A review by seawarrior
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

Having only read Hendrix's first novel, I didn't have high hopes for the quality of writing within this one. Thankfully Hendrix has impressively grown as a writer over the years, and most of my qualms about the characterization, or lack thereof, I might find within the book were settled. Lynnette is an interesting and whirlwind protagonist for many reasons. She's intensely paranoid but makes one poor decision after another, resulting in a ricocheting plot that hardly allows the reader to catch their breath. She's also immensely unlikable, but despite her selfish, judgmental and avoidant nature I found myself understanding and forgiving one of her mistakes after another. 

Hendrix has a lot to say about horror franchises and their repetitive, exploitative and misogynistic nature, most of which is done through the characterization and dialogue of Lynnette and the other woman of the Final Girl Support Group. In between chapters various fictional archival interviews and journal articles are plastered to the pages, adding to the realism of the story and to the mythology surrounding this group of survivors and their monsters. For the most part I felt this was done very well. I only felt dissatisfied with Heather's characterization; she serves as a stereotypical "junkie" figure and is widely disrespected by both the characters within the book and the narrative that gave them life. What she survived and how is also defined the least, which only becomes more disappointing as the book continues. The other women's stories are revealed in segments, by their own admissions, Lynnette's memories, or their respective archives. Since each of them were inspired by an existing horror franchise most readers can assume the bulk of the violence they witnessed and endured, negating the need to force the women to rehash the most traumatic moments of their lives. Lynnette is the only character who has in depth flashbacks of her encounters with her monster after a tortuous accusation of who was truly responsible for her family's slaughter. 

The book primarily focuses on Lynnette's efforts to survive in the present, while attempting to solve the mystery of who wants the Final Girls finally gone. Pieces of this puzzle were fairly obvious to me, while others came as a surprise. Ultimately though, the villains, their motivations, and their weapon of choice, all serve to make a statement about mass violence and horror franchises as a whole. This is a love letter to horror, but a scathing one, fully aware of its flaws and refusing to hold back. 
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