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

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.25

The concept of the book is great—who wouldn’t want to read about Final Girls having a support group while someone is out to kill them? However, the execution wasn’t the best. The characters felt all over the place, making it difficult to remember who was who. It wasn’t clear who was actually important until the very end, which made following the story frustrating at times.
I guess a lot of that comes down to the main character, Lynette. I still don’t know how to feel about her. She was unreliable, mainly because she didn’t trust herself and was constantly running from her own fears. As for the other characters... well, I don’t know much about them either. We get glimpses into their backgrounds and past horrors, but that’s about it. There wasn’t enough development to make them feel real they just felt like tropes. That being said, I did enjoy the group banter—it added some life to the story.
One thing I don’t understand is Stephanie’s role in all of this. She was with Lynette the entire time while Skye was plotting back in L.A., but was she really helpful in getting Lynette to Camp Red Lake? That was supposed to be the goal, right? I get why they went to see Chrissy (for Lynette’s character development), but why include Chrissy just to kill her off two chapters later? It felt like an unresolved plot thread. If I were Lynette or Stephanie, I’d be terrified that Keith would come after me next.
Also, Lynette had to lure Chrissy out of hiding using Murderbilia, then followed her to the middle of nowhere. After that, they drove to Dani’s place, which I assume Stephanie found through the research she and Skye did on the group—but that was it. Dani was the one who ultimately drove them to Camp Red Lake. Stephanie’s only real contribution was informing Skye of their location on the way back to L.A.
The picture inserts at the end of each chapter were a cute touch, offering extra details to the reader. However, they didn’t truly add up to anything substantial. Most of them weren’t even about the girls in the group but rather about the movie franchises based on their experiences, along with critics’ reviews. I wish these inserts had provided more personal insights into the Final Girls themselves, making the characters feel more fleshed out and familiar to the reader.
Overall, the book had a solid premise but fell short in execution.
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