Wow.... my first thought is how much whiplash this book gave me, but in a good way. Lynnette is such an unreliable sounding narrator through the majority of this book that I was never sure if I was in the head of the victim or the "monster". And that was okay with this one because having it written with so much confusion really put me into that B Horror frame of mind.
It was also pleasant to have a surprise at the end. I should have known who would be the real monster, but I allowed myself to get deep into Lynette's point of view that the screaming voice in my head was shushed until the final reveal.
Very very well done! Not perfect by any means but way better than some other horror/ thriller novels I have read.

Could you be a final girl? I highly doubt I have it in me, but you never know when pushed!

Here we have six final girls, each with their own set of issues. Someone starts killing them and only one of them believes the killer is after all final girls.

This fell flat for me. With all the hype on Instagram around this book I was really hoping to love it. I think someone younger than I would enjoy this book very much.

With that said I didn't see that twist, which was very enjoyable!

I received this from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Disappointed does not even cover how I feel about this book. I was SO looking forward to reading the newest by Grady. For me this is no where near the awesomeness of the last book. This for me was long (it felt crazy long) and dragged out. It had nothing for me that surprised or impressed me. It was long and flat and had no real point. I love Grady Hendrix’s books and I’ll continue to read them but this one was a complete miss for me.

We all know the 70s, 80s, and 90s horror movies with the final survivors-the final girls. The ones who made it to the end of the movie, through all the chasing and killing.

This book is about six final girls (Lynette, Julia, Dani, Heather, Marilyn, and Adrienne) who have met for sixteen years in a support group. When Adrienne doesn’t show up to group and is later found dead, the remaining final girls come under attack by someone who wants them all dead.

This should have worked for me as I have seen all these old horror movies and caught all the references. For some reason, it didn’t. It was just too much. Too much non-stop action that just didn’t seem believable towards the end. (Maybe it’s better watching the unbelievable on the movie screen than reading it?) This is my first book by Grady Hendrix and it wasn’t a bad read at all. Definitely a fun idea. I’ll try his other books to see if they are a better fit. This one just fell a little flat for me.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

Overall: This premise was one that just sounded so unique and it absolutely delivered.

Pros:
Final girls. The final girl is always interesting trope, but with a whole group of them? It was really interesting to follow how each of them handled their own tragedy.
Cinematic parallels. You would expect some given the nature, but it was done in such a clever way, I was impressed.
Realistic. This book had the realism you would expect from such a topic.

Cons:
Shallow. While we are following these kick-butt characters, the whole thing can come off a bit shallow given the well type of story it is. So, be on alert for that!

I loved this book. It had a very interesting chapter heading and overall story. It is about 5 different finial girls who are now being hunted by some unknown person. Throughout the whole book, you are trying to find out who is after them or if it is all in Lynn's head or not. I can't wait to find out what Grady Hendrix comes out with next.

Lynnette survived a real-life horror movie. People massacred all around her, and she was the only one to make it out. That was twenty-two years ago, but the memories of that time have haunted her ever since. It's good for her then that she has other girls to commiserate with in her support group based around women who survived tragedies similar to hers. Five other girls just like her, until one of them goes missing, and the horrors of the past come after the girls in the present. The girls are now being hunted, but they are survivors, and if there's one thing they know how to do, it's to be the last one standing when all's said and done. However, if there's still five of them left, does that mean only one of them makes it out alive?

What happens if you take all the heroines from your favorite old horror slasher flicks, put them in a blender, and press "Puree"? Please don't do that, it's not nice. However, metaphorically speaking, that's exactly what's been done in this story, with Lynnette at the center of the second gruesomely horrific experience of her life. She got lucky the first time, but this time it's going to take a lot more than luck, as the killer coming after her and the other "Final Girls" is determined, clever, and out for their blood.

There are many nods to classic films in the slasher genre, so if you hear the name "Jason" and think of somebody with a mask, this might just be right up your alley. I thought that Grady Hendrix did an excellent job building each girl's distinctly trauma-filled personality, and I enjoyed as he took it all up to 11 as Lynnette tries to cling onto her life. The Final Girl Support Group is the sequel story to every slasher film you didn't know you needed, and I recommend it to readers who aren't squeamish, who like being on the edge of their seat, and who are ready to see what girls with grit can do when it's time to survive...again.

Thank you to Berkley, Grady Hendrix, and NetGalley for providing me with a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Lynnette is a final girl- the sole survivor of a bloody massacre that left her family and high school sweetheart dead. As an adult, she finds herself a member of a therapy group that she thinks of as ‘The Final Girl Support Group’, because its other members share this inglorious distinction. Despite all of Lynnette’s attempts to safeguard herself, it appears that someone is trying to kill off all of the final girls.

I think this is my favorite Hendrix novel yet (I’ve read Horrorstör and Vampries)! It’s campy, slashery, thrillery fun with a more substantive backbone that takes a close look at horror as a genre. I was sucked in from the start and really couldn’t put this one down. I was really invested in learning each character’s backstory and felt like I was hurtling along on a tense and wild ride right along with them.

I was a bit worried that this read would be too close to Riley Sager’s similarly-named book, but my concerns were unfounded. Dare I say I enjoyed this one more? It was just campy and gory enough and didn’t veer off into the completely bizarre. The multiple references to classic thrasher films also lent an air of nostalgia to my reading experience.

Hook, line, sinker.

3.5 Stars
Are you a fan of those ‘80s horror/slasher films? I was a big fan even though they’d give me nightmares and make me put off going to bed! Michael Myers, Freddy, Chainsaw Massacre, Scream, I know, Scream is not the 80s, but you get the idea. Final Girl Support Group is about that one girl who, against all the odds, bloody and traumatized, survives and I was all in!

Lynnette survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, but not without scars, both emotional and physical. She lives a paranoid life and doesn’t really connect with others except for her weekly gathering of Final Girls. They meet, snipe, gripe and got downright nasty at times, but as they are connected like no other women can be, they’ve formed a bond. But that bond is about to be tested when one of them goes missing and it becomes evident, to Lynnette at least, that they’re all being hunted.

Final Girl Support Group was kind of a batshit crazy mash-up of 80’s slasher/horror movies. It was campy, and crazy! For Lynnette it's a race to find out who was behind all the new attacks!

Most real-life people don’t have super slick plans if someone came after them, I’d just be trying to survive if it were me. Lynnette does have plans, but real-life mostly doesn’t follow the rules and so she’s sort of flying by the seat of her pants. She did have some great plans, so I was a little disappointed on how some of it played out when push came to shove. Also, I felt the story lagged a bit in spots, went off the rails, but overall, I had fun with this campy horror story! I was in a bit of a book slump when I decided to throw out my reading schedule and pick up FGSG and the change definitely perked my reading mood up!

My Review:⭐️⭐⭐⭐/ 5 stars

I loved Grady Hendrix’s other book, The Southern Book Club Guide to Slaying Vampires - so I knew I was going to love this one. “Final Girls” refers to the remaining girl/woman that is remaining at the end of a horror film. She had killed the slasher/psycho killer and avenged the death of her friends/family. Unfortunately, Lynette is an actual, real life Final Girl and she survived a horrific murder years ago, not once, but twice. She lives her life planning all her exits, escape routes, a gun in her bag, backup getaway vehicles, and a heavily guarded apartment. She has been attending a secret Final Girls group therapy with the same women for over 15 years. They are all very different and would have never been friends in the first place - but their bond of being “Final Girls” keeps them together. One day, they find out one of them was murdered, and it looks like each of them are targets. Could they trust each other? Who could they trust? And who else could have known they had been meeting?

This was such an entertaining read - every part was unputdownable. Lynette is such a tough cookie to crack and despite her trying to be the clever survivor, it always seems to backfire. However, she is relentless in trying ways to save her friends - even though the entire time you are also wondering if she is the killer too. I loved the dynamic and chemistry of every oddball character - and their dialogue had me cracking up.

Thank you to Berkley Books and Netgalley for the advanced e-copy in exchange for my honest review!

ɪꜰ ᴅɪᴀᴍᴏɴᴅꜱ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀ ɢɪʀʟ’ꜱ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ, ᴛʜᴇɴ ʀᴇʟɪᴀʙʟᴇ ʜᴀɴᴅɢᴜɴꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀ ʟᴏᴛ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴛᴏᴘᴘɪɴɢ ᴘᴏᴡᴇʀ ᴀʀᴇ ᴀ ꜰɪɴᴀʟ ɢɪʀʟ’ꜱ.

The Final Girls Support group is a high speed train that goes off the rails and leaves you holding your breathe until the very end. In other words it’s bloody brilliant! I love horror/slasher films and The Final Girls Support Group pays tribute to and slyly subverts our most popular horror films into the girls background without being gimmicky and with a dash of satire. For example (and to name the most obvious ones):

Adrienne - Friday The 13th
Dani - Halloween
Marilyn - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Heather - A Nightmare on Elm Street
Julia - Scream

If that only doesn’t make you want to read this then keep reading, because this book is so much more sophisticated than just being a horror/slasher book.

Lynette is probably one of the craziest, mentally unstable main characters I’ve ever read, but her paranoia actually pays off. Grady Hendrix does a brilliant job shining light on misogynistic violence and the way our society is obsessed with it. I enjoyed that a main focus of the book was on the psychological and mental toll it took on the women and how they all coped in their different ways. I think overall I felt sorry for them because not only were they targeted by crazy men who tortured and killed their friends and family in front of them, but then they had to live with the survivors guilt and then got exploited and tortured all over again by the media, cops, lawyers, and crazy fans who tried to profit off of them. It’s really not a life anyone should ever have to live through. But I thought it made for a really touching story.

The Final Girls Support Group is straight up terrifying, wildly entertaining, and believe me when I say all the twist and turns will leave you saying “what the fuck”. Warning ⚠️ TRUST NO ONE!! Horror fans, you won’t be disappointed. I highly recommend you don’t miss out on this group of badass heroes.

Every time I review a new Hendrix novel, I want to start it with: "He's done it again."

soo...

He's done it again.

Not my fault. He really HAS done it again. I've read all of his books, and I can say that The Final Girl Support Group is one of his best (I still think his #1 is My Best Friend's Exorcism).

Without giving any spoilers, I can tell you Hendrix has accomplished the following with his latest:

1: Written a great slasher novel
2: Flexed his obvious love and knowledge slasher films
3: Has put tons of heart into this story

Let's analyze these shall we?

1: He has written a great slasher novel.

Like the film Scream, The Final Girl Support Group manages to be both a deconstruction of slasher films AND an excellent slasher on its own. I'd even go as far as to say that even if you remove all of the slasher elements, what you'd have left would still be a high-quality mystery.

2: Flexed his love and knowledge of slasher films.

If you like slasher film easter eggs in your horror stories, this is your book. Grady definitely did his research.

3: Has put tons of heart into this story.

If you've read Hendrix before, you know that this is a staple of his work. Sure, Hendrix writes great scary sequences. Yes, Grady is wonderful at writing quirky and nostalgic characters and scenes. But if you ask me what sets him apart, THIS IS IT.

I can't wait to see what he does next.

Grade: A

Review by Jason Cavallaro

I finally got to this wonderful book after the pub date, but better late than never, because it is so good! Reading Support Group was like reading a classic, slasher horror film, which is nothing I have ever encountered before! It was quick, twisty, and exciting. Being a fan of Hendrix's work, I am not surprised that I loved the book but taking that away, it is a heart-pounding ride that everyone, especially fans of slasher films, should pick up!

This book was my 4th title by Grady Hendrix, and my third favorite. He remains my favorite horror author and I think this one was a great summer read.

Here are 4 things I liked about this book:
1. The cast of characters - I liked the different personalities and seeing how each Final Girl was handling the level of trauma they experienced. It was entertaining and also saddening.
2. The unpredictability of the storyline - just when I thought I had things figured out (as did our narrator), things would switch up.
3. I didn't know whether or not to trust the narrator - this made it an even more fascinating read, since she seemed like she could be off her rocker. But it was also believable that she wasn't off her rocker.
4. The ending - that was explosive and exciting!

1 Thing I didn't like about this book:
1. The pacing felt off to me. I struggled with feeling bored in some sections and then being unable to stop turning the pages in others - it was just all "off".

Overall, I really enjoyed this read and absolutely look forward to whatever Hendrix cranks out next!

There were definitely some holes in this one, but it didn't stop me from having a blast with the slasher genre and all of the characters! I really couldn’t put it down. Read it in 2 days.

I loved this book and the audiobook narrated by one of the OG Final Girls Adrienne King is great. The thing I didn’t get was WHY Lynette trusted the two people who end up being the killers when she put so much effort into keeping herself safe in every other way? That didn’t seem true to character. Other than that it was great and had a satisfying end. It’s definitely well researched and a story that you can tell Grady Hendrix knows a lot about and is very passionate about. I was given an ARC by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a slasher movie maid into the perfect book! This is the first Grady Hendrix book I have read. I loved the addition of multi-media (book/newspaper excerpts, therapy notes, interrogations, etc.) at the beginning of of each chapter. The twists and turns throughout this one were very unsuspecting.

The character's were all changed in such different ways after their tragedies, it was interesting to read about each one. Lynette's paranoia made you question her thoughts and reasoning for the things she would do and say. I love that you learn there is always more to the story than what you read and see in the movies.

I must say that there were few scenes where I found the descriptions very disturbing, but they would translate on screen wonderfully. I will be picking up as many books by this author as soon as possible. I will also be buying a copy of this one so I can reread it and see the multi-media sections on paper instead of on my kindle. I would really love to see this as a hulu/netflix series or a movie.

If you're a fan of slasher movies, you probably know the Final Girl well. She is the good girl. She is the smart girl. When the carnage is over, she is the one left standing, usually after a dramatic confrontation with the killer. But have you ever wondered what happens after the screen goes dark, after the final girl washes the blood off her face and tries to live her life again? In The Final Girl Support Group, Grady Hendrix pays tribute to and expands upon the classic slasher films of the 1980s and 90s. The book centers on a group of real-life final girls, who have been secretly meeting for regular group therapy in the decades since their traumatic experiences. For Lynette Tarkington, this support group provides her only opportunity for stability and human connection in a life dominated by fear and paranoia. When one of the final girls doesn't show up for group, Lynette realizes the worst has happened: someone is coming after the final girls one by one and despite all of her precautions, Lynette is in danger again. This is a compulsively readable, dark thriller that digs deep into real issues like trauma and the glorification of violence while still evoking the feeling of watching a great slasher. Readers with no knowledge of horror movies probably won't get as much out of it, but it's a super fun (yet disturbing) read.

The Final Girl Support Group deep dives into the imagined lives of a handful of survivors years after their horrific attacks. This channels MANY horror movies from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, and its fun to see that expanded upon.

However, I've realized I officially don’t like horror books. I thought there might be a mystery woven into this or some thriller elements, but I found any of those components totally overshadowed by the horror plot, which just felt BEYOND tropey and goofy to me. Maybe I just lack the imagination to make books like this work?! I feel this is a me problem because the reviews for this bad boy were FANTASTIC.I did like the themes of victimhood, strength, and sexism.

A horror novel that pays homage to slasher films!⁣
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I love reading horror and watching horror films (𝘨𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝟾𝟶𝘴 & 𝟿𝟶𝘴 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘮𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘯!) and this book combined the two in a fun way! We basically have a group of “real life” Final Girls, (𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩!) who are part of a therapy group that meets on a monthly basis, once again in danger from a killer. I absolutely loved the homage throughout to old slasher films like 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮, 𝘍𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝟷𝟹𝘵𝘩, 𝘈 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘭𝘮 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵, 𝘏𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 and 𝘛𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘸 𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘦 with both the final girls’ back stories and the chapter titles. ⁣
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Hendrix employs the use of mixed media like excerpts from reviews, interviews and police reports which I loved! It wasn’t always easy to follow the transitions on audio but I love the added info they provided. ⁣
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I was obviously excited by this book’s premise and I had high expectations (𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐’𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺) but I wasn’t as blown away as I thought I would be by the end. I felt like things got too over the top at times. The plot was overly convoluted and sometimes felt scattered between time jumps for flashbacks, mixed media content and then suddenly putting us back into present day. Again, that might have been made more difficult by doing this on audio, I don’t know. Sadly, I also had the killer pegged from early on so that was a bit of a letdown. ⁣
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Overall, this was a fast paced (𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯) and entertaining horror book full of violence, blood and gore. Not my favorite by Hendrix, but definitely a fun read, especially if you’re into 80s and 90s horror movies. There are so many fun Easter eggs thrown in - it was fun to make the connections Hendrix peppers throughout the book.