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A review by bickleyhouse
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Grady Hendrix takes the "unreliable narrator" to new levels in this one. The book is in first person POV, from the perspective of Lynette Tarkington, one of the members of the titular support group.
In slasher movies, the 'final girl" is the one who survives and manages to kill off the villain. This book presents a group of girls who are real life "final girls," surviving real encounters with serial/mass murderers and offing the perpetrators.
There are six of them who meet together regularly in a group led by Dr. Carol Elliott. There is actually a seventh living "final girl," but she doesn't meet with them, and no one mentions her. As the book begins, however, a new final girl makes the scene, as Lynette sees a news report of six people being murdered at Camp Red Lake.
And while five of them are in their next meeting, wondering why Adrienne is late, they find out that Adrienne has just been killed. Not too long after that, someone tries to kill Lynette (and Juila by default, who just happens to be there) at her own apartment. And thus begins the wild ride that is this novel.
There are many twists and turns along the way as Lynette and company try to figure out what is going on and who is trying to knock off the final girls. it is literally impossible to tell who can be trusted, as this tale unfolds. None of the girls trust any of the other girls. It's the most unlikely "support group" ever, because, at the first meeting we witness (actually the only meeting we witness, now that I think about it), all they do is bicker and fight.
And one of them, it seems, is writing a book about the rest of them.
This one doesn't have the same vibe as other Grady Hendrix books I have read, and this is the fifth one I have read. In the others, there seems to be a lot of humor at the beginning of the story, and then, at some point, it is suddenly not funny anymore. This was definitely true of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, and to a degree, even his most recent work, How to Sell A Haunted House. But there isn't much funny about this one. It pretty much hits the ground running with the intensity of the story and never lets up.
There's lots of running and fleeing in this one, as well as massive amounts of apparent betrayal and distrust. And murder. Lots of it. Lots of shooting and stabbing and other things. It's kind of like all the slasher movies rolled into one punch.
One thing I really liked was that, in between chapters, there are excerpts from articles, journals, books, and even a reddit thread, in one case. We do find out who was writing the book, too. And that was a shocker, at least for me. Didn't see that coming. In fact, I didn't see the end coming, as far as who it was who was trying to kill the girls.
I recommend this book for fans of slasher films and horror books. Oh, and I also just found out yesterday, that Hendrix has written a new one, slated for release early next year. It's called Witchcraft for Wayward Girls.
In slasher movies, the 'final girl" is the one who survives and manages to kill off the villain. This book presents a group of girls who are real life "final girls," surviving real encounters with serial/mass murderers and offing the perpetrators.
There are six of them who meet together regularly in a group led by Dr. Carol Elliott. There is actually a seventh living "final girl," but she doesn't meet with them, and no one mentions her. As the book begins, however, a new final girl makes the scene, as Lynette sees a news report of six people being murdered at Camp Red Lake.
And while five of them are in their next meeting, wondering why Adrienne is late, they find out that Adrienne has just been killed. Not too long after that, someone tries to kill Lynette (and Juila by default, who just happens to be there) at her own apartment. And thus begins the wild ride that is this novel.
There are many twists and turns along the way as Lynette and company try to figure out what is going on and who is trying to knock off the final girls. it is literally impossible to tell who can be trusted, as this tale unfolds. None of the girls trust any of the other girls. It's the most unlikely "support group" ever, because, at the first meeting we witness (actually the only meeting we witness, now that I think about it), all they do is bicker and fight.
And one of them, it seems, is writing a book about the rest of them.
This one doesn't have the same vibe as other Grady Hendrix books I have read, and this is the fifth one I have read. In the others, there seems to be a lot of humor at the beginning of the story, and then, at some point, it is suddenly not funny anymore. This was definitely true of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, and to a degree, even his most recent work, How to Sell A Haunted House. But there isn't much funny about this one. It pretty much hits the ground running with the intensity of the story and never lets up.
There's lots of running and fleeing in this one, as well as massive amounts of apparent betrayal and distrust. And murder. Lots of it. Lots of shooting and stabbing and other things. It's kind of like all the slasher movies rolled into one punch.
One thing I really liked was that, in between chapters, there are excerpts from articles, journals, books, and even a reddit thread, in one case. We do find out who was writing the book, too. And that was a shocker, at least for me. Didn't see that coming. In fact, I didn't see the end coming, as far as who it was who was trying to kill the girls.
I recommend this book for fans of slasher films and horror books. Oh, and I also just found out yesterday, that Hendrix has written a new one, slated for release early next year. It's called Witchcraft for Wayward Girls.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Murder