Review by a_mcg - Final Cut

a_mcg 's review for:

Final Cut by Olivia Worley

4.25

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I've had the genuine pleasure of reading and reviewing all of Olivia Worley's new books for the past three years in a row and I definitely think that this is her best book yet! The setting, the town and the swamp, was another character all in itself and it being the home of the Pine Springs Slasher added a whole additional layer of tension to the story. I also thought there was a vibrant cast of characters, all who stood out strongly and played off of one another well. I also really liked Haze as a main character. Her desires and motivations and personality came through so clearly.

When I was reading this, I worried that the piece would pigeon-hole itself into traditional slasher stereotypes, just because slashers are by nature a formulaic genre. But she did a great job paying homage to classics of the slasher genre and adding her own twists to the piece. The book also acknowledges slasher movie tropes, like the Final Girl, and does a great job almost winking at the reader by turning those tropes on their head and doing something new with them. I thought the mystery was very well done. I guessed some of it and some of it completely shocked me, in the way a good mystery does, when you look back and realize the clues were there all along. I also thought Worley did a great job showing why people are drawn to slashers, for good or bad, and showing that no one fits neatly into tropes like those, not even if we write the scripts ourselves. There is lots of focus on the nuances of human nature in this book that reminds me of Holly Jackson's mysteries. The author herself compared this book to The Reappearance of Rachel Price and I agree that there is a similar feeling when reading.

That said, I thought the ending was too quick. I wanted to see Haze confront her father for the crimes he did commit. I also wanted to see her get to fall in love and write her own story. I also thought that at times it was really hard to keep all the characters straight. There was one character who became important at the end whom I had entirely forgotten about. I had to go back to the beginning to remember how this character was involved in the story. Also, and maybe relatedly, I thought the pacing was too fast at the beginning and that's part of why it was so hard to keep all the characters straight.

That said, I think Olivia Worley's a rising star in the YA thriller/mystery genre and I really enjoyed this book! I definitely think that anyone who's a fan of Holly Jackson will be a fan of her work, especially this newest book!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC!

Content Warnings