My thanks to Titan Books for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Final Girl Support Group’ by Grady Hendrix in return for an honest review.

From publishers: ‘In horror movies, the final girl is the one who’s left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?’

The novel’s narrator is Lynnette Tarkington, who 22-years ago survived a massacre. This tragedy has defined every day of her life since. She lives off the grid in a heavily fortified apartment. For over a decade she and five other ‘final girls’ have been meeting with a therapist in a support group. When one of the women misses a meeting, Lynnette begins to fear that someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again.

This is a work of meta fiction that focuses on the teen horror/slasher sub genre. The premise is that real life murders were the inspiration for slasher film franchises. Allusions to popular horror films are seeded throughout the narrative.

This was a lot of fun, full of action, though quite gory in places. It abounds in slasher movie tropes and references. While I was aware of many of these, I am sure that I missed some.

I have heard many good things about Grady Hendrix’s writing and have been intending to read his novels for some time. I found this a very smart and darkly comedic novel. I certainly plan to read more of Hendrix’s novels in the near future.

Your love of a movie genre can often depend on your age. The current crop of kids is growing up in a Golden Age of Superhero films, but when I was an impressionable teenager, it was all about the horror films. Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and so many others. I bought them all on VHS and watched the countless sequels. I even have a place in my heart for the knowing 90s flicks such as Scream. Grady Hendrix feels like they were a fan too as The Final Girl Support Group asks the reader to believe that the events that created these films were real.

The Final Girl is the title given to the one victim in a slasher film who survives. In the world of Hendrix, these women are real and have matured, but they have not moved on. They are haunted by the events of their past, defined by one night when they were sixteen. Some grow bitter, others become paranoid. They meet every month to discuss their issues, until one time a member is missing. One of the Final Girls has been murdered and it appears that a killer is out for the rest of the group.

As a fan of horror franchises, Final Girls offers so much enjoyment. It is a strange parallel universe where the similar versions of our films exist, but rather than being fiction, they are loosely based on real events. Tropes from vintage horror are all to see. The protagonist is Lynnette, a woman who survived her family being massacred by playing dead. Others in the group survived attacks on their Summer Camp or even believe that the killer struck in their dreams.

In a postmodern world it is interesting to discover what happens to these women once the killing stopped and the films are no longer box office. Lynnette has spent the last decade or so bunkering down in her flat, always with her back to the wall. Other in the group have become addicts, super rich or recluses. In many ways they have deviated from their ‘virgin’ trope and become the goth, the geek, the lover. Have they gone from being the survivor to being a victim?

All these excellent permutations are bubbling along in the background and a horror film fan will notice them. However, there is still the thriller that sits on top. Lynnette story is one of action and thrills as she must decide whether to run from, or at, her demons. It has the feel of a classic horror film, with violent set pieces, red herrings, and surprise kills. This is not an easy style to put on paper, but Hendrix does it perfectly.

Final Girls is one of the best horror thrillers I have read in years, and it reminds me of the tight Dean Koontz early novels that kept an unforgiving pace full of thrills. It also made my synapses constantly snap with the subtle references to horror franchises and tropes that dominated the genre through the late 70s to early 00s. I believe that any reader will enjoy this book as it is a cracking read, but horror films fans will simply adore it as combines the new with the old in 393 perfect pages.

Book Review “The Final Girls Support Group” by Grady Hendrix
JULY 15, 2021
Star Rating : 3 stars

What can I say about The Final Girls Support Group? I found it quite hard going and struggled with the first half of the book. I found the characters quite confusing and they melded together creating confusion between the characters and it took me quite a while to work out which character was which.

The premise of the book, which is in the Horror Genre concentrates on the final girls who have all survived horrific attacks and in horror movie style hit the headlines and then disappeared into nowhere once interest in them dies down. They form a Final Girls support group that has kept going over 20 years with a therapist who seemingly helps them through their issues.

After my confusion in the first half of the book the second half does pick up the pace and concentrates on Lynnette Tarkington and her quest to save the final girls who are being targeted all over again. However I found some of the horrific attacks she then endures quite unbelievable and instead of being drawn into this slasher movie novel I found myself being totally unconvinced by the events.

The book is well written and I’m more than sure if the slasher movie in book form is your go to genre then this will probably satisfy you, especially if Grady Hendrix is an author you have read before, you will enjoy this book. It just wasn’t for me, hence 3 stars.


Publisher : Titan Books

Publish date : 13 July 2021

ISBN : 9781789096064

Reviewed by : Niki Preston

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The Final Girl Support Group is a white-knuckle ride, with plenty of gory thrills in store, but also a complex and fascinating examination of the titular trope and its misogynistic undertones.

Hendrix wastes very little time getting straight into it, setting the tone for the book right from the off. Instantly, there’s this mix of familiar horror references and the real life victims behind these horrific situations (at least within the universe of the book). The horror film references are so fun to see and really highlight the cultural touchstones, in order to ensure that the central conversation has a much larger impact.This book is defined by its examination of and almost conversation with the Final Girl trope. There’s this tension between the final girls’ control of their own narrative and the exploitation of their trauma through these adaptations. Their monsters become cult-classic heroes and this adds an uneasy sense, interrogating societal fascination with these horror villains. By extent, this also parallels how society can be obsessed with real-life monsters, the perpetrators of horrific acts of violence and destruction. Far too often, media focus is on the perpetrators, rather than calling for justice and reminding audiences of those affected by their actions.

The entire concept of this book is just fascinating. It asks what happens to the Final Girl of trope fame once her monster is captured or killed. After the final credits, what happens to these girls who have survived hell on earth? Hendrix utilises this concept so, so well. This was a relentlessly tense and thought-provoking take on the Final Girl trope, using a multi-media format to engage in a conversation with the trope and its misogynistic undertones. It taps into questioning depictions of violence against women on screen and how they are often dehumanised and sexualised. Having these films be based on real life experiences brings the aspects of the male gaze firmly into the spotlight, criticising a societal obsession with violence against women being sexualised and glamourised. It makes for truly thought-provoking reading and opens the door for a much needed conversation within the horror genre.

Hendrix gives these women far more nuance and agency than their on-screen counterparts may get and acknowledges the long-term effects their trauma would have on them. Their reactions differ, especially as the years go by. This also allowed for different ways they all controlled their own narrative, with differing survival techniques employed for them to keep going and keep living. The different characters are allowed so much complexity and every chapter unveils new layers to them. Their relationships and individual coping mechanisms are so fraught and different, highlighting how each of them chooses to survive in this world. Hendrix’s clever use of multi-media elements also means that you gradually discover the details of each of their stories, particularly their Final Girl experiences. This allows them to not just be defined by what happened to them, though it does form a significant aspect of their character.

Of course, the thriller and slasher element of the book also creeps in. It’s been a while since I read a straight up slasher novel, but this was pretty fantastic. Instantly, I knew I was in for a wild ride and Hendrix never let up. The monsters of their past appear to be re-emerging and chasing them down one, by one. Hendrix creates a truly heart-stopping and pulse-pounding atmosphere, thick with tension and suspense. This book is completely unrelenting, with the pace driving forwards and the stakes rising higher and higher. The twists and turns in store are genuinely shocking and you’re often left unsure as to who you can trust or what the truth is.

The Final Girl Support Group asks what happens after the final credits roll in an intriguing, blood-soaked and tense examination of the trope, with a twisty mystery at its core that will keep you on your toes.

Meet Lynette – one helluva unreliable narrator. Paranoid and damaged. Paranoid because she’s damaging. Mentally and physically damaging. But that’s what you get when you’re a Final Girl, the survivor of a massacre. Your Sidney Prescott of the real world.

“your life isn’t the thing that happens between the monsters, your life is the monsters”

Lynnette is one brilliant unreliable narrator. Her paranoia adds to the unnervy feel of the book. She oozes paranoia, she lives and breathes it. As the book went on, the paranoia infiltrated me. Who could be trusted? Who was the puppeteer pulling the strings in what appears to be the destruction of the Final Girls. I felt so uneasy as Lynnette tries to save the girls who are possibly the closest people she has to calling friends (other than her plant Fine).

Hendrix’s writing is done with confidence. The brush strokes he’s made throughout The Final Girl Support Group are bold. It may seem a slow burner but the time line for the events is only a few days and packs a punch. The twists and turns that have been woven into this tale led me in spirals of mistrust for all involved including the leading lady. The climax as with the rest of the book is bloody but what would you expect from what is essentially a slasher movie of a book. I for one enjoyed the ride!

I have only read one other Grady Hendrix book, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, but I absolutely loved it. I love horror and I’m always on the look out for authors who aren’t hugely prolific names. In recent years, Grady Hendrix has been becoming increasingly more well-known and I can’t wait to read more from him.

Lynnette Tarkington is a final girl, who survived the brutal home invasion that killed her family and boyfriend over 20 years before. It still haunts Lynnette every single day but she has the monthly support of therapist Dr Carol Elliott and five other final girls, who all survived their own horror movies. But then one of the original girls fails to turn up to a meeting, Lynnette knows what’s happening. Someone has returned to finish these girls off but they didn’t count on the strength of six women, who simply refuse to die.

Lynnette understandably has severe PTSD and paranoia. It seems that she has spent the majority of her life in this state of constant heightened anxiety and I can’t imagine living like that. Every little noise seems to spook her and she doesn’t trust anyone at all. She indulges in some very erratic and unhinged behaviour but so much about Lynnette makes sense.

One very clear sign that Lynnette isn’t exactly on the same plane as most of us is her intense attachment to a houseplant called Fine. She speaks about the plant as if it were a pet or a child and openly tells us (without any kind of irony or humour) that she has long conversations with him. Fine is her best friend and I think that illustrates Lynnette’s state of mind perfectly.

I cried a little when Lynnette recounts the massacre that she lived through. I don’t think many of us can really imagine the amount of both physical and mental pain that she went through that night. However, it’s inevitable that such a traumatic event would shape the person that she became. By bravely trying to save her fellow final girls, she is trying to make up for not being able to save her family.

I’m not sure I’ve ever read a more accurate description of what severe trauma does to a human, when Lynnette says 'After a while, you realise that life isn't the thing that happens between the monsters, your life is the monsters'. When you’ve witnessed violence at the level that Lynnette has, those images never leave you. No amount of therapy or medication will erase the horrors that played out in front of you. Your life becomes the monsters and therefore, a living hell.

There are images of therapy notes, police interview transcripts and letters referring to one of the final girls cases at the beginning of every chapter. It’s through these that we get to know a little bit more about what each woman went through. Each of them have dealt with their ordeals in different ways from activism to addiction, from isolation to helping others’ recover and it was fascinating to see how each of these coping mechanisms panned out for them.

Julia is wheelchair-bound and a total badass. She is incredibly fierce and witty with the power to withstand multiple attempts on her life. During the big tension-filled showdown, she really shows us why she is a final girl. I think I audibly cheered when she launched her chair up and down flights of stairs. I would fully believe a theory that she is an immortal deity!

A staple in every horror story is the final chase towards the end and this one is very cinematic. I could picture Lynnette racing and twirling through the buildings of Camp Red Lake in slow motion to a loud, crashing orchestra. Hendrix does a great job of writing visceral, morbidly beautiful scenes that would translate perfectly to an artistic, slightly satirical, screen adaptation.

By the end of the book, I was reminded of the constant rhythm of simply being alive. The fact that no matter how monumental our life events are, it’s highly likely that we’ll still be living when it’s over. It’s easy to think about the brevity of how short a single life is compared to the vastness of the universe and time but actually, the idea of life will never go away. Even when humans have stopped living, it will be time for another life form to take our place. The mundane churning of every day life is unlikely to ever fade from existence and that’s a pretty powerful thought.

There is also commentary on the vulnerability of women in our society as well as some exploration of why there is such a universal fascination with the violence and murder of women. Slasher films and many high profile murder cases always involve the horrific slaying of young women and yet these stories capture us in a very unique way. Is it because some sick part of us enjoys hearing female screams and seeing female bodies butchered? Is that nauseating level of misogyny ingrained within all of us? The book makes you question yourself so very deeply and I really appreciated it.

The Final Girl Support Group is a twisty, suspense-filled horror novel with some excellent characters. There are several possibilities for who was really behind everything and the big twist completely knocked me for six! Ultimately, it’s a story of survival, friendship and incredible courage. Put it on your Halloween TBRs!

After loving A Southern Book Groups Guide to Slaying Vampires, I was seriously looking forward to reading The Final Girl Support Group. The perception and reality, unfortunately, were completely different. A premise that should have both been intriguing and thrilling, it turned out to be neither. Something is lacking, be it characters of more substance and grit, racial tropes that don’t belong there and the feminist monologue just didn’t feel genuine and if I’m honest a bit contrived. The Final Girls were just girls that had a traumatic event happen to them – I wanted to the raw and unfiltered story of their backstories, we only had Lynette’s story, one narrative.

The Final Girl Support Group as mentioned above does well on intention but the reality was weak and without structure. The character development ultimately had me not caring about the final girls and that should be the last thing intended with a story of such a high concept. We need to care about what and why this happened to the girls but I ended up just thinking the majority of them were cold and calculated. I didn’t feel the strength and resilience at being the final girl – I couldn’t imagine any of them killing the murderer.

The Final Girl Support Group is a throwback to the ’80s and 90’s slasher flix’s and I think they should have just stayed there. It is one of the few novels I’ve read in the genre that has left me feeling it would have been better than a movie instead of a book. There’s gore but there is also cheese in equal measure and it was just too much (the cheese that is.) It’s reminiscent of Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street but the book dragged on in too many places for me to be truly invested in the outcome.

The payoff in the novel ended up coming way too late in the story for me to care. The killer’s motives weren’t revealed until very late on, the way the sequence of the story moved forward didn’t make much sense and by this point, I was left feeling very frustrated at the narrative and the plot. I was so sick of Lynette by the end I just couldn’t care what happened to her. How is she even a final girl? She was so weak and anxious. Suspending disbelief is how I would describe my reading experience with The Final Girl Support Group.

OMG what the heck I just read???? It was intense, violent, with amazing and somewhat broken characters. I want this book to be a movie, it would be a perfect slasher movie with 80's vibes. I thought it was a bit slow paced at a times but I enjoy the most part of it. I still have one book by the same author to read and I am sure I will going to like it. I definitely recommend this book for any slasher movie fan.

The Final Girl’s Support Group is about a group of middle aged women who were the victims of horrendous crimes, each was the only one who survived their individual case. Now they are in group therapy, and each woman has developed a different coping mechanism to deal with what happened to her. Lynette Tarkington has become immensely paranoid, and when it appears that someone is trying to pick off each of the Final Girls in turn, Lynette takes an extreme approach in trying to save herself and the members of the group.

This was quite the rollercoaster of a book. The Final Girl’s Support Group was wayyyyy out of my comfort zone, I’d describe it as a horror/thriller akin to Scream the movie in book form. Don’t judge me on that if you’re a horror fan, please, that’s as far as I’ve delved into the horror genre so really have nothing else to compare it with. I’ve seen a couple comparisons to The Final Girls by Riley Sager and no, that’s not a comparison I would make other than to say that both books made me deeply uncomfortable reading them. There are some supremely graphic descriptions of some of the murders, so much so that I probably wouldn’t have read it if I’d known in advance.
The fast paced nature of the writing kept me hooked, though, even if I wasn’t sure whether I was dealing with an unreliable narrator or if Lynette was right all along. I did predict one of the twists half way through, yet another took me by surprise.
In short, I’m not sure what to make of it. I felt like it was definitely aimed at people who know more about slasher movies than I do - are murder super fans an actual thing?? That makes me feel sick. As a newbie I think this is not an entry level horror novel.

final girl (n.) - the last and sole survivor of a horror movie

Do you ever wonder what happens to those final girls after they survived a murder spree? Well, wonder no more because Grady Hendrix made it happen!

This was such a fun read, and if you're a fan of slasher movies, you're gonna love this! The characters are named after the actresses who played their movie counterparts. The chapter titles are clever and give a nod to these films (example: The Final Girl Support Group's New Nightmare).

The Final Girl Support Group is literally a support group for the 6 final girls. For years, they meet up with a therapist monthly to discuss their trauma. One day, one of them is running late, and another announced that she's going to stop attending the sessions. Well, Lynette doesn't like that. Her routine and everything feels like turning upside down.

Lynette starts to panic that someone knows about the group and is trying to kill them all. She starts to do crazy things resulting in her friends giving her a wide berth.

This book kept me guessing almost the whole time! I keep asking myself if someone is really trying to kill them off or Lynette just went crazy. Turns out, Lynette's right!

I really enjoyed reading this. It made me miss watching slasher movies. The writing style completely captivated me. I did not stop until I finished it.

The character portrayals were well done. It felt classic final girl and their personalities were realistic. I can feel Lynette's paranoia and the tension building up. It was such a wild ride!

The confrontation with the killer was spot-on and in a slasher film fashion. I love it!

Thank you so much Titan Books and Netgalley for the DRC. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

Final girl: the last and sole survivor of a horror movie.

Are you a fan of the slasher movies from the 80’s? Then The final girl support group is the book for you.

The final girl support group is a therapy group for all those women sole survivors of a horrible massacre, whose lives turned into books and movie deals, making them nationwide celebrities. More than 20 years after their original attacks one group member is killed and the others come under attack at the same time, so that seems like too much of a coincidence. Who wants to kill them all after so many years? All their “monsters” are dead or behind bars, aren’t they? But Lynnette, another of the final girls, isn’t ready to give up and sets herself to face their attacker to become the ultimate final girl.

This was a really fun read. Although I haven’t watched many of the movies referenced here, I could catch some of the nods to the genre, but I guess a true fan would be able to appreciate all the references and homages that flew over my head.

I had some trouble at first trying to remember all the characters and the different massacres they had lived (in fact, I’m not sure I could pair each final girl with their killer right now). I liked Lynnette and her no nonsense approach to everything. Some of her antics were a bit OTT but hey, a girl needs to survive!

Interspersed through the chapters there were extracts of police interviews, news articles, books excerpts, that told us about all the final girls’ stories (I don’t know how it will be done in the final digital version, but I left my eyes trying to read those on my Kindle).

The final confrontation was a killer scene and in true slasher fashion and I kept visualizing it on the big screen (the whole book would make a great movie).

Special mention to the chapter titles. So much fun!

Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Final Girl Support Group Is an interesting premise but I just didn’t enjoy it much. I found the characters unlikeable and I wasn’t gripped by the story, I didn’t really care what happened to whom.

I loved all Grady Hendrix novels but this one just felt a bit flat for me. I loved the idea, but the repetitiveness irked me, and none of the characters were particularly engaging, including Lynette. The inserts I didn't quite get but I imagine there was some significance to them. What I loved best was, as always, Grady Hendrix' female characters! They are always feisty! It wasn't my favourite but I am eagerly waiting for more.

This book is such an interesting one, giving you all the vibes of a slasher film and feeling more like a film than a book the longer you read!!
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A must read for any fans of this genre, especially if you’re a huge movie fan also! Took me a while to completely get into the book, but I ended up speeding through it by the end and it was a very enjoyable read!
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I did struggle sometimes remember who the characters were and their back stories so if you wanna completely immerse yourself, keep a cheat sheet next to you! Haha
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Thank you to Netgalley & Titan Books for the ARC!!

https://lynns-books.com/2021/07/08/the-final-girl-support-group-by-grady-hendrix/
4.5 of 5 stars
My Five Word TL:DR Review : Crazy as a horror flick

To be honest, The Final Girl Support Group was exactly what I expected it to be. The title gives you a good idea what the story is about – a support group for survivors of hideous horror soaked massacres. Of course, all the survivors here and the traumas they have been through will be well known to horror aficionados who will undoubtedly recognise the characters and the movies they relate to – because of course, the premise here, which is such a great idea – is that those movies were based on true events, and the survivors, the final girls standing at the end of those movies make up the support group from the title.

As you might expect, all the final girls have reacted in different ways but over the years they’ve become, sort of, friends through the support group they attend together. As the book begins, it appears that change is on the horizon. These girls, women now in fact, will always be an enigma or constant source of fascination to a certain element of society and it feels inevitable that eventually somebody will come looking for them – hoping to make their own gory statement.

The central character is Lynnette Tarkington. Strictly speaking Lynnette isn’t a ‘final girl’ although she was the only survivor of her own personal horror story – she’s different because she didn’t kill the monster at the end of her trauma like the other girls. Lynnette’s form of coping involves training, surveillance and living a life in hiding. She practically lives in her own self made cage and has contingency plans for the contingency plans! just in case. Of course, all her planning and working out crumble when it appears that somebody knows all her secrets and how to bypass all her homemade security devices.

Firstly, I will say that you need to check your overpowering desire to have everything tied up with a neat realistic bow as soon as you crack this book open. This is not a book that is realistic – no more than say Halloween or Friday the 13th were realistic. What this is, is a great play on horror movies, a homage filled with moments that will feel strangely familiar, even if you don’t recognise all the different ideas. What immediately popped into my head was a particular scene from the adaptation of Interview with a Vampire, where the young girl and Louis (both vampires) are watching a stage play, where basically the actors are all vampires (pretending to be humans) and the ever tortured Louis says ‘Vampires, pretending to be humans pretending to be vampires’. This quote is perfect here because of the strange way that Hendrix has twisted everything – so, we have a fictional horror/thriller story pretending to be a real story based on real characters who survived a body of fictional movies. I’m not sure that I’ve described that in the clearest terms – hopefully you can see what I’m driving at. Anyway, the main point here is that this book is crazy. It ticks all the crazy boxes and is delightfully, unashamedly a chaotic tribute to horror.

Oddly enough, I wouldn’t really say the horror is over the top here. Of course there are the backstories of the girls, but they’re not particularly dwelt upon so much as briefly skimmed over. The real story revolves around the mystery/thriller aspect – although there are some particular moments that are definitely a bit horror soaked, particularly as the drama unfolds and the tension is ramped up. Then there’s an absolutely over the top ending that twists itself up into a delicious pretzel.

There’s also just a gloriously exaggerated feeling of helplessness. Like as soon as the proverbial hits the fan everyone’s best intentions go to hell in a handcart and momentarily these ‘final girl’s act like countless other victims that we’ve all spent time and energy over the years shouting instructions at from the comfort of our sofas ‘don’t go in the cellar!’ ‘run!’ ‘he’s behind you’ – etc, etc. The beauty here though is that these girls, after a momentary flap, do pull themselves together, they’re survivors after all – but they need to stick together, and something or someone is intent on pushing them apart.

In terms of characters. Well, Lynnette is our main character and she is flawed. Come on though, she’s had a very bad experience. Very. Bad. She makes mistakes, quite a lot of mistakes if I’m honest. You can’t help but be flabbergasted by some of her actions, but at the same time she’s a great character to lead the story, probably because she’s not perfect, not always likeable and doesn’t always make the greatest choices.

In terms of criticisms. Well, I guess this isn’t the strongest plot but it definitely has a tongue in cheek stab at horror flicks and it’s more designed to entertain and get your pulse racing than be an intellectual experience.

Like the movies this takes inspiration from this is a popcorn munching, quick paced horror/thriller that had me glued to the page. And, also like the movies – you can’t take a break in the middle of the action – and the same can be said here – I pretty much read this in one sitting.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Grady Hendrix has done it again!
This book is written so well that you cannot help but gollop it all up and smile with absolute happiness all the way through it. He's remained one of the best horror writers right now, IMO
The concept of final girls meeting up monthly to argue over who should have brought the snacks is hilarious. I loved the mild disgust in the girl who sold her story and cashed in; the drug addict; the agoraphobic; the one who carried on with her life; the one who became paralyzed. And now someone wants them all dead, one by one. Who will become the final-final girl?
They all had lives and stories, and Grady Hendrix tells them so well, and I adored it.
This would make a fantastic movie and I would 100% cast the actors of those 1980's slasher films as the girls.
Fantastic book through and through, but that final scene with the final one line of speech "....welcome to final girl support group" *chefs kiss*

I absolutely love horror films but I don't like horror books so I wasn't sure what to expect from The Final Girl Support Group but I thought it was fantastic. It was a fast paced, page turner that did not disappoint.

Thank you to NetGalley and Titan Books for my ARC.

As a fan of slasher films this book was like a love letter to the fans. The little Easter eggs and references added immensely to the amazing story, compelling plot, incredible writing and engaging characters. I related so much to Lynette and get little plant. I haven’t dealt with killers but I know what it’s like to live with a large amount of fear every day and it made me root for her even more. I loved this so much I immediately ordered a signed copy. Amazing!

Any fan of a horror movie knows the concept of a Final Girl - the one who survives the massacre and lives to tell the tale. The concept here is a support group for these final girls, and I have to say I was intrigued.

The book started strongly and I thought the main character, Lynette, was excellent. A fantastic premise and a strong lead meant that this had all the makings of an excellent book, and I'm sure that for many who read this it will be an instant favourite. For me, however, I felt that the second half let it down a bit. There were certainly excellent moments - Hendrix's exploration of trauma and female friendships was definitely a highlight - but I just felt that the second half became a bit too murky. I struggled to keep the characters separate - at times I found myself getting confused, and I would have loved to get to know the characters more outside of the violence of the slasher genre.

If you're a fan of slasher movies, this is absolutely one for you. For me, I just wish I had connected more with it. However, for fans of the horror genre, its a must read.

I received a copy of this e-arc in exchange for an honest review thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books.

Honestly, I was disappointed by this book. I expected so much more and it didn’t deliver.

It started off really well but then it just fell flat and didn’t really redeem itself.

I did like the insight into what happens to the final girls which you don’t see in the movies. They’ve survived, but what happens next?

I didn’t see that coming with the villain, I liked that plot twist.

I feel like this book is suited for slasher film fans.