The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

 
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
My Rating: ★★★★★

Final girls are last ones standing when a murderer came through and took away their friends, family, and anyone in the vicinity. Unfortunately, Lynnette has found herself a final girl after surviving two massacres. It’s affected every aspect of her life. Her only true friend is her plant, Fine, but at least she’s always had the final girl support group. Everyone in the group is the sole survivor of a massacre, and each one has been battling with their past in some way or another since. When the person holding the meetings together is found dead, Lynnette is terrified that she’s next. Unfortunately for her, she’s just entered a living nightmare she hoped would never happen because someone with murder on their mind is targeting every final girl in their group.

When I picked up this book, I knew that it was a thriller. What I didn’t expect is that it would be the fastest paced novel I have ever read. It really hit the ground running with nonstop action up until the very end. Inspired by slasher movies, it focuses on what happened to the fictional sole survivors of massacres whose stories became slasher movies. The book is peppered with news articles on the various movies, interviews, and other information that are related to the characters. I thought it was a great addition to the book because it gave us a little more information about how the media dealt with it in addition to taking a small step back from the action before it resumed.

We follow Lynnette, the sole survivor of two massacres that took away her family and then her foster family. When the story begins, we see how the horrors she survived has affected her. Lonely and living with her best friend, a plant named Fine, she’s fearful of another attack happening at any moment. Lynette has OCD, agoraphobia, and suffers from paranoia. The three things that she’s holding onto is that she’s safe thanks to all her safety precautions, she saved Fine when she was unable to save both of her families, and she has her final girl support group. Then things start to go south when Dani announces she’s no longer coming to group and the person who was essentially the final girl’s matriarch has been murdered.

One of the things that I liked about the book is that Lynette is not exactly the most reliable narrator. She’s extremely paranoid and jumps to every conclusion that floats by, but I completely understand why she is the way she is. However, because she’s so paranoid, she ends up being the one person who realizes that someone is coming for the remaining final girls. I felt bad for her when no one wanted to believe her, but I also understood why the other women ignored what she had to say. They’re all survivors who are dealing with their own personal problems whether or not it has anything to do with their past.

I also think that there are some great characters in this book. I’m incredibly sad for these characters and the things they’ve had to survive, which makes me so glad that they are fictional. While you don’t have to agree with Lynette’s decisions, you can understand why she makes them even if that’s not what you would do if you were in her shoes. She has heart and really does care about the people she’s made connections with even if she’s kept them at an arm’s length. I also loved Julie, Michelle, and Heather and the dynamic they had with one another. I have to say that Julie and Heather had some of the best lines as well.

While this book isn’t for everyone, if you’re looking for a thriller that’s going to keep you on your toes, this is the book for you.