Book Review: Final Girls

Final Girls

by: Riley Sager

Publication Date:  July 11, 2017 *upcoming*
Finished on June 17, 2017

This book has received a LOT of hype prior to its upcoming release in July.  I totally bought into the hype and wanted to read it AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  Luckily, I found it on Netgalley and was approved for an advanced e-copy prior to its release date.  I (of course) devoured it as soon as I was approved.

Synopsis:
A "final girl" is the sole female survivor of a mass murder.  Think back to all of your favorite horror movies - the "final girl" is Sidney (Neve Campbell) in Scream and Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) in I Know What You Did Last Summer.  This is the story of one such final girl, Quincy Carpenter, who has moved on with her life and is working as a baking blogger in New York.  The plot really starts when one of the only other final girls is found dead after a suspected suicide and the other final girl shows up in New York to get to know Quincy.  The story is told primarily in present tense with flashbacks to the night when Quincy became a final girl.  One big twist is that Quincy doesn't actually remember what happened on the night her friends were massacred and as the reader, you trust NO ONE.

My review:

• For being pegged a thriller, this book was a bit slow to start for me.   To clarify, I enjoyed the beginning of this book, but I wasn't nervous or freaked out while the suspense slowly built.  I didn't start feeling nervous or anxious about the plot until well into the second half of the book.  Again, I enjoyed reading the entire novel, I just didn't peg it as a thriller.  
• Quincy is the prototype of the unreliable narrator. She simply doesn't remember anything after she found her friend bleeding to death on the night of the massacre up to the point where she found Coop, her rescuer.  As readers, we know that the murderer was shot on the night of the massacre, but since this is a thriller, you know not to trust that the murder is actually dead!
• In addition, you are given the suspense of the new investigation of Lisa (one of the other final girls') death.  So, we get to be involved in figuring out what happened at two totally unrelated (or are they?) scenes that take place years apart.

I really enjoyed this story.  Its not a crazy and amazing literary masterpiece, but it is well written, its fun, and it will keep you guessing until the end.  

4.5/5 stars

I received a free e-copy of this book from Netgalley in return for an honest review.  I highly recommend this book for horror lovers.