Review: Final Girls by Riley Sager

Final Girls

by Riley Sager
Published by Dutton: July 11th 2017
Hardcover: 342 pages
Goodreads
Amazon
Trigger Warnings: rape, suicide, addiction
Star Rating: 4/5










Synopsis from Goodreads:

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 questions why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death comes 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 Review:

Before reading this book, I was honestly unsure about it as Charlie Brook wasn't the biggest fan. But I decided to give it a go and I was not disappointed in the slightest.

This book feels like a strange horror movie of the B-variety but it's still great anyway. At the start it definitely has a much slower pace to the rest of the book so it might need a bit of investment to get through to the good stuff but I promise it's worth it! Final Girls is also the obvious trope for the 'one that got away' as the main protagonists have previously endured some pretty horrendous ordeals. However it doesn't get any easier for them.

Quincy is trying to forget about her past especially as she has amnesia from the event itself. She doesn't remember any of the details of what happened to her but she does know the outcome and she has lots of memories of her friends who were murdered. She has to take medication and regularly sees the man who save her life, Coop but she is running a baking blog and is trying to move forward. However, all that starts to unravel when another of the Final Girls, as depicted by the media, dies in potentially suspicious circumstances and Samantha (the third girl) shows up. The question then becomes what does Sam want?

I love the way this book was laid out and I felt like it really kept me guessing. The good thing for me was that this book has multiple twists and just when you think you've worked out the twist, something else happens. I did guess a few of the twist moments but still found myself surprised by the final outcome. It's also a story where no matter what happens, you still find yourself second-guessing which can be a fun experience.

The one downside to me and the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of the full 5 was none of the characters were likeable or endearing to me. I don't always have to like the characters in a book to enjoy the reading experience but because I was supposed to be so invested in Quincy and her life, I found that a little challenging because she was essentially another carbon copy character. The plot to this book is far more interesting and well thought out than the individual characters are so if you enjoy plot-based over character-based books, you will have a fabulous time reading this book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read and would recommend to any light horror/mystery fans who don't want anything too heavy or gory! 

Until next time, happy reading!