This was a great book with a unique plot. Kept me turning pages into the night.

I lost interest in this book but skipped to the end to see what happened.

Quincy Carpenter goes on a trip to a secluded cabin in the woods with her friends to celebrate her roommate's birthday. What begins as a fun getaway from their college classes ends with her friends viciously murdered and her the lone survivor. Unable to remember the terror she survived she begins to slowly rebuild her life despite her new status as a Final Girl, a name given to the lone survivors in horror movies.
Reading this book brought a feeling of being trapped in a maze, racing one way along a path only to come out facing a completely different direction. And the ending...well let's just say once you get to the middle of the maze you're in for a surprise and definitely not one I saw coming. I look forward to reading more thrilling novels from Riley Sager!

Wow! I really enjoyed this. There were times I thought I could guess where it was going and I was momentarily disappointed in what I thought was the predictability of it, but then it took a turn and surprised me after all. Stayed up late reading and stealthily read during work the next day (don't tell my boss) so I could see how it ended. Definitely recommend!

Enjoy with a slice of red velvet cake.

** Trigger warning for rape and suicide. **

“While there were other multiple homicides during those years, none quite got the nation’s attention like ours. We were, for whatever reason, the lucky ones who survived when no one else had. Pretty girls covered in blood. As such, we were each in turn treated like something rare and exotic. A beautiful bird that spreads its bright wings only once a decade. Or that flower that stinks like rotting meat whenever it decides to bloom.”

“I understand that urge for more information, that longing for details. But in this case, I’m fine without them. I know what happened at Pine Cottage. I don’t need to remember exactly how it happened.”

Quincy Carpenter: marketing grunt, food blog maven, massacre survivor.

Quincy was just a sophomore in college when it happened. She and her five best friends – boyfriend Craig, BFF Janelle, and friends Betz, Amy, and Rodney; collectively known as the East Hall Crew – were renting a cabin in the Poconos, celebrating Janelle’s birthday, when Joe Hannen stumbled into their lives. Janelle, being the wild and carefree member of the group, invited him to stay for dinner. Since she was the birthday girl, she got to call the shots.

You kind of wonder whether things would have went down differently had they known that Joe wasn’t a stranded motorist, but rather a recent escapee from the nearby Blackthorn Psychiatric asylum. (This sounds hella ableist, and there’s certainly that potential; but the many plot twists don’t necessarily play into the stereotype that mentally ill people are inherently violent, and vice versa.)

By the end of the night, everyone would be dead, save for Quincy. Almost before the blood could dry, the media nicknamed Quincy the Final Girl – one of three, at least in recent memory. Though Quincy had no desire to be defined by tragedy, she would forever be lumped in with fellow survivors: the reclusive Samantha Boyd (Nightlight Inn), and do-gooder Lisa Milner before her (a sorority house in Indiana).

Nearly ten years later, Quincy is living a life of forced normalcy. Adopting her repressed WASP mother’s strategy of “fake it till you make it,” Quincy spends most of her days baking and photographing goodies for her food blog, Quincy’s Sweets. She’s in a long-term relationship with a public defender named Jeff (an odd pairing, to be sure) and has a swanky apartment on the Upper West Side, thanks to her Pine Cottage settlement money. Things are okay-ish; that is, if you overlook the Xanax and social misanthropy.

And then Lisa turns up dead of an apparent suicide, thrusting Quincy and Sam together – and into the spotlight – once more. Why would someone who’s been to hell and back kill herself, after all these years? What’s with the cryptic email Lisa sent Quincy right before she died? Why’s her closet safe stuffed with files on the Final Girls? Is someone hunting them, trying to finish the what their tormentors, all long since dead, started? And just when are Quincy and her savior cop Coop going to knock boots, anyway?

FINAL GIRLS is a compelling and suspenseful read, though it falls into the same trap as many books belonging to this genre: the many outlandish plot twists threaten to snap your credibility after a while. I don’t want to spoil anything, but there are several gotcha! moments, and with the last one I came perilously close to an exaggerated eye roll. Thankfully this is offset by the sheer entertainment value: the writing is skillful, the characters command your attention, and the mysteries will have you white-knuckling your Kindle until the very end.

Quincy and Sam are both engaging protagonists, even if they didn’t always push the story in the direction I expected or hoped. (Those scenes in Central Park? I was mouthing a silent prayer that Final Girls was about to morph into an adult version of Mindy McGinnis’s THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES. If this is you, don’t despair! The ending gets you there, kinda sorta, in a roundabout way.)

Though we’re witness to several work-related arguments between Quincy and Jeff, I wish the narrative had explored this conflict between them – she, a survivor of a violent assault; he, the defender of the accused – in greater depth.

Overall, FINAL GIRLS is a solid addition to the genre – if not the genre-busting book I was craving (think: THE CABIN IN THE WOODS).

** Full disclosure: I received a free electronic ARC for review through NetGalley. **

Some problems with character building and a "twist" at the end that was predictable midway through, but overall an enjoyable read and a perfectly respectable thriller.

This seems like the type of book that is set up to be the next big thriller-turned-popcorn seller. There are an unfortunate number of books with the title "Final Girl" or some play on it (see my most recent Mira Grant review) so it maybe have a hard time reaching the surface just based on that alone. This particular "Final Girls" follows the story of Quincy, lone survivor of a slasher-movie style massacre some tens years earlier, as she tried to live her life following her traumatic ordeal. When another of a group of similar survivors (deemed the Final Girls) pops up at Quincy's door, something isn't right and a lot questions about the past drudge up some dark, dangerous secrets.

Overall, I think fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will most likely find this an entertaining read. It is very much a mainstream psychological thriller. Quincy is a likable enough character who is developed just enough to carry the story, which is also developed enough to have kept my interest. It has a few of the expected twists and turns, with some being better than others. The are some violent scenes but not enough for me to label it horror. There's some tension, but not enough for me to label it as suspense. So while it plays on a popular horror trope, it doesn't really delve that deeply into the concept. Which brings me to my biggest questions about this novel: who is this book for?

For the uninitiated, the concept of a "final girl" comes from horror films, mostly of the cult-status variety, in which the film ends with a sole, female survivor of an otherwise endless bloodbath. The two biggest examples of this concept are Laurie Strode from John Carpenter's "Halloween" and Ellen Ripley from "Alien." There are tons of other examples from both well known and more obscure pictures, but you get the idea.

With that in mind, I can't help but feel like a lot of opportunities to play up and play with the concept are missed. The novel tries to blur the line here between the cult-concept and the mainstream delivery, to mixed effect. Which leaves me torn in deciding whether or not the author neglected the concept in favor of making it accessible to mainstream readers or if she just plain doesn't know what she's talking about. I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt here and hope that Sager does understand the concept and just didn't go in too deeply to intentionally avoid alienating the airport book-buyers.

To me, either scenario is a bit of a disservice. By calling it "Final Girls" there will no doubt be horror fans that are drawn to it (in fact, it was brought to my attention by a blurb from Stephen King...which is a whole other issue) based on the concept to which the title alludes and will be disappointed by its lack of understanding and depth. Others will be fooled into thinking that this is a unique, new idea and be presented a 101-level example of a modern storytelling/genre trope.

Perhaps that is Sager's intention: to introduce a horror trope to a mainstream audience. If so, I think there's potential for this to be successful as the popular thriller crowd will probably like it and may not be as familiar with the common concept. There could very well be a large audience for this novel, assuming it can make itself known with such a generic title. I'll be very curious to see how this is received. Personally, I wish it had took stronger advantage of its namesake.

I would like to thank Riley Sager, NetGalley, and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Final Girls by Riley Sager is about three girls, Quincy, Sam, and Lisa, sole survivors of three separate murderous killing sprees, but linked by their trauma. Lisa dies mysteriously and Sam suddenly turns up on Quincy's doorstep. A series of events ensue following their new friendship. Will Quincy totally remember the events of that terrible night 10 years ago? Who can Quincy trust? This book is full of twists and turns that keep you guessing. Just when you think you have figured it all out you realize that you are wrong. You don't know where the story is going to end up because it is well written and plotted.

There are two stories that are being told simultaneously. The two stories are about the present day Quincy and the unfolding events that occurred that horrific night she survived the ordeal at Pine Cottage. This is one hell of a roller coaster thrill ride. Riley Sager's writing style is great, and the way she wrote this book is perfect for a horror/suspense/thriller. The story line is smooth and the twists and turns are applied perfectly, keeping the reader guessing. The ending had me on the edge of my seat, biting my nails. I didn't see the ending coming!

I think this book will be adapted into a movie. I will definitely read her future work. I am a fan!

I highly recommend this book to fans of horror and thrillers!

This was such an amazingly fun book to read! I have very high standards for horror novels and films and I was ecstatic when Final Girls easily surpassed those expectations.

Final Girls is a fascinating mixture of horror and psychological thriller. The reader learns almost immediately of the nightmare the narrator has experienced when she was a college student, but much of the rest of the story involves a roller coaster of emotion as the reader tries to determine how reliable of a narrator Quincy really is.

Final Girls is a great lesson on red herrings. It felt like every time I started to feel like I had a grip on what was going on, I was completely thrown off again. While this could have felt frustratingly misleading, instead I found this mistrust to be a major focal point of the plot and I loved how quickly Sager could make me feel unsettled after thinking I knew a character's intent.

I'm glad I didn't let the synopsis fool me. This book easily could have let the violence and the use of shock value to gain readers, but Riley Sager is a talented writer and Final Girls is so much more than a terrifying story.

Thank you, Netgalley and Dutton for allowing me the chance to read this fantastic novel before its publication date in return for an honest review! I cannot wait to see what Riley Sager writes next.

This book kept my attention from the very beginning, so much so that I delayed other plans and read until it was finished. I thought I had figured out the big mystery at the beginning, but I was wrong. There were plenty of twists and turns and they were very well done. I am not a fan of slasher movies and there were plenty of gruesome parts of this book, but I really enjoyed the plot.

Sit back and enjoy the show!

If you watch or read horror or thrillers, the Final Girl is a favorite trope. This is the beautiful girl who, through a combination of luck and cunning (and with a lot of blood and screaming), survives our killer.

Of course, as we know, it’s never the Final Girl’s last scream. There’s always a part 2 (or 3 or 4 or 44 3D).

Quincy is a Final Girl. She survived the murders at Pine Cottage and now lives a pretty normal existence. Until her past comes back…with a vengeance.

Final Girls is a popcorn read. Pure adrenaline, shady characters who you just can’t trust, and the suspicion that even our Final Girl isn’t exactly who she seems. The suspense here is spot on – both the psychological suspense and some full on hell-bent-for-leather slice and dice slasher pic fun. The author teases us with flashbacks of the past until we finally discover what really happened that bloody night…and why Quincy may need breath enough for one last scream.

This is pure popcorn fun!

See link to Goodreads review

The Final Girls


by Riley Sager

I picked requested this ARC from the publisher after my wonderful friend Lexie @PRationality recommended it to me.

HUGE thank you to Dutton/ Penguin Random House for allowing me the chance to get my hands on it early, especially since the author is local to me.

The Final Girls definitely did not fall into any of my usual genre categories. I’m not huge on Thrillers, though I’ve read a few here and there. The Final Girls is an amazing book! It was so intense in fact that I read the entire thing, cover to cover in ONE night & on a work night no less! From the moment I opened it I was drawn into Quinn’s life, her terror and anxiety and the desperation to be normal again.

Her fiancé Jeff leaves something to be desired however. His character while having no grasp on how impacted she is from the events in her life he has a crappy personality and is not very complex. Fortunately, Jeff being horrible does not in anyway take away from the story and the other supporting characters are really brought to life. I was impressed with the way the author was able to bring certain characters that were already deceased to life. Rodney became a hero in my eyes and I hurt for Amy though I hardly had time to know her. The ending shocked me. I didn’t see it coming at ALL.

I had tried to figure out who HE was many times and I had come up with a multitude of possibilities but I never guessed the truth. The only hint I had was small and near the end and even then I thought that tiny hint was suggesting something else entirely. The content was never too extreme. There was of course some adult scenes, some sexual content and some violence, but nothing so over the top that it was offensive and every bit of it was crucial to the story line. So if you’re a fan of YA Thrillers this book would absolutely be something (in my opinion) that you might enjoy.

Amazing. Riveting. Astonishing.

Read it.

It's a thriller. I kept thinking I understood the story and knew the solution, but I was incredibly and horrendously wrong.

Read it. Seriously.

This is an excellent and twisted novel that will leave readers hanging on the edge of their seats until the bitter end. This book is also unlike any other I have read this year making it a unique and highly recommended read. Riley Sager clearly has a gift with the written word and I can see this book topping the charts upon release!

** Side Note: This review will be posted on all retailers and my blog closer to release date**

It was a fun read, and a definite beach book for the summer or a long vacation flight, but it's a bit cartoony towards the end- for me, the first half was quite compelling, and then it flew off the rails in a cliched thriller way. Enjoyable, but not memorable for me.

I did not finish this one. I started the book and found that I just could not engage with the characters or the story.

Once I'd picked this one up, there was no way for me to put it down.

I actually explained the premise to my boyfriend halfway through and he guessed the ending then and there, but I thought he was wrong and remained in suspense through the novel. There were many possible ways it could have gone that all were plausible and I loved how this kept me guessing. I did not trust a single character.

The book starts off with Quincy baking and the constant theme of flour and eggs simply adds to the mystique of the topic. It’s horrifying to think of someone with such simple pleasures going through something so horrible, and it’s all the more intriguing to discover the cracks in her shell and the way she’s still dealing with her traumatic past.

The way that the "Final Girls" interacted with that particular label made the story all the more fascinating. The three were nothing like each other and I enjoyed learning about their personalities and their backgrounds.

There were horrifying scenes that had me wincing that I really enjoyed—they definitely brought me into the story and made me suffer alongside Quincy.

One arbitrary reference to race in this book really bothered me—it was incredibly needless and pulled me out of the book completely. I’m not sure what the reasoning behind that choice was, as other than that, the book was perfectly lovely.

I do highly recommend this as a thriller that will keep you in suspense.