The Final Girl Support Group – Review

Hi everyone! I’ve been doing really well lately with reading my ARCs, and this is the next ARC on my list to write a review for! I was really excited to have been approved for this one.

The Final Girl Support Group
by Grady Hendrix
Series: Standalone
Release date: July 13th 2021

Genre: Adult, Horror, Thriller
Rating: ★★★★☆

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?

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she’s not alone. For more than a decade she’s been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette’s worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.

I was drawn into this book by the idea of final girls, and although I haven’t watched too many slasher films, I can definitely appreciate the idea of a final girl and what they represent. I was so excited for this book because while I haven’t finished any books by Grady Hendrix (I’ve started The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, but have yet to finish it), this one just sounded SO interesting that I needed to read it ASAP!

Lynnette is a final girl, someone who survived a massacre by killing the monster. Although Lynnette didn’t actually kill her attacker, she still attends a support group with a few other final girls to help them all deal with their trauma. Lynnette is a very paranoid character, always checking for anyone suspicious, covering her tracks, and just being generally cautious. It turns out she’s right to feel paranoid, because she uncovers a plot to kill all the final girls in the group. Or is she wrong? I loved that you couldn’t quite tell if she was an unreliable narrator, and it kept you guessing until the end!

I loved how this was essentially a slasher movie but in book form. It was ridiculous and over the top, and very gory. There were definitely some parts that seemed a little too unrealistic, but I think that was the point.

I read through this so quickly, and I had a really fun time while reading. I never saw the final twist coming, and every time I thought I had it all figured out we would get another twist. There were times were I felt like I was missing some background on the characters because they do relate back to actual slasher film characters and it’s been a LONG time since I’ve seen any slasher movies, and even then not a lot of them.

If you’re someone who loves slasher films, you will probably love this book. If you love humor, horror, and ridiculousness all in one book, I think you’ll enjoy it like I did! I definitely want to read more of this authors books now!