Review: Final Girls by Riley Sager

Title: Final Girls

Author: Riley Sager

Genre: Adult, horror, mystery thriller

Publication date: July 2017

Published by: Dutton

Source: Library book

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Synopsis:

Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them, and, with that, one another. Despite the media's attempts, they never meet.

Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past.

That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.

My rating: ★★★★★
As a horror movie fan, I loved the idea of this book. And in case you aren’t a fan, at the end of a horror movie, the last surviving girl who goes up against the bad guy is called the Final Girl.

We were, for whatever reason, the lucky ones who survived when no one else had. Pretty girls covered in blood. As such, we were each in turn treated like something rare and exotic.

And this book was amazing! It was SO well written—I can’t even express how great it was!


The book is told in this sort of dual timeline sort of thing—the present with another Final Girl, Sam, showing up after the apparent suicide of a third Final Girl, Lisa. Then we had flashbacks to Pine Cottage where Quincy’s nightmare first began. I loved seeing the events in the past unfold—it was literally like a horror movie playing in my head! It was amazing!

One character I really liked was Joe! I thought he was such a sweet boy. And that’s all I’m gonna say about him, ‘cause spoilers. Lol. One person I didn’t like was Quincy’s so-called friend Janelle. She was NOT a good friend. And Sam, boy, what a bad influence. But by the end everything made a ton of sense! I also wasn’t the biggest fan of was Quincy’s boyfriend Jeff. Why? I don’t know, I just didn’t like him. And at first I thought there was going to be love triangle with Quincy, Jeff, and Coop (the cop that found her on That Night), but actually, no. And thank the gods for that 'cause I hate love triangles! Lol. Although I did actually kinda liked Coop—I mean he was always there when she needed him...

up until we find out HE’S THE GODDAMN KILLER! Oh my gods, I could not believe it! Apparently Coop slept with all the Final Girls. He pretty much created Quincy then slept with her too. It was disgusting! And he had no real motive, kind of like Dexter, but worse ‘cause I actually like Dexter. Lol.

While reading this book, I left myself so may “wtf is going on?!” notes. Lol.

But this is definitely not a bad thing. I just could not believe my eyeballs. My mind kept getting blown by everything that was going on! So many insane plot twists, it was just amazing! The climax was crazy! Joe, Tina, Sam, Blackthorn, the killer... so much craziness! You think one thing is happening, when all of a sudden NOPE! Plot twist! The mystery, and the story itself was well crafted and thought out, and in the end, it all made sense. Plus we got ALL the full circles in the end.

Overall, I really enjoyed Final Girls. It had an interesting mystery—both in the present and past. I absolutely loved how everything came full circle in the end. It was very satisfying. I also loved that the book kept me guessing. I like to think that R.L. Stine has trained me well in guessing at these sort of things, but I LOVE when I’m surprised by plot twists and crazy motives.

So, if you like slasher movies, you will absolutely love this.

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! :)