The Final Girl Support Group
Ratings282
Average rating3.5
The beginning and end almost make up for me wanting to tear my hair out in the middle.
such a great concept but midway through the book i wanted to kill Lynette myself
A totally enjoyable read. More thriller than horror but had me captivated from the start. Really liked the twists and surprises at the end of the book.
My second Hendrix book was as lackluster for me as the first.
There is something about him trying to write female perspective that erks me a bit.
The plot I thought would be really entertaining was just okay. Characters weren't my favorite. Not as atmospheric as I would hope for an autumn horror read.
I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did.
Grady Hendrix is so hit or miss for me. I loved My Best Friend's Exorcism and Horrorstor but I DNF'd How To Sell a Haunted House so I was nervous going into this one.
Not to mention I've seen a lot of negative reviews on this one.
I've seen a lot of things that say this is the “same word, different font” as Final Girl by Riley Sager but I enjoyed this one more!
So I guess you're either a Final Girls girlie or a Final Girl Support Group girlie and I am a Final Girl Support Group girlie.
I loved this book! I really enjoyed the concept of the final girls having a dysfunctional support group and how each of their experiences shaped their lives. All the characters are sort of crappy people, which doesn't detract from the story at all. The twists and turns throughout the book were great. I'd love to read a Dream King sequel/prequel. This my first book by this author and it won't be the last!
Giving more action-thriller than horror, The Final Girls Support Group is an enjoyable ride despite some uneven spots.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
3 Stars= It was an enjoyable read
TRIGGER WARNING(S): VIOLENCE, MURDER, GROOMING, SERIAL KILLING
Everything about this book seemed so promising: the cover, the synopsis, and the idea. There were so many things in this book that should have made it a five-star read for me:
Final Girls ✅
Slasher Movie References ✅
Reference to My Favorite Slasher Movie Scream ✅✅
Bloody Vibes ✅
Serial Killers ✅
But even with all of those pieces in the story, it still fell flat. I know a lot of people felt like the final girls background stories being based off of popular 80s and 90s slasher films seemed lazy and uncreative on Hendrix's part, but I actually enjoyed that and thought it was pretty fun and clever. That still wasn't enough to save this story for me.
For the title of the book literally being The Final Girl Support Group. We got an extremely little look into the actual support group.
I often got confused about whether I should be laughing or serious during the “humorous” parts of the book. The jokes and twisted humor just weren't it. It was like Hendrix was trying to be quirky, but the vibe was all off and confusing. Was this supposed to be a satire, parody, serious novel, or all three? The whole thing just gave off “trying too hard” feels.
The main character, Lynnette, was very unlikable and bordered on being unbearable. Unfortunately, the whole story is told from her point of view. I can understand how going through something as extreme as watching your whole family get killed will mess you up mentally and no doubt leave you with post-traumatic stress disorder, but Lynne was over the top with it. And I have generalized anxiety disorder, so for me to say someone is too paranoid might be saying a lot. I mean, she literally had a cage in her apartment separating her front door from her living room.
I could have lived without going through her constant thought process about why she did the things that she did. Her bus routine for getting around town and things like that She constantly threw herself a pity party and tried to make all the other Final Girls seem more mentally unstable than herself. I mean, what was up with her plant “Fine” and that weird friendship? For somebody who tried to live so cautiously, Lynnette made a lot of flat-out stupid decisions. I also didn't like how she always tried to blame the things that happened to her on others. Nothing was ever her fault. A prime example is when the other final girls and Dr. Elliott found out about the book Lynne wrote, were pissed off (rightfully so), and confronted her about it. She always said, "Nobody was supposed to read that" or "I wasn't actually going to publish it." But she still wrote the book and that was still how she felt about her peers. Just because it was never supposed to be published doesn't make it okay.
I would have enjoyed learning more about the other characters' back stories instead of getting tidbits about them sprinkled in here and there, and I would have loved to have this story told from multiple points of view.
Three things were so unbelievable I almost had to laugh:
Marilyn, Heather, and Lynnette breaking Michelle out of hospice. That would NEVER be allowed. They weren't related to her in any way, and the staff didn't even know who the three women were. There is no way in hell it would be that easy for them to leave the hospice facility with her and just drive off.Lynnette gaining access to Stephanie's house by using an EXPIRED fake driver's license on her father. I would think he would be so relaxed about people entering his home after his daughter just escaped the clutches of a serial killer and the whole kidnapping scenario. That was just wild and so far-fetched, it was idiotic.Lynnette magically being cured of her panic attacks after getting attacked by Stephanie and Skye. Especially after she lived in fear of her own shadow and the whole human population since she was sixteen years old. I wish it were that easy. If it were that simple to get rid of them, I wouldn't be taking the medications I do.
I wish this book lived up to its hype, but it just didn't. At one point, I was hoping the killer would stake Lynnette out so she wouldn't even be in the equation as a final girl anymore.
I know a lot of people who enjoyed this book, including my husband, whom I love dearly, and I love that for them. If you enjoyed it, I am truly glad you did. I just wish I could too.
3.5/5______I'm not a horror person, so I wouldn't say this is the kind of book I usually read. I was intrigued by Grady Hendrix, though. I had heard copious amounts of praise for his books, and the premise of his books sounded interesting to me, even though I am not really into the genre. Even as someone who doesn't watch horror, however, I am familiar with the tropes and really famous movies, which grabbed my attention.So, how do I feel about the book after finally reading?It was...a decent book. Between “okay” and “good.” Here's a breakdown of what I think, no spoilers:What I Liked+ Really cool premise. The setup is really neat: a group of final girls based on famous real-world horror slashers have to deal with the aftermath of the slayings, surviving and witnessing horrible atrocities done to their loved ones. But what happens after the credits roll? How would a “final girl” from all of those famous movies go on throughout the rest of their life being a “final girl”? All while the story acts as a deconstruction and commentary on the final girl trope in general? That sounds amazing to me.+ I enjoyed the brisk writing. Maybe it helped that I was reading [b:Galilee 52639 Galilee Clive Barker https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1468740561l/52639.SY75.jpg 3009813] by Clive Barker at the same time as this book (yes, I'm one of those weirdos who reads multiple books at the same time), and it was nice to read something where the prose was more casual and interpersonal, but not in a way that felt juvenile to me. It was short, snappy, and full of personality.+ This is sort of a double-edged sword, but the fast pace made this a vigorous read. And despite my issues with it, it was gripping in its own way, and I found myself reading on to see what would happen next.+ Lynette, the main character, does genuinely feel like a flawed person struggling with trauma. I appreciate how Hendrix explores the ways that her trauma affected her while still making her make genuine mistakes and bad calls. It makes for an interesting character.+ The fake-out for the plot twist was pretty good, I totally fell for it.+ While this book didn't scare me, there were actual parts that were pretty tense and had me on edge. These are probably my favorite parts of the book and the ones that had me gripped the most.+ If you're interested in horror but don't want to read anything too hardcore or upsetting, this is a great book to read. There are moments of violence and descriptions of gore, but they did not push me into the “discomfort and want to put this down” zone. It wasn't overly detailed or made me sick. And I really appreciate that there are books like that!Now, onto the cons...- This book felt like a case of “really cool premise, lackluster execution.”- The characters all dealing with their trauma in different ways is something that probably needed more time to flesh out because, in the end, it didn't feel very immersive.- The meta-commentary for the book, as cool of a concept as it was, very much felt a little too on-the-nose. It broke the immersion. In a deconstruction, we're supposed to believe that these things actually happened to these girls, because the whole point of deconstruction is to analyze the workings of a commonly accepted trope and analyze how it would actually be played out in real life. But when the commentary is too obvious and too trite, it lessens the impact of it and we're left with a bunch of characters talking about the obvious without us being invested in it. There's an extended scene with a character called Chrissy that illustrates this perfectly, in my opinion. I can't take your “analysis” seriously when I'm rolling my eyes at the poorly written dialogue.- Adding to the last point, the commentary of the books should have been better integrated into the story itself. It's too often an occurrence where the prose stops in the middle of the story to have a tangent talking about the final girl trope, or a whole scene with ridiculous, unrealistic dialogue that felt like a teenager wrote it because they don't have enough knowledge to write dialogue that would actually sounds like it would theoretically come from an actual person. - The in-betweens of the chapters, with the essay blurbs and interviews with the victims, ultimately don't add much. It should have been focused more on the phenomena in-universe of over-zealous horror fans. It's just another example of the meta-commentary not blending well with the story.- While I did appreciate the fake-out of the plot twist (see the pros above), the actual plot twist itself made little sense and the setup was not convincing. We don't spend enough on the motivation that when it does come out, I was just mostly thinking “Huh?” and “Who would through this to do that?”- There are other plot points that I feel like were poorly fleshed out (that I can't really go into because of spoilers) or were glossed over. I feel like the book would have really benefitted from either cutting down the focus to just Lynette and fleshing her out more, or adding an extra 200 pages to flesh out all of the final girls.All in all, even though I don't think this is a great book, I still got some enjoyment from reading it. And for what it's worth, I'm more interested in Grady Hendrix's other novels after partaking in this one.
So fast paced and I actually did not ever want to put it down til it was done! The characters and the story will stick with me
Good read, definitely a few twists! Nothing earth shattering but as a horror fan I appreciated the nod to the genre.
Main protagonist is a little annoying. I did enjoy that I stopped reading this book at night bc it made me a bit paranoid!
OK SO I have a lot of thoughts about this book so here are my hot takes
• I honestly planned on giving this 2 stars because I really wasn't a fan of the way it was written. I'm guessing it's YA, but there were times where I felt the prose was kind of cringy (also there were a few editing errors). The pace/style matched the frenzy at the end, though.
• It took me almost 200 pages to start liking any of the characters TBH. I didn't mind, just a note.
• I would have really liked more formalized sections of chapters or chapters dedicated to outlining what happened to each of the girls/their history. I know one of the emphases of the book is the center the girl over the tragedy, but my rat brain was working overtime to put everything together
• Fast pace made it a quick read for me and I did enjoy that
• I did end up liking Heather in the end but I still don't fully understand what her deal was
• Okay and finally (I'm just saying but like) i just thought it was interesting how the first and only final girl to be picked off was a WoC
had potiential. i enjoyed parts of this book and didnt enjoy parts. i feel like a lot of it went in the direction i didnt want it too. i just dont enjoy slasher books as well ive come to realize that. the first 20% was looking to be a 4 but it just kinda went off the rails
Absolutely stunning. Every book Hendrix writes takes out a chunk of my heart. He improves tremendously every book, and I deeply enjoy watching his career. This book is probably his most complex, but it's also his most complete. He's trying to address multiple different issues, from horror movies to how we treat women in society to true crime fanaticism to incels, and he weaves it all together in a strange universe of his own making. The world the girls live in is effortless and easy to imagine, real and wild, our own world writ large. If any book of Henrix's deserves a sequel (in 3D), it's this one.
