Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Final Girls

A genuinely impressive book that surprised and excited me.

Quincy's Final Girls are comprised of three, majorly smart victims. No not victims. Survivors. Quincy Carpenter, Lisa Milner and Samantha Boyd are standout, independent, strong female characters that thrill the reader.

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ecn's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

Nothing really kept me drawn to this book other than the will to finish it. Not the worst but not great.
You can tell a man wrote it, which I think says enough about certain scenes and characters.

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sammymc's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Captures the feeling of a slasher movie while subverting a ton of familiar tropes. Keeps you guessing and makes sure you never know what to believe. I didn’t love all of the twists, but I also can’t say I saw them coming.

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phantasmaboo's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Final Girls: A Novel by Riley Sager tells the story of Quincy, who is the lone survivor of an attack that left many of her friends dead in college. She is labelled a Final Girl, making her part of a group of young women who survived attempts to murder them. Quincy seems to have some stability in her life when one of the other Final Girls, Lisa, is found dead from an apparent suicide. Couple with the arrival of the third Final Girl, Samantha, on her doorstep one day, Quincy is quickly thrown down the rabbit hole as Sam tries to get her to remember her past and discover who she truly is.

This is really the first thriller book that I have read in a long while and I found the experience to be quite enjoyable. I didn't really consider a "page-turner", as I put it down and forgot about it for several months, but now that I've finished it, I'm glad I did. Sager has several high points to this book that represent the genre well. They include:

Complicated Characters
In my reading, I didn't really find many of the characters too likeable, but I thought that was a strength. I am glad that Sager stayed away from creating the "perfect victim" in Quincy and, instead, represented her flaws for what they were: reactions to the trauma that she endured. I also liked that because Quincy has distinct and arguably serious character flaws, as it adds to the suspense of the story. At times, it was unclear whether Quincy could be relied on to tell the story and accurately reflect on her experiences. I found myself questioning Quincy a lot and I thought that was the main strength of this story.

Compelling Plot and Pace (for the most part)
I thought that the plot and pace when it revolved around Quincy figuring out what happened to her and investigating Sam. Unfortunately, that happens mostly in the last 1/3 of the book. Still, I think that it was enough to make it a highlight. The book is fairly easy read and has a moderate pace, which I think it fitting.

Nice Twist at the End
There are some reviews that have said that they "knew what happened" from the very beginning, but I was really surprised! Maybe it's because I do not read this genre all that often, but I thought the surprise at the end was great and probably what saved this book for me.

That being said, there are a few areas that impacted my review negatively. Among them being:

Diversity
There is a distinct lack of diversity in this book, so if you are looking for a book that will represent diverse perspectives, this probably isn't it. The book is very white-centered. The only person of color that I can remember is **minor spoiler** a drug addict who is attacked
, which is disappointing to say the least. I don't even think that Quincy is best represented as a white woman throughout the text either. She, and Sam, are constantly defined by the men in their lives and their relationships to them. For example, I was disappointed that a lot of Quincy's relationships with men were constructed so shallowly even though presumably she had deep connections to them (i.e., they were based on sex rather than intimacy). I found that Quincy was treated as more of an object than a person at points, even with her very real faults. I think that this did render Quincy somewhat shallow and hindered her development. At the end, when Quincy says that she wants to teach someone else how to be Final Girl, I had no idea what that meant, as Quincy barely seemed to have any character development in the text at all until the final few pages.

Pacing (now for the negative)
There are parts of this book that feel slow and disconnected. It isn't even clear what Sam is there for until the last 1/3 of the book where most of the plot comes together. While it is a mystery/thriller, I think that the middle portion of the book was meant to sow distrust in Quincy and/or show her growth, but I think it did neither very well. This is part of the reason why I put the book down and forgot about it for a while. I would have appreciated a bit more agency from Quincy throughout, perhaps having her do more investigating throughout the book rather than galivanting around with Sam.

Overall Review
I give this book 3.5 / 5 stars. I think that it is traditional within the mystery/thriller genre, although not really pushing any boundaries that I can think of. It was definitely a decent read.

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seawarrior's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

While definitely a page turner, Final Girls was somewhat of a letdown for me. It probably doesn't help that I read Home Before Dark recently before this, where Sager's writing is much stronger in my opinion.

The main merit of this book is how easily it held my interest. I checked it out from the library planning to read it over several days, and ended up finishing it in a matter of hours. Unfortunately I felt that the twists in the plot were somewhat predictable, and I don't say that lightly, as I actively try not to predict the answer to mysteries as I'm reading them. This led to an anticlimatic end in my experience, made all the more unsatisfying by my mild investment in the characters. As much as I wanted to love these stubborn, surviving women, they felt a little too much like flat, paperdoll people to spark my investment or pathos.

Though I have more harsh notes on this book than positive ones, I don't feel that it's altogether terrible and I don't regret reading it. The writing isn't excellent, but it's entertaining nonetheless and I would still recommend it to others looking for an engaging thriller to read.

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readwithzoe_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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moon's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

wow, i'll admit i didn't see that plot twist coming at all. the writing is decent too and managed to capture my attention so much i finished the book in 2 days.

the not so great stuff: literally no diversity. characters were frustrating as hell, especially quincy.

i'm kinda mad that quincy still managed to escape any sort of accountability at the end. she really just sat by and let tina take the fall for her. i know it was done "against her protests" but let's be real, if she really didn't want tina to make a false confession on her behalf, she would've actually done something about it instead of making empty objections.

while the writing and plot managed to hook me in, i wasn't impressed by anything else so i don't know if i can say i would recommend this.

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ggcd1981's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.25

Nota: 3.25 estrelas

Já fazia um tempo que queria tentar ler algo do autor Riley Sager pela primeira vez, então quando tive oportunidade li Final girls. Sager é um autor que é bastante popular entre os leitores de Mystery/thriller e isso me deixou curiosa. A minha primeira experiência com uma obra do autor não foi bem o que eu esperava. Acredito que por ouvir tantas pessoas recomendarem seus livros acabei, involuntariamente, criando uma grande expectativa. Essa expectativa fez com que eu achasse Final girls bastante mediano. Contudo, essa impressão foi causada por minhas próprias expectativas altas, o livro não realmente tem culpa. Final girls não é um mal livro, foi relativamente bem escrito, apesar de aqui e acolá haverem algumas frases bastante questionáveis (brega mesmo).

Como pontos negativos posso apontar: as mencionadas frases cringey; A primeira metade do livro tem um passo um pouco lento, em dado momento questionei se o livro era realmente considerado Mystery/Thriller/Horror devido a lentidão; personagens não agradáveis que você não consegue realmente se afeiçoar completamente; por ser um autor homem escrevendo cenas sexuais do ponto de vista de uma protagonista feminina achei estas cenas um pouco desagradáveis; o final foi um pouco “fácil” com Tina decidindo assumir a culpa pelo crime de Quincy.

Os pontos positivos são: Livro relativamente bem escrito, mostrando duas linhas temporais, o “Presente” como Final girl de Quincy e o “Passado” do que aconteceu em Pine Cottage; O autor teve o cuidado de escrever personagens femininas complexas (mesmo que desagradáveis) e examinar, especialmente no caso de Quincy, como o trauma do massacre sobrevivido influência na vida no seu dia a dia (o esforço da personagem em parecer e dizer a si mesma que tudo está bem, quando seus comportamentos mostram outra coisa); o Twist do enredo me surpreendeu, eu não previ quem era o real culpado por Pine Cottage e o assassinato da Final girl Lisa.

Em conclusão o livro foi bom, mas minha expectativa de Riley Sager em conjunto com os pontos negativos citados tornaram a experiência de ler Final Girl mediana, ainda que o twist eu não tenha previsto. Acho que 3.25 estrelas é justo, a obra foi interessante e me surpreendeu. Em geral experiência de leitura positiva porém nada que eu considere memorável.

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