Synopsis:
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 question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa’s death come 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.
Edition:
Paperback
My Thoughts:
For me, Final Girls was a bit of a slow starter. At first, all I kept thinking was that I didn’t like Quincy very much. She talked a bunch of shit about her mom, and how her mom coped with the incident at Pine Cottage, her daughter’s status as the sole survivor, and basically every other problem she is every present with by refusing to acknowledge that anything was wrong, but there she is doing the same damned thing. Her decision to use Xanax, wine, and baking to “cope” with her trauma made me want to slap the basic suburbanite right outta her.
“You can’t change what’s happened. The only thing you can control is how you deal with it.”
By about the middle of the book though, I was way more into it. Things really started to ramp up after Sam arrived. Was Quincy still doing the Xanax, wine, and baking thing? Sure. But Sam shook shit up (ewww alliteration)!
I took this with me when I went camping, and honestly I’m really thankful that I was too busy to read more than the first two chapters out there, cuz even though I was in a tent in the woods instead of a cabin in the woods, I am not sure how well I would have handled the intense wooded darkness after the description of what went down at Pine Cottage. I might have lost my shit a little.
“Y0U SH0ULDN’T BE ALIVE. Y0U SH0ULD’VE DIED IN THAT CABIN. IT WAS Y0UR DESTINY T0 BE SACRIFICED.”
The book played out differently than I expected which I always appreciate. Although the conclusion felt a hair trite, half of it was still my second choice option rather than my first. I refuse to expand upon that because if you haven’t read it, I don’t want to spoil it for you.
About the Author:
Riley Sager is the award-winning pseudonym of a former journalist, editor and graphic designer who previously published mysteries under his real name.
Now a full-time author, Riley’s first thriller, FINAL GIRLS, became a national and international bestseller and was called “the first great thriller of 2017” by Stephen King. Translation rights have been sold in more than two dozen countries.
Riley’s next two books, THE LAST TIME I LIED and LOCK EVERY DOOR, were instant New York Times bestsellers. His most recent book, HOME BEFORE DARK, was published in July.
A native of Pennsylvania, Riley now lives in Princeton, New Jersey. When he’s not writing, he enjoys reading, cooking and going to the movies as much as possible. His favorite film is “Rear Window.” Or maybe “Jaws.” But probably, if he’s being honest, “Mary Poppins.”
Website
Facebook
Twitter: @Riley_Sager.
Rating:
Overall, I enjoyed this book. It wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was a slasher, and slashers pretty much stopped breaking new ground around the time I was born (mid-80s). If you want a slasher-based mystery/thriller, this book delivers.
Final Girls By Riley Sager Dutton ISBN: 9781101985366 Published: July 11, 2017 Hardcover, Paperback, E-book 342 Pages Author's Website
