The Final Girl Support Group was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Grady Hendrix. I’ve been a fan of Hendrix for a while, I highly recommend you pick some of his other books, My Best Friend’s Exorcism & The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.
So, what is a Final Girl? Well, she is the lone survivor in a horror story. After her friends and/or family have been brutally murdered by a violent psychopathic killer, she stands to face the killer alone. In most cases, she triumphantly overcomes her attacker, putting an end to the graphic bloodshed.
In this story, we follow Lynnette, as she does her best to keep the support group she’s attended for over a decade, from dissolving. The members, all Final Girls, are the inspiration of slasher horror films and writers of tell-all books. Some of the ladies feel the group should to disband! During a meeting that spirals out of control with pointless debate and petty complaints, one of the members checks her phone to see the horrific news, that the Final Girl whose chair was empty, was killed.
The news of one of their own being killed strikes a nerve, especially with Lynnette. On her way home, she takes unique paths through the city that she believes would shake a tail – in the event that someone was actually following her. She focuses in on the shoes of people near her, checking if the same pair have crossed her path more than once. Lynnette’s the kind of gal that has back up plans for her back up plans, just in case things go wrong… which they do.
Someone is trying to kill off the Final Girls!
Lynnette is the only one aware, thanks to her paranoia, that a killer is hell-bent on spilling the blood of her and her friends… To kill off the Final Girls.
Will Lynnette save her friends? Or, will she be the Final Girl – of the Final Girls?
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
As always, I get a kick out of Grady Hendrix’s stories. Each one of his books is so different, but as far as I can tell, they all share just one thing… a wonderful female lead. I could be wrong, but seems to be a trend in publishing right now (don’t cancel me) to have a female lead. Almost every new book I’ve read has a leading female protagonist – there’s nothing wrong with that! Hendrix writes characters extremely well. As a man writing the female perspective the way he does it, it’s just mind blowing. Hendrix always puts a character in the most uncomfortable situations, and it’s always exciting to see how the character will react.
I found it humorous to base not just characters, but the actual massacres of the Final Girl’s past off of real horror movies and characters, like Sidney from Scream and Laurie from Halloween. Of course, things are mixed up and twisted a bit. Although certain plot points mirror things that we have seen in horror flicks, the story is still unpredictable and loads of fun.
While I did enjoy the book, the only complaints I have, is that some plot points were slightly muddled down and some things were resolved a bit too conveniently. HOWEVER, those complaints share almost ALL of my thoughts on horror films in general – off the wall plot points and convenient resolve. Well, I guess that’s what makes it fun.
Rating: I will give The Final Support Group a B+