead of combining with other genres. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Vomit

tm400's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

this story follows a woman who had survived an attempt on her life - a “final girl”. she attends a therapy group for other women who have experienced similar trials & she quickly takes action when she suspects that someone is out to get her & the other final girls. this book was so addicting, i found it physically hard to put down every time i was reading it. i liked how it was paced & i felt the inclusion of paper articles, interview transcripts, etc between the chapters was a nice addition as well. 
reading this book was also incredibly frustrating at times. there’s more than one instance where specifically the main character makes decisions that just make no sense/are legitimately aggravating to read!! in addition, there’s just entirely implausible occurrences in the book that sometimes seem to exist just to make sense of the story

(like when the cabin had the protection shield capabilities against skye’s machine gun??)

and others that existed for literally no reason

(LITERALLY WHO THE FUCK EVER would kidnap their friend’s dying wife, take her to a random ass park to die, then leave her body with a random unknown man for the police to uncover later?? what???)

 
while i think this story could be a GREAT limited series or film, i felt the book could have had some improvements but, again, i was very much enthralled by the story the whole time. 3.75/5 stars 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, and Terminal illness

m_delaney's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

sage_alexandra's review against another edition

fast-paced

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

3.0

It was, cute. The first half+ of the book was pretty strong. It's definitely made for fans of classic slashers from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Literally. These women and their stories are essentially copies of the movies they are nodding to. 

Scream-> Stab (could've been a bit more original, seeing that the Stab franchise exists within the Scream universe)
Friday the 13th-> Summer Slaughter 
Nightmare on Elm Street-> Deadly Dreams
Halloween-> The Babysitter Murders

My favorite was "Panhandle Meathook" aka Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The 6 women in this support group are also named after the actresses who played their characters, or after supporting actresses. (Julia Campbell = Neve Campbell; Heather DeLuca = Heather Langenkamp).

Between each chapter is a photo page: movie reviews, excerpts of interviews, police reports, etc. Definitely adds to the book.

The reason this gets a 3 rating is mostly due to the ending. Spoilers ahead:

If you've seen Scream 5 (2022), then there's your ending. Although I just googled to confirm, TFGSG was published in July 2021, 6 months before Screa/V\, so I guess Ghostface is the copycat. Even so, you don't find out How they managed to do everything.

But also, the horror from these franchises just wasn't here. This book was cute as an homage to Final Girls in media, but in the end, I would've preferred originality. This concept but with teens and early 20-somethings, fresh out of surviving their horrors, with original concepts. A lot of tropes are overdone, but it wouldn't be hard to come up with "new" slashers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism and Lesbophobia

Major plot spoilers:

I guess we're just not going to talk about the younger kid's trauma comic and how much he actually knew about his older brother's plans????? Also Heather and "Dream King"..... she literally went to sleep and then magically appeared in time to save Lynette. There's obviously some actual Freddy Krueger supernatural action going on, but we Do Not Learn about it.

atalea's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

liabetweengames's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Panic attacks/disorders, and Police brutality

Minor: Addiction, Cancer, and Sexual content