The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

 

Reviewed by Christy 

Grady Hendrix is one of the few authors whose every release I eagerly anticipate (along with Megan Abbott and Gillian Flynn, although I fear we’ve lost the latter to screenwriting for a while). In his newest novel, Lynette is a Final Girl. In horror movies, the Final Girl is the last one standing, the sole survivor. 

 

But what happens after she survives? For Lynette, she joins a support group. They’ve been meeting in a church basement for years. They’re all women, they’ve all survived horrible massacres, they’re all Final Girls. Along with their therapist, she meets with the group every week in the hopes of getting some semblance of her life back, though she struggles to do so. But when one of the women misses a meeting, Lynette fears something is very, very wrong. Her fears are confirmed when she realizes someone is hunting the women once again.

 

 While I felt the novel started off a teeny bit slow, the second half really picked up steam and became quite action-packed. It very much had a slasher feel to it but on a grander scale. Slashers are not my favorite subgenre of horror but I did enjoy the deconstruction of the Final Girl trope, as well as matching up the horror movie inspiration with each character’s background. There are some touching moments, too. (Although one such moment was kind of ruined by an obnoxious character’s rudeness. I think said character is supposed to be annoying but I wasn’t 100% sure. At any rate, I don’t think it’s a good idea to undermine what’s supposed to be a deeply emotional scene.) 

 

As much as I liked this novel, it doesn’t top some of the other Hendrix books I’ve read. I felt a little jumbled reading it at times, and I wasn’t sure if it was a convoluted plot or poorly executed explanations or maybe just me? I think this is one of those books a reader could easily pick apart if one was inclined to do so. But at the end of the day, I still had a good time! I’m happy with that. 

 

 ** I received a copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. **