Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Final Girls by Riley Sager

7 reviews

tini_turtle's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Kept me so hooked for hours!! Felt it sagging a bit in the middle but the ending saved it. So so good and well written!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Vomit, Self harm, Violence, Gore, Blood, Death, Murder, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Stalking, and Body horror

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

killmoore_'s review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Had me going there for a minute, bud. The twist got me. 

Truly despicable characters, all of them, and a unreliable narrator trope that isn't exactly what it seems. This was fun, and while I don't normally like books that end all wrapped up with a bow, this one felt complete. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Murder, Gore, Medical content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, and Self harm

ohyeahshebomb's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Definitely kept me guessing up until the very end! Successful first Riley Sager book and I was not disappointed! Riley's writing style was absolutely perfect for a gooey thriller such as this. IT felt like I was truly watching a movie. He did a great job of giving descriptive without outright telling you everything you needed to know. You had to piece it all together. And just because you know something in the beginning, doesn't mean it's exactly as it seems...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, Body horror, Vomit, Gore, Murder, Eating disorder, Blood, Cursing, Police brutality, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review

challenging dark 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

3.25

At this point in time, Riley Sager is a popular thriller author online, having published several successful thrillers in the past few years. Final Girls is his first thriller, published in 2017. I picked up this book partially because of the author's name and partially because a friend of mine who is into 80's slasher really got me into horror and the concept of a final girl, the one who survives all the horrors of a single terrible night.

Sager's Final Girls isn't unique in wanting to explore the idea of the final girl further, of what it's like after everything. Previously, there was The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones in 2012 and later, in 2021, Grady Hendrix's The Final Girl Support Group. All of these books follow a similar storyline: there are these "final girls" who each survive what is by all accounts a massacre and then they are seemingly being killed off until the main character is left. This leaves the main character a "true" survivor, I suppose.

My problem with Sager's Final Girls isn't that there are other books like it, there are many ways to tell the same story after all. More so, I could tell Sager was still inexperienced at writing when it was published. While I appreciated the thematic nature of the past being told in the third person point of view and the present told in first person point of view, since the main character and narrator, Quincy, is unreliable due to her amnesia of the horrible night all her friends were killed; in the end, I found the switch in POV jarring to go between. 

As well, I could tell Sager was inexperienced in writing women specifically. Quincy herself was very annoying, and constantly got in her own way. But there was not only a strange love triangle between her, her boyfriend Jeff, and Coop, the cop who saved her life, there were also strange homoerotic tones between Quincy and her female friends/acquaintances. I felt like the was supposed to be a commentary on sexuality perhaps, especially when it comes to final girls (Check out Dead Meat Podcast Episode 15: Final Girl on YouTube for more information about that), but so much of it flopped and came off as cringey. 

I liked that Quincy was unreliable and I was intrigued by the complexity of several of the characters. However, they were often too unlikable for me to really invest in them fully, and I constantly found myself hating each and every one of them at different points in the book. 

Overall, I personally think that maybe the concept of finals girls should be left to the movies, or perhaps women authors who may be able to understand the deeper fears that persist in today's society of violence against women. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Vomit, Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Blood, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Classism, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Self harm, Eating disorder, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Police brutality, Sexism, Ableism, Cancer, Misogyny, Racism, and Death

As for the ending,

I was shocked by the twist with "Sam"/Tina, but I called Coop from the start a creep and I am glad it was the cop. Real good ACAB message lol

rachaelbunny's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Toxic friendship, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Suicide, Alcohol, and Gore

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, Sexual content, Addiction, Vomit, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual assault, Cancer, Police brutality, and Death of parent

mfrisk's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

2.0

I really wanted to enjoy this book - I love a cheesy horror movie with slasher elements and figured this would also delve into how that intersects with how we consumer true crime and survivor stories. 

I kept waiting and waiting for more exciting moments to happen in this book but the beginning really dragged, the middle felt like it was headed somewhere, but then ultimately the ending was disappointing and overly reliant on tropes and cheesy lines. 

Additionally, there wasn’t really any discussion or thought put into the discussion of true crime, survivor stories, and how the media shapes how we view these events. 

The whole book felt like an unfortunate missed opportunity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Sexual assault, Drug use, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, and Toxic relationship

seawarrior's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Sexual harassment

Minor: Rape, Incest, Pedophilia, Police brutality, and Terminal illness