Reviews

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

graveyardpansy's review against another edition

2.0

2.5 stars — on its own, i more or less enjoyed this — i like the moral greyness of some characters, i thought the plot and twists were pretty good. however, the narrator is unreliable to a level that i didn’t really enjoy, and a lot of the characters are just really unlikable. most importantly though, this is my third Grady Hendrix book, and he has the SAME problem every time. he tries to write about complex social issues in his horror — e.g. capitalism and wage labour in Horrorstor, racism of white women towards Black women in Book Club’s Guide, and now ableism and racism and misogynistic media and reporting in this one. (for context, he is afaik a cishet abled white man. and iirc he picked Grady as his pen name so that he could seem like ~maybe a woman~) his representations of these issues imo is always just really underdeveloped and it feels more like he’s exploiting them for cookies than actually genuinely wanting to discuss the issues and explore their ties to horror. a lot of contemp horror writers do this well, but all of them are actually tied to the issues they write about — see Carmen Maria Muchado, or Lakewood, or quite a few of the other books on my horror shelf. all in all, it’s not bad, but if you want horror that examines social issues, go for literally anything but Hendrix.

penelope_982's review against another edition

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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

jessicagloe's review against another edition

I could have tried to push a bit longer so the story could develop a bit more, but I just kept hitting road block after road block within 3 chapters. There are so many lines about being a woman in a dangerous world full of men that are so on the nose and feel so hollow. The author tried to throw in some conversations about race and gender and they all fell so flat and pedantic. Additionally, for a book with so many strong female characters, they feel like immediate caricatures. maybe it gets better, but after getting hit over the head numerous times, i decided to cut my losses. 

thewriterrose's review against another edition

2.0

As someone who loved My Best Friend’s Exorcism, I had really high hopes for this book. However, it bored me more often than it entertained me. While the ending wasn’t necessarily predictable, it was disappointing and not particularly exciting.

I so wanted to love this book. I love the final girl trope, and I love Hendrix’s writing style. Something about this was just a miss for me. I’m hoping I didn’t read his best book first.

brooklynelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

julesxghouls's review

Already couldn’t stand the characters, even though I enjoyed the author’s other work involving older folks

laril's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

frenchtoast069's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

stjehanne's review against another edition

2.0

This book clearly overstays its welcome.
Somehow, it manages to throw a couple of senseless plot twist at the reader while still being predictable all the way to the ending. Its entire message simply felt too shallow to be meaningful.

My biggest question is: Who is this book for? At times, it felt like reading a young adult novel but the subject matter was clearly aimed at adults.

Sometimes, I forgot that our main characters were supposed to be adults since they mostly acted like teens under pressure. This notion was paired with a bunch of rather comical villains that had as much depth as the heroines - which is, to say, none.

I understand that the book attempted to capture the spirit of slasher movies and put a spin on it. Sadly, it didn’t work out for me.

freysonfreysonson's review

dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0