Reviews with content warning for Medical content - The Final Girl Support Group

I have had this on my radar since its release because I have historically really enjoyed Grady Hendrix.
"The Final Girl Support Group" follows Lynnette, a woman who survived a massacre and gained the title of a "final girl". For over a decade she has been meeting with other final girls in a support group, in an effort to try to help one another survive life after tragedy. When one of the women misses a meeting, Lynnette quickly realizes that their worst fears are coming true, and someone is determined to bring down each of them.
Of all of the Grady Hendrix books that I have read, this one was my least favorite. One of the elements that I have really enjoyed about his books in the past is that although his books are dark and tackle challenging elements, there is always this outlandish, comedic element. Unfortunately, this particular book did not feel like Grady Hendrix's normal brand of horror, to me. This story was dark and forced the characters to face some of their deepest fear, but there did not feel like there was the same level of comedy.
Lynnette was such an unlikeable main character. She has centered her entire life around being a final girl, which I empathize that her trauma probably did that to her, but I felt like she had nothing else to her personality. She has purely been in survival mode, and she has not found any joy in life for decades. Additionally, for someone so closed off from people because she is always expecting the worst, she seemed to trust characters a little too quickly. This did not feel authentic to her character, and it felt more like a way to make the plot move along.
Although I did not initially see the big reveal about who was behind this, I also did not feel hooked or shocked by it either. By the time it was revealed who was behind this, I was so done with this story that I almost did not care.
I think this idea had a lot of potential, and I am sad that it unfortunately just did not work for me. However, I will still continue to read Grady Hendrix in the future, and I will still continue to recommend his books to the right reader.

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rosesofthespring's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I wish it had wrapped up a few more plot threads, but overall an excellent novel. I'm not surprised that this one is so popular.

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taylormoore's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

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leahopkins's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This is the second Gradx Hendrix book I've read (first one being my best friend's excorcism) and I am starting to become a fan (though mbfe was better).
I thought the concept was very interesting and an entertaining twist of the genre, especially since the final girls' backstories/franchises actually take heavy inspiration from existing horror movies. I am not a very big slasher connoisseur (I have only watched the first scream movie), so I had a lot of fun using my very limited knowledge and the power of Google to figure out what movies the different characters were references to. The characters themselves were fun as well, although I wished they were fleshed out a little more. Lynette especially was a very interesting protagonist because of here intense paranoia, which made the reader question whether you could trust her or if all of this conspiracy was just happening inside her head.

I have to say though, it was a little unnecessary that Adrienne, the only black character, dies first. Yeah, I get that it's supposed to be humouring the slasher trope of "black dude dies first", but I would have really appreciated seeing more (/anything at all) of her, because based on what we got to know of her, she seemed like a very likable and caring character.

There were a lot of different twists, some more foreseeable than the others

(for example, Skye being the killer didn't shock me at all, but when it was revealed that Steph was also involved I was truly surprised)

and it was very fun trying to keep track of all the plot points and connections. However, in the middle part of the book, I thought it was slacking a bit and I had trouble staying engaged. The characters of Garrett and Chrissy felt a little out of place and at times even surreal

(the part where they visit Chrissy, her weird final girl museum and her homicidal boyfriend felt more like a bad dream than anything else. Same thing with the scene in which they leave a dead Michelle in a park with some old man.)

.
I really enjoyed the ending.

I liked that noone died, and the scene in which a heavily injured Lynette runs away from the killer to distract him from the others was very well written and almost moving. The last chapter itself also felt very touching, because it showed the characters healing, physically and mentally.

Overall, this was a very fun read and I am excited to put more of the author's work onto my TBR.

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flufficorn's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The first third of this book excited me, as I realized I had never read/listened to a book like this. But at some point near the half way mark, I found myself struggling to stay interested. I think it is because I eventually realized that there are a lot of reasons I lost interest in the Slasher sub-genre of films, and this story falls victim to those reasons and still expects me to think they are asking me to question the genre through their end-of-chapter quote blocks. That part of the story felt phoned-in. If the author really wanted the reader to question the concept the The Final Girl and the Slasher sub-genre, they would have had Lynette question herself and her actions more. Instead, Lynette found justification for all of her behavior. To that end, this book might have some kind of commentary about group therapy/trauma therapy, but it isn't a commentary that I picked up on.

A lot of reviews mention that this story is very predictable. While I did not specifically predict any particular plot point, between my knowledge of Slasher genre tropes and the clue crumbs left by the author, nothing in the story was particularly shocking or unexpected. The characters felt flat and one-dimensional to me, but Lynette did some healing at the very end there. Femme characters written by cis-men always fall flat to me, and this story was no different in that department.

This story positions itself as something questioning the inherent misogyny of the Slasher genre and our relationship to it as media consumers, but is really just a Slasher genre story that wants you to think it is smarter than it is.

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