Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

167 reviews

annacfunke's review

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Torture, Murder, and Mass/school shootings

maryellen's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cancer, Mass/school shootings, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Gore, Vomit, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Stalking, Torture, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Murder, Violence, Car accident, and Child death

rustmaiden's review

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Cursing, Violence, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gore, Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Stalking, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Gaslighting, Torture, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Mass/school shootings, and Emotional abuse

sydneyjn's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I struggle so much with Grady Hendrix.  The writing is good, the concept is always great, the story is interesting (if a bit predictable sometimes) but DAMN does the main character always make stupid decisions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Death, Violence, Torture, Panic attacks/disorders, and Blood

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Cancer and Terminal illness

alychee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Murder, Blood, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Cannibalism, Death of parent, Drug use, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture

annieisawesome's review against another edition

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? No

2.0

It was very slow to read. The action didn’t really start until half way through. The beginning was very hard to get into. I actually had to get this book out of the library 6 different times to finish. I did enjoy the portrayal of the different horror movies within it. The ending was incredibly predictable however, and I’m not sure if it was worth the time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Torture, Blood, Murder, Body horror, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

phelpsg2021's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Torture, and Physical abuse

cinderrunner's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

On the surface, yes, this is a great book for classic 80s slasher fans. It has awesome nods to all your favorite movies and iconic final girls (so scream, halloween, friday the 13th, nightmare, texas chainsaw). It has just the right dash of campiness to tickle the senses of camp fans but not piss off people who dont like campy things. The book is very fast past which i liked. The author does very well writing an almost exclusively female cast and making them feel authentic while keeping strong individual voices. I get nervous when male authors try to tackle female trauma but i think it is very well done here. The final girls all offer an interesting look on the ways trauma can impact people. There are valuable themes of found family, different forms of trauma, the complexity of "monsters" and what defines a victim. The concept of gender violence and our society's lackluster response to it is dealt with very well. I read this not long after the Evan Peter's Dahmer thing came out on Netflix and there has been a lot of DISGUSTING discourse in favor of Dahmer online as a result. When looking through that specific lens, this book hits so much harder. It gets into the ways we trivialize trauma for entertainment and the sick ways some "true crime fans" will glorify serial killers. And how, even if youre watching something like a fictional slasher, many of us are complacent in allowing this exploitation of the victims to continue. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Torture, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Alcohol, Mental illness, Blood, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

socialpsysteph's review

dark mysterious medium-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

5.0

Grady Hendrix is easily now one of my favorite authors. All of his books are so quirky and fun and the premise of this one intrigued me immediately because of my love of horror films. It definitely didn't disappoint. I love all of the horror movie references and was constantly unsure of what was going on (in the best way) and I loved all of the twists. If you like horror movies, highly recommend.

This book counts for Popsugar 2022 for a book with a character that uses a mobility aid.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse and Panic attacks/disorders

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book is about a group of women who all have been victimized by violent men & have watched others die in front of them. It uses the slasher film as a model for the stories of each woman and the tie that binds them to one another. It was a fun read but not terribly scary. I didn’t care for any of the characters and I felt that the different things like excerpts from articles and emails and such took away from the story instead of adding to it - they were distracting to me and broke up the story in a way I didn’t like. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Sexism, Ableism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Stalking, Murder, Grief, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Gun violence, Gaslighting, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Violence, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore