Final Girls Is A Must Read For Horror Fans!
“But somehow we screamed louder, ran faster, fought harder. We survived.”
Final Girls written by Riley Sager was published in 2018 and made a big splash. Riley Sager is the pen name of the author. I’ve read one other book by him, The Last Time I Lied, which was a 4 star read, this one however is a 5 star read x 1000.
What’s it all about:
In this world there’s three real life finals girls; Lisa who survived a sorority house massacre, Sam who survived a motel massacre, and Quincy (the most recent) who survived a cabin in the woods massacre. Lisa has committed suicide and when Quincy finds out she’s devastated. She’s been able to recover quite well from her attack, despite not remembering most of that awful night. With her boyfriend Jeff, and the cop that saved her, Coop, she lives a sheltered but happy life. But when Lisa dies, Sam shows up at Quincy’s door. The two form a quick bond – both being final girls – but Jeff and Coop are suspicious of Sam. As they find out more about Lisa’s suicide, and Sam brings Quincy out of her happy, healthy shell, things start to unravel quickly.
“Y0u sh0uldn’t be alive. Y0u sh0uld have died in that cabin. It was y0ur destiny t0 be sacrificed.”
book mood board
Here’s what I loved: (full spoilers)
Let’s just dive right in and talk about the twists. I actually guessed pretty early on who the real cabin killer was. But the beauty of this book is that by the time it’s actually revealed, I’m still completely surprised. Because the real killer isn’t the only twist. We find out about who Sam really is, Tina, and that she’s out to prove Joe, the killer that Quincy named, was in fact wrongly accused and killed. I had no idea about that twist. I also had no clue about how evil Coop, the real killer, really was. He’d killed Lisa, Sam, and a few others. And he was hyper obsessed with the idea of the final girl, and Quincy herself. He’s an outstandingly evil villain. Sager also has a knack of leading you down these paths where you second guess your original guess to the point where you find out you were right but you’re still completely shocked about it. He’s an astoundingly good writer of mystery.
The girls themselves – this is a brilliant look at a survivor of a massacre and how each individual handles the grief, the survivor’s guilt, and the trauma. Lisa decides to be incredibly vocal about her experience, she writes a book about it, she mentors other survivors, and becomes a child psychologist. She has taken her trauma and risen above, using it to elevate herself. Sam completely disappeared, she chose to hide from the media and the world. Quincy decided to create a bubble – she keeps it very small and safe. She throws herself into her baking, deciding to hide behind a blog than go publicly to work and only sees two people in person. It reminded me a lot of the Ariel Castro kidnappings and how each girl reacted to their new lives after being found. It’s a fascinating character piece for sure.
The horror is here for sure, you can see so many horror influences here and it’s really great. But it’s not so obvious a pop culture reference that it pulls you out of the book. Describing each massacre scene reminded me of so many different horror movies and that was a lot of fun. Even the twists themselves reminds me a lot of various movies like Scream, Orphan, Saw, Sleepaway Camp etc.
Overall, Final Girls is a must-read for any horror fan – it’s filled with twists and turns, bad ass women, creepy scenes, and a fast-paced story that you’ll want to devour in one afternoon. Highly recommended!
“I’m his creation, forged from blood and pain and the cold steel of a blade. I’m a fucking final girl.”
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