A review by flufficorn
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

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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