I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Grady Hendrix leans into the horror genre and creates a world where we see what happens to all the final girls from horror films. How have they moved on from surviving their murderous past? Well, for some like Lynette, not so well. She has moved forward by isolating herself from the world until the world comes crashing in on her and all her friends from her support group. She goes on a twisty and hilarious mission to save them all...if only they would believe her.

One of the real-life final girls, Lynette, meets five other final girls and a therapist, Dr. Carol, in a secret support group for a decade now. The main narrator, Lynette, is paranoid and vigilant, often to the extreme. She quit living except for the group and is unpleasant, but after a while, I started liking her. She is well-prepared in the event of a sneak attack from the murderers trying to take her out, but she finds herself unprepared when someone attacks who is always one step ahead of her.

It is campy, gory sometimes, and over-the-top, just like many of those slasher horror films. It’s as if Halloween’s Michael Myers got together with Scream’s GhostFace and had a child, this book just might be it. A wild ride.

DNF at 30%. This is definitely a case of "it's not you, it's me" or in this case "it's not the book, it's the reader". The Final Girl Support Group has a premise that I love - a literal support group of women who were all the "final girl" in their horror story which was then made into a slasher film. So if the actual final girls from Scream, Friday the Thirteenth, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc were real women the stories were based on and they met monthly.

At the start, I loved it - all the tongue in cheek humor that pokes fun in a loving way at those movies - moments like this that I highlighted: "The one thing they didn't think through was that if Julia was going to be their final girl she had to kill them. Turned out Julia didn't have a problem with that. She said the worst thing was their quips. No matter how many times she shot her boyfriend he kept making stupid quips." Hahaha, loved it!

But the problem for me is that this type of humor starts to feel repetitive for me pretty quickly - I would compare it to when a great SNL skit becomes a terrible movie. It's really funny for me in small doses but I need more to stick with it for a full book. This felt to me like it was too many "gotcha" moments and not enough really connecting me to the characters.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

4.5/5 stars (This review was originally posted at: https://thoroughlymodernreviewer.com/2021/07/14/review-the-final-girl-support-group-by-grady-hendrix/)

If you've ever seen a slasher film, then you're familiar with the Final Girl. She's the girl who makes it through the end of the movie, vanquishing the Killer and surviving the bloodbath. But what happens to a Final Girl after the credits roll and the story's over? How does she cope with all of that trauma and survivor's guilt? Is she ever able to move on and escape the shadow of the Monster that hunted her? Grady Hendrix's "The Final Girl Support Group" explores all of these questions, acting as both a love letter to slasher films and a deconstruction of the genre and many of its tropes. It's a fast-paced, thrilling read that you won't want to put down. Hendrix delivers a novel that's every bit as action-packed and horrific as the best horror films. But he also deftly explores the trauma of multiple Final Girls - all of whom are inspired by some of the most popular horror franchises. If you're a fan of horror movies, "The Final Girl Support Group" is a must-read.

"The Final Girl Support Group" is a massive love letter to the slashers of the '70s and '80s. Twenty-two years ago, Lynette Tarkington became a Final Girl. Ever since, she's been attending monthly support group meetings with five other Final Girls - Adrienne, Julia, Dani, Heather, and Marilyn. All six women are struggling with life after near-death, each of them in different phases of recovery. And many of them are ready to move on from the group. However, when one of the girls turns up brutally murdered, Lynette suspects someone is targeting the group. A suspicion that’s soon proven true after a series of further attacks. However, the rest of the girls don't believe her, assuming she's grasping at straws to keep the group together. But the threat is very real, and it's up to Lynette to uncover the Monster before they eradicate all Final Girls.

"The Final Girl Support Group" is Hendrix's attempt at writing his own slasher movie, from the extreme acts of violence, to the puddles of blood, to all the twists and turns. The plot is sometimes silly and often requires a bunch of logical leaps, but you rarely think about that. The narrative is such a fast-paced whirlwind, whipping from plot point to plot point with wild abandon, that you mainly focus on how fun it is. It's a gripping read, never stopping once it gets started. In fact, you won't want to stop reading until the book's end. At times, it feels a little long. But it's well-paced and easily holds your attention. The mystery is executed masterfully, and the climax is one of the most satisfying I've read in a long time. Hendrix certainly asks for a lot of trust, but he rewards you for it by the end.

Each of the Final Girls in the novel are based on ones from classic slasher franchises. Adrienne represents "Friday the 13th," Marilyn represents "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," Dani represents "Halloween," Lynette represents "Silent Night, Deadly Night," Heather represents "A Nightmare on Elm Street," and Julia represents "Scream." Hendrix is pretty blatant about this, with each of his characters having near-identical backstories to those in these respective slashers. But honestly, it works really well. It's kind of fun seeing how these characters we're all familiar with might be coping years after the credits rolled. The latest "Halloween" film touched on this idea of revisiting a Final Girl decades later and exploring her trauma, and Hendrix takes it to the next level.

Lynette is the narrator of the novel. Of all the Final Girls, she might be struggling the most visibly. She's isolated herself from everyone she knows, essentially living in a fortified cage. Her paranoia and fear of further violence weigh down on her to the point that she's barely able to live at all. Honestly, I initially found it difficult to relate to her. There were moments where she'd do something so unbelievable that I just wanted to tell her to take a breath and actually think about what's going on. But as the book goes on and more of her characterization is explored, it's easy to root for Lynette. She's a bit of an unreliable narrator but in the best way. For large chunks of the book, it's unclear whether or not Lynette's experiences are still rooted in reality. And I love that kind of ambiguity.

Much of the novel follows her journey. We track her as she works out what's going on and who's after the Final Girls. We see her make many mistakes, always rebounding from them and learning from them. And, best of all, we see her grow. We see the early bits of healing finally take root. We get to see her come out of her shell. And it's glorious, and so well executed. The narrative's antagonist also ends up feeling well-developed. Without going into spoilers, one of the novel's highlights is the way the antagonist's development mirrors Lynette's. Unfortunately, the rest of the Final Girls aren't given anywhere near as much development, though. But they're still a lot of fun, each feeling three-dimensional even if they're not given a whole lot of attention.

"The Final Girl Support Group" isn't content with simply replicating classic slasher films, though. It also frequently deconstructs and reexamines the tropes of the genre. While slasher films often come across as exploitative of their violence, Hendrix's novel feels more like a condemnation of it. In the films, the POV often shifts between the Final Girl and the Killer, occasionally robbing the audience of truly feeling the weight of this violence. But here, the POV is squarely on these women who have survived such atrocities. We see how their lives have been irrevocably changed by their encounters with their respective Killers. We understand exactly how damaging these ordeals are. And, sure, all of the Final Girls in the book have to survive yet another traumatic series of murders, but so much of the book focuses on their psyche. It's a story about women surviving rather than one about men destroying.

Throughout the novel, there's this recurring idea that Final Girls and their Killers are two sides of the same coin, with only the thinnest of lines separating them. The Killers senselessly murder people while the Final Girls have to kill the Killers to stop these murders. But that single act of killing a Killer weighs heavily on each of the final girls. And Hendrix plays with this idea throughout the novel. This small twist on the idea of a "Final Girl" breathes so much life into the novel, giving these women a sense of agency they don't always have in slasher films. And it adds some nuance to everything - a nuance that pays off in dividends by the climax. "The Final Girl Support Group" adheres to many of the classic slasher tropes, but not without recontextualizing them a bit. And it works extremely well.

Going into "The Final Girl Support Group," you might expect more of a campy horror-comedy, in the vein of The Cabin in the Woods. But that's not what this is. Hendrix takes the genre seriously, even as he reexamines and recontextualizes many of its tropes. "The Final Girl Support Group" is as much a traditional slasher as it is a commentary on them. The women in this story have gone through terrible tragedies in their past, and have to band together to survive yet another one. And that circular nature of violence is felt throughout the book. If you're a horror lover and a fan of slasher movies, you'll adore "The Final Girl Support Club." It hits all of the notes you'd want it to while still feeling fresh. But if you're a bit squeamish, this might not be the book for you. As for me, it's an absolute must-read.

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2021/07/14/the-final-girl-support-group-by-grady-hendrix/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
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<i>Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

I was a little worried about reading what is classified as horror because I don't always like them.  But <strong>The Final Girl Support Group</strong> sounded so fascinating and I wanted to learn about these people (all women)  who survived a mass killing.

While it wasn't exactly what I expected,  I did enjoy it.  We do learn about the women and their reactions and changes to their life after surviving.   Our primary point of view is Lynnette who others seem to think is crazy or paranoid and I saw as smart and realistic.  She takes precautions to protect herself from being in a similar situation.   It was interesting to see the strategies each women took to live and feel safe.

It did seem a bit unrealistic for there to be a support group, that enough of them would live in the same area.  I don't know much about the horror genre but one of my impressions is some of it is campy.  As with cozy mysteries, my personal preference is not the over-the-top quirky  and not the campy version of horror.  There were some campy aspects.

Law enforcement was not overly helpful for these women being hunted. They had to figure out how to survive on their own as in the past. They weren't as cohesive a group as the blurb indicates. I liked how realistic it was for them to not always trust people or make the correct judgements.  I was always cheering on Lynette and her friends, wanting them to live. Terrifying and suspenseful,  I'm glad to have read <strong>The Final Girl Support Group</strong>.

This book was fantastic….a nod to all the slasher films of my adolescence. A little over the top, but in a good way. What happens when you survive a bloody massacre? Are there groups to help you? Therapists? Others that experienced the same? And what if other people can’t let it go? The need to finish what was started….

Lynnette is the least well-adjusted of all of the Final Girls in her therapy group, which makes sense because she's the only one that didn't actually get to kill her Monster herself. The others think it's time to Get Over It, but she knows there's something coming for all of them. She gets things wrong A LOT, but that is really relatable to me. I'm fairly certain that if I were asked to pinpoint who in my life wants me and like a dozen other people dead, I'd point a lot of wrong fingers.

A Final Girl, of course, is that lone virgin in a slasher film that manages to grab a machete at the last moment and do some seemingly lasting damage to the bad guy. Each woman from therapy has a backstory that mirrors a killing spree from a real life movie. This book straddles the line between reality and "world where movie logic works" and holds on as tightly as a preteen who got into Girl Scout Camp on the basis of several lies about her horse riding ability, and thus was given the meanest nag to ride. It also uses mixed media to great effect without being overwhelming. Sorry, I have no simile for that one.

This book was spectacular. I know it, you know it. If you haven't read it yet, do.

We have a full review of this title as well as an interview with the author on our podcast, Genre Junkies. The podcast is out now available on all major platforms.

This is one of our favorite books of the year! Grady is a tremendous writer and a budding horror icon. This novel is funny, poignant and creepy. Grady understand the “rules” and the history of horror. We see that here with his vast knowledge of the “Final Girl” archetype most often seen in the slasher sub-genre. Because he knows the background and the foundation, he can confidently speak of where we need to go in the future. We need diversity, representation and accountability to move horror forward and keep it relevant. Horror is known for its social commentary, and Grady is a smart and confident voice to continue on that tradition.

We challenge you to not bond with these perfectly imperfectly “final” ladies and cheer them on until the bitter end.

If you grew up watching horror flicks and loving them, you'll recognize the nod given to several of them in The Final Girl Support Group. Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street... The big bads that kept us looking over our shoulders for days after watching (or was that just me?). Anyway, Grady Hendrix gives us those slashers in one form or another, and the whole thing is wildly entertaining. The story is about a group of final girls who are in a support group together. The premise is over the top and mostly completely unbelievable, but that's what makes it so much fun. There is a mystery, and Lynnette does a lot of running around willy-nilly trying to figure it all out, but things move at such a fast pace, there's not much time to suss out the who and the why if it's even possible. There are a couple of clues, but I don't care to admit that I completely missed them. I was having so much fun picking out the references to favorite slasher movies that I forgot I was supposed to be figuring out who the baddie was. I've been deliberately vague, but there's so much going on in this one that almost any detail would be a spoiler of some sort. So, I'll just say if you loved those bloody slasher flicks, this is one to check out. Just suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride.

This was such a fun read and my first Grady Hendrix book, but it definitely won't be my last. The idea behind the book was awesome, I loved the 80s slasher movie vibes and the final girl trope. The final girls were a mess in the best way. I really enjoyed their crazy and Grady's writing style, which I found to be quite humorous. The book is also action packed and had a great ending. I would definitely recommend this one!

Grady Hendrix is hardly the first person to explore the long-lasting psychological trauma that a so-called "final girl" might endure after surviving grisly situations that most of us only get to experience through the safety of a movie theatre screen. The most obvious comparison to me is Riley Sager's blockbuster 2017 debut, Final Girls, which features a similar set-up and inciting incident. The big difference here, and one of the strengths of The Final Girl Support Group, is that Hendrix doesn't feel the need to make his characters likable.

Our narrator, Lynnette, is all rough edges, whose life is very simple. Since surviving a massacre at the age of sixteen, she has been scared, and her life is all about staying in protection mode. No hobbies, no social life, nothing. Once we meet the other members of the Final Girls Support Group, we're not necessarily given anything concrete to attach to. Lynnette doesn't have much of a relationship with any of them, so we're not bonding to these characters based on their rapports or shared fond memories. These six women have one thing in common: their monthly therapy meetings, and after almost twenty years, there's not much left for them to gain. Instead, we're given their weariness, with each other and with life.

It's those negative traits that help make this book special. Of course we see redeeming traits along the way, and by the time Lynnette decides to try to be a hero and actually protect people around her, we've spent more than enough time with her to care about her. But these women's flaws are placed front and center, because to our narrator, the world is as ugly as the sins of the people within it; still, there are moments of connection, moments where you see the flaws in Lynnette's self-preservation armor. Those moments shine all the more, carefully balanced by Hendrix, who clearly loves these characters and wants to do them justice.

This is a very unique and terrifying book, examining what could happen to those famous final girls of horror, when the killer is dead and real life begins again.

Lynette, the final girl whose eyes and mind we see the rest of the story through, survived a massacre that took the lives of her family, boyfriend and local police officers. She is technically still surviving. But life for her now entails hiding in her fortified apartment, memorizing people's shoes, and all of her possible escape routes, when she goes outside once a month to her group therapy-a gathering of other women who are also Final Girls.

But when someone doesn't show up to the group, Lynette becomes convinced there's a villain out there coming for them, and she's determined to survive again.

This is a super unique read-a horror story combined with a meta commentary on how "final girls" are treated after surviving unspeakable trauma, utilizing (fictional) magazine articles, essays, reddit posts, and interviews. This is also definitely a really dark, intense read, sometimes so dark that I debated if I was going to be able to finish the book, but the thing is that the story is so compelling and the mystery so intriguing, that I had to keep reading, and I'm definitely glad I did. The ending packs a real punch.

I would recommend this book, but just go in knowing that you are entering a dark and twisty world with almost no light. This was not an easy read.

I received a free digital copy from the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Hendrix gets points for creativity, that's for damn sure. Always bringing completely outside of the box horror stories, I will forever be a Grady Hendrix fan! The Final Girls Support Group was another fun romp, this time full of action. There were times this almost felt like an action movie. Even though there were quite a few characters to keep track of, each one was so different and Hendrix did a good job of describing them separately that I didn't have any trouble keeping track of them. And they made up quite the motley crew!

I can't say that I actually liked any of them, though. Especially the main character: Lynette is paranoid to a fault, yet misses the obviousness in front of her face. She's a character that takes herself too seriously, then fails miserably. I felt stronger connections with characters in some of Hendrix's other books so this was a small disappointment for me.

One thing that I greatly appreciate about Hendrix's writing is his tack with the horror elements (ahem, if horror elements can every be though of as tactful). What I mean is: he uses the gore, the blood and guts, to add to the story but not take over the story. I have found that the horror genre can be hit or miss for me, and that I get turned off by horror books that go over the top gory, being gross just because they can. Hendrix never looses sight of his characters or his plot and I greatly appreciate that. I can handle blood and guts no problem if it makes sense in the story, but on the other hand I don't need to revel in it. <

The Final Girls Support Group was a fun ride, and I highly recommend it!

Hendrix has yet again sealed his place as my favorite horror author. If it weren’t for the entire premise of this book already being chaotically enthralling, the old school slasher movie references completely solidified my love about 4 chapters in.
Just like a good slasher movie, just as everything was slowing down and I thought we were “safe” and in a comfortable, perfectly guessable plot twist, the rug was ripped out from under and I was put on my ass. It was awesome.

Are you a fan of classic slasher films?

If so, then you know a final girl is the one who fought back and evaded the killer - the only one left standing in the end. The final girls in this book are based off of characters from slasher films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, and Scream. They have a group therapy session once a month to help deal with their traumatic experiences. Lynette, the narrator, doesn’t trust anyone but her plant (yes, really), so she’s always on high alert and ready to run. Her worst nightmare becomes real when someone starts going after the members of the support group. Lynette, armed with her fanny pack and gun, sets out on a mission to save herself and the other final girls one last time.

In true slasher film style, The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix was gruesome, nail biting, and heart pounding, yet it was replete with dark humor and over the top moments. It was a fast-paced, compulsive read full of twists and turns. I found the premise so unique and fascinating because you never get to see what happens to those final girls when the dust settles and they return to their ordinary lives. With a satirical eye, Hendrix delves into the aftermath of their trauma and explores what it means to be a fighter and survivor, especially in a world where the media often glorifies such tragedies.

There were several gory scenes, so be forewarned if that’s not something you can stomach. However, if you’d appreciate an homage to slasher films with fierce female characters, then you should definitely read this one!

Thank you Berkley Publishing for providing me with an eARC to read and review through NetGalley!

This book is unlike any other book I've read (I have not read any other Grady Hendrix books) and I loved it! It is a satirical thriller which offers a glimpse into the trauma faced by those final girls in 80's slasher films who escaped from their attackers. This is not your typical thriller, although there were enough twists and turns to make it an effective thriller, nor is it strictly a parody although parts of it were laugh out loud funny. Fast paced, humourous and hard to put down. Strongly recommended.

Thank you to Grady Hendrix, Berkley Publishing, and NetGalley for the chance to read this early!

Lynnette is a final girl, the one who survived the murder massacre and killed the monster who took down her family. She's been a final girl all her life, living as carefully and as cautiously as possible. She meets up with five other final girls, all survivors of their own murderous sprees. She takes as few risks as possible, Lynnette does everything right until she doesn't and some one gets the jump on her. Now she must protect herself and the other final girls until this mystery is solved. No one else is going to die on her.

Let me start off with two facts. One: I am not a fan at all of horror movies. Not slashers, not scary, not demonic, none of that. Two: Scary things are rarely my forte if ever.

That being said, I adored this book. Absolutely sped through it like a bat out of hell, or Lynnette driving anywhere in this adventure. Grady Hendrix has done a masterful job of having someone who genuinely hates horror love this book. It's dark, it's creepy, it's gory, but it's literally un-put-downable. I had to know what happened next! I've read few of his other books and nothing hits quite like this.

Pros: A cast of strong lady characters, a excellent mix of action and thought creating a delightful pace, a mystery that just pleaded to be solved, language that worked for the older woman survivor point of view, a certain side character that literally left me shaking in my boots (Crazy Chrissy is not to be messed with) and a story that left me asking what next at every turn.

Cons: Gory (if that's a thing that bothers you), a smidge repetitive (but repetition can save lives), and a few too many crazies (I mean, not that many, but like there was a lot of crazy to keep track of).

10/10 would recommend to those who enjoy 80's slasher films, a peak into the minds of murderers, older women who kick ass, and figuring out whodunit?

The Final Girls Support Group- a group of 5 women and their therapist who have been meeting for about 15 years to process their trauma. At the beginning of the book the group you meet Lynette, who has coped with her trauma by being super vigilant about protecting herself- taking a different route home each day, studying the people around her, and getting close to no one but her houseplant 'Fine'. When the original Final Girl gets murdered by someone who wanted to get revenge against her- it looks like Lynette's perfectly curated life is about to implode. Each girl in the group had a trauma that was modeled off of a slasher film- like Scream, Halloween, etc. I thought that was a fun nod but this was a little too slapstick for me to get interested. I think if you liked horror films and books with a ton of action you might get more out of it than I did.

For years, Lynnette Tarkington has done everything to keep a low profile, not to be found and to be absolutely secure in her apartment which is equipped according to her needs: security cameras outside, several locks, a cage to hinder any intruder from getting close to her. She has a reason to be careful, she is a final girl, the only person surviving a massacre. She is not alone, there are more girls who share this fate and for more than a decade, they have been meeting regularly in a self-help group led by Dr Carol. But now, somebody seems to try to finish what hadn’t been completed before: killing the final girls. After the first of them has died and Lynnette is attacked in her apartment, she is sure: all the others are in danger and she needs to warn them. Yet, one question remains: who is the killer?

Grady Hendrix’ novel is a roller coaster ride though a kind of teenage horror and splatter movie, just like the ones that were highly popular during the 1990s. Lynnette, the first person narrator, does not seem to be totally reliable, quite obviously, the events she had to go through did leave some scars, not only on the outside, but much more importantly on her psyche. She is a bit strange, to put it nicely, or crazy when judging her behaviour from the outside. Yet, she could be right, somebody might try to kill them, but maybe this also only happens in her head. As a reader, it takes some time to decide which perspective to take.

I absolutely enjoyed the novel, it is just like the movies, fast paced, a bit over the top, some quite scary moments which make it highly entertaining. However, it is not only a shallow novel, there some depths when it comes to what such an experience does to a victim and also how people react to a single survivor who becomes a popular figure due to such an horrendous cruelty.

There are some cruel horror scenes with a lot of violence, so the novel surely isn’t for everybody, me, personally, I had great fun reading it.

This is a Horror Thriller. This is a fast pace book that is full of twists and turns and suspense. I cannot say much about this book without giving something away. This book is all about a support group of girls where all the girls/women in the group as survived something really bad. This book is told by one of the girls in the group. This book kept me guessing and not knowing. I really enjoyed this book, and the wild ride it took me on. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Berkley Books) or author (Grady Hendrix) via NetGalley, so I can give honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.