Grady Henrix's The Final Girl Support Group is a homage to the women of horror, especially as portrayed in the slasher flicks of the ’80s and ’90s, like Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Scream. In horror movies, the final girl is the one who's left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her?

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. She's also a recluse and the most paranoid of all the final girls. For more than a decade she's been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. The women are Adrienne, Julia, Dani, Heather, and Marilyn. Dani is Halloween, Marilyn is Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Julia is the Scream franchise, Heather seems tied to Midnight on Elm Street, and Adrienne is Friday the 13th.

That is until one of the women, Adrienne, misses a meeting and is found murdered. Lynnette's worst fears are realized--someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece. When Julia shows up at Lynnette's, someone decides it's time to eliminate two final girls in one fell swoop which sends Lynnette running for cover. But that's just the beginning of Lynnette's nightmare. What proceeds is an often silly and unrealistic journey as Lynnette does crazy thing after crazy thing to try and save herself and the other final girls.

The thing about final girls is that they have each others backs, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up. Adrienne was a counselor at Camp Red Lake when nine of her friends were murdered. Julia’s killer was the Ghost – who turned out to be her boyfriend. Back in the ‘80s Dani’s older brother hurt their babysitter one night. Marilyn’s past had a lot to do with straight razors and being forced to wear a leather suit made out of human skin. Heather had a run-in with the Dream King. And Lynette, one could say she was on the naughty list and is lucky to be considered a final girl.

Bottom line: This is a book about a group of final girls, survivors of real-life events that have been turned into successful film franchises, but 20 years later the spotlight has moved on, society has found new monsters and victims, but these women still sit in a circle of chairs in a church basement trying to figure out how to live their lives. Some of them are in denial about what happened, others feel like they’re obsessing over something that happened when they were 16 and shouldn’t they move on by now, everyone else has?

Some still live in terror, always looking over their shoulders, imprisoned by their own fears. But when someone starts to kill them one by one, they start to seem like the smart ones. What does it mean when the worst thing that can possibly happen to you happens when you’re 16 years old? How do you live the rest of your life in its shadow? How do you pick up the pieces and move on? Is moving on even possible? Dying is easy, it turns out. Living is what’s hard.

I loved My Best Friend's Exorcism so I was very excited to read The Final Girl Support Group! Grady Hendrix is a genius.

I was obsessed with the premise of this book: A cheeky take on Final Girls. These women were all victims of a real-life slasher and have secretly joined together in a therapy group as they attempt to live on after the incident. 

At first I was worried I'd lose track of the long list of characters, but each was extremely unique both in history and personality, so it was actually easy to keep up with each woman. Lynette was a great protagonist and her constant paranoia and attempts to keep herself safe felt very real. Most of the characters were a bit of a caricature in style, but it added a bit of dark humor to an intense plot. 

Once the action begins to happen, Lynette realizes that all the women are truly in emanate danger. The intensity of the plot changes from a thriller to a mild slasher. I didn't predict the killer or twist at the end and was satisfied with the ending. 

The writing style was great and I loved the addition of articles and interviews from the Final Girls about their story. It gave a nonfiction approach to fiction and introduced themes of feminism and strength. 

Overall, two thumbs up from me! The Final Girls Support Group is a great idea for a book with brilliant execution from the author.

This novel had me on edge from the start. Someone was killing “Final Girls” - survivors of horrible massacres, murders or slaughters from back in the 70’s and 80’s. The women in their therapy/support group all had an interesting story to tell and it was interwoven throughout the novel.

I am a HUGE slasher movie fan, and the premise of this book is absolutely genius. That said, at times when reading, I wasn’t sure if I was the ideal audience for this book. Some descriptions were hard to get through because they were SO heavily inspired by slasher movies I’ve seen multiple times. I think more casual horror fans would enjoy those bits of the book more than me, but they’d miss out on all the meta commentary throughout, with each final girl basically being a copy of a final girl from actual slasher movies. Like I said— the premise is genius, but the execution could have been better, I think. Nothing in this book felt revolutionary, which was a shame because the ideas are all so intriguing. The relationships and characters needed to be established a bit earlier and more clearly; it was hard to keep track of everything. The pacing of the book was so crazy I can’t even explain it. And the main character, while fascinating, was so frustrating to read. In the end, this book is worth a read if you’re a slasher movie fan. If you watched the recent Halloween reboot and thought, “I’d love to read a book about this but also throw in some of the other final girls” this book is for you… I think? 4/5 stars.

PS (possible spoilers if you’re a slasher fan):
You can tell the author REALLY liked the Halloween reboot and Scream 4. I also loved those films, but at times it just got a bit too close to those other stories for me. Again, maybe a more casual fan would find those similar plot elements new and exciting? But to me it felt a bit like “been here already” at times. But I did enjoy many references!

This one was just okay for me. I loved the premise. I loved the beginning and the end. I didn’t love the middle so much. It just seemed to drag on and on. I was surprised by the twist at the end!

Final girl is the one who emerges victoriously, bloodied and the only survivor in horror/slasher movies. Lynette is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago. She has been attending the Final Girl Support Group with five other final girls. When one of them is found murdered, Lynette begins to suspect that someone is hunting them down.

I love Hendrix books and will read anything he writes. They are always entertaining, thrilling, gory and TFGSG is no exception! It was nuts but in a good way. I do like my slasher films so naturally I loved this book! I liked the backstories of each of these final girls. They are interesting and is quite similar to movies like Scream, The Texas Chain Massacre and Halloween. So fun! (is it weird for me to say that?!)

The plot was interesting, suspenseful and I enjoyed the wild ride! At its core, this story is about survival and girl power. I love that these girls will not let their trauma define them as victims but rather they are their own heroes.

Pub. Date: July 13th, 2021


***Thank you Berkley Publishing Group, author Grady Hendrix and NetGalley for this copy to read and review.***

When one of the Final Girls, Adrienne, doesn't show up to their group meeting, Lynnette knows that her fears have come to life. These girls are real-life survivors of mass slasher-style killings. They are the girls that kill the killers. When it is confirmed that Adrienne was murdered, Lynnette goes on a mission to find out who is behind the killings and to save the rest of the Final Girls.

This book was a wild ride. I highly recommend it to anyone that's into fast-paced horror books or slasher movies. It wasn't as gruesome as I thought it would be. And the ending. I loved the ending.

WOW!

Admittedly, this was only my second Grady Hendrix list, but I'll be racing to read their backlist after this one. If you love horror movies, thrillers, strong female protagonists, and/or the 80s/90s slasher movies, this book is for you!

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived something horrible twenty-two. years before the story starts. She, alongside five other final girls, meet once a month as a support group with their therapist as they attempt to put their lives together after experiencing horrific trauma. When one woman misses a meeting, Lynnette's worries her worst fear is starting to come true - someone knows about the group and is determined to ruin them again.

This book was a binge-worthy read that I devoured in only a few sittings. It's exciting, delightfully twisty, and clever. I appreciate Hendrix's ability to bring humor into such a dark story. Horror fans will also love the nods to classic horror movies, as the characters in the story are based on them.

My minor setbacks were I wish I had more character development of some of the final girls and got to know them better. I even left with questions about our main character when I was done. I also found the plot drifting a bit in the middle and getting a bit messier than was needed.

Overall, this was a fun read and would be an excellent movie!



TW: gore, violence, murder, drug abuse, PTSD, trauma

Whew. This was quite the ride. Overall, I really enjoyed this one, but I’ll admit that at times I felt like there was WAY too much going on. The story is told in so many bits and pieces, and it was a little difficult to string it all together coherently. I also felt that the author was trying too hard to stereotype each of the characters into a specific role. All in all though, I enjoyed this one and read it all in one day.

totally relatable! Their emotions and fears are so real, it gave me chills! Highly recommend this read! Just don't stay up too late reading it :)

THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP by GRADY HENDRIX
A wildly entertaining romp through the conventions of horror’s slasher movie tropes.
*Special thanks to #NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for a free, electronic ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.*

final girl (n.) – the last and sole survivor of a horror movie.

This was my first novel by this author and I was intrigued by the slasher movie nostalgia which definitely sparked my interest, but I gotta say, I almost DNF’d it.
Why? Because it didn’t have many of the elements I look for in a book.
So why didn’t I toss that baby like week old fish? Because the overall premise had me on the hook and I could NOT get free! [see what I did there…? 😉 ]

Ok. This book. THIS BOOK! Where do I start!?!?!?

Normally I want characters I can relate to, at least an itsy bitsy bit, even if it’s the antagonist, I find I look for relatable aspects in the character, but this book had NONE of them. Not one of those characters were likable, they all had flaws they wore like neon signs and I swear spent time honing to an art!

Yet it was still a great read! I am stunned. Now, let’s break it down…

Opening in first person, we’re introduced to our Main Character (MC) who is going about a regular morning routine after waking, a routine that apparently includes numerous panic attacks. Right off the bat we gather something is amiss with our MC.
At first we think the MC suffers from … delusions, maybe…? But once the television is turned on we find a news report about a massacre at a summer camp and we’re introduced to the concept of a ‘final girl’ as yet another one is created. We also find out our MC herself, is a final girl having survived a brutal massacre that we do not get details about until much later, but to be labeled a final girl we know it had to be horrific.

We find out how she lives, or rather how she passes her time because a day in her life is more barely existing than living. To say her ordeal has left a few scars, would be an understatement. Mega physical and mental scars plague our resilient MC whose name we learn is Lynette Tarkington. She is on her way to a super-secret support group for final girls like herself where she and five others, plus their therapist have been meeting in secret for more than a decade. Turns out one of their group doesn’t show up and we find out she got her sequel – her killer came back and finished her off! This alerts the group to the fact their supposedly ‘highly confidential’ assembly is not so secret – someone knows and is planning to take them out, one by one.

Thus begins this thrill ride as we learn about each final girl’s story {fans of 80s/90s horror may be familiar with these recognizable, bloody storylines} ; and follow Lynette as she scurries around like a terrified girl afraid for her life, which she and her cohorts have become – again! She blunders about looking for signs to confirm her suspicions all the while wanting to run and hide, but staying the course through ass-kickings, apartment shoot-out, stalking killers and all he while with no one to trust or turn to for help. Quite the durable final girl.

I did find it a bit difficult at first to keep track of everyone and their stories as there are a lot of characters to follow but once I got them down, I was in it for the long haul, nothing was removing this book from my sweaty, clenched hands. {no worries, it was a digital copy, so no wrinkly, damp pages… because - Eewww…! }

As the story progresses, we learn that none of them really know each other even though they’ve been meeting each month for over a decade. Due to the nature of their reason for meeting, they don’t socialize much outside of the group. So when they start getting knocked off one by one, Lynette does not know whom to trust. Any of them could be the killer as all of them are unreliable and untrustworthy.

I enjoyed the blend of gallows humour and solid characters, the sensational pop culture references mixed with visceral violence, and the 'keep you guessing' vein.

I did not know who the killer was and figured it out WITH our MC, Lynette! Every time I thought I figured it out, the author tossed in another twist.

The characters… now I can’t say definitively they were ‘unlikable’, they were more unpleasant and disagreeable, and some were even openly hostile and objectionable; but really who wouldn’t be slightly cuckoo-for-cocoa-puffs after being through such harrowing ordeals as these ladies all have? Yet despite not having one thread of relatability to this reader, I found I liked them, maybe not all of them (I wanted to smack the crap outta my namesake, that’s for sure!) But their nasty spitefulness is what endeared them to me, I think. Which truly surprised me. The relationships between the Final Girls was eccentric and unconventional, a fellow reviewer likened it to ‘Scream Queens meets Golden Girls’ and I could not agree more!

Highly recommended!
4/5

#TheFinalGirlSupportGroup
#netgalley

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review.

Big fan of Hendrix but this wasn’t my favorite. Read more like a screenplay than a novel. I did enjoy the nods to classic horror films. 3.5 stars.

Meta upon meta. That said, it's nice to read a book that not only subverts the genre form and expectations but where the characters are real. This high concept could have been as glib as an episode of Criminal Minds but thankfully, wasn't. Couldn't put it down, either! Delighted to include it in the July instalment of Novel Encounters, my regular column highlighting the month's top fiction for Zed, Zoomer magazine’s reading and books section (full review and feature at link).

Last summer I loved The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, and I couldn’t wait to read this one!

Lynette Tarkington is a final girl who survived the killings of her family and boyfriend. For years, her and five other final girls meet monthly as a group with their therapist. All women are just trying to put the past behind them and live normal lives. Everything changes when one of the final girls miss a meeting and the worst happens. Now all the final girls are in danger. Will they be able to survive this time around?

This one was a fun ride. It was fast paced and suspenseful and at times over the top, but that much was expected from this author. At first there was a lot of characters and it took me some time to figure out who everyone was, but once I did, I couldn’t put the book down. There are a lot of slasher movie references with a lot of blood, gore and details about killings, but it’s filled with cheeky humor so it’s not cringeworthy. The book was filled with twists, and I had no idea who the killer was because everyone was unreliable and untrustworthy. Overall, I enjoyed this one, I liked TSBCGTSLV more, but I highly suggest giving this author a try with his odd humor and unique storytelling!

If you are a fan of slasher movies then this one is for you!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I thought this was a great read, a slasher film in book form but with a meta-wink. I dug Lynette’s voice, she’s simultaneously a trustworthy and a very untrustworthy narrator. The glimpses the reader gets of the situations that made each woman a final girl are legit horrifying.

3.5 rounded up

This was my first time reading this author so I was excited to check it out, having heard great things! I have also recently read Final Girls by Riley Sager so was worried this would be a little similar but it's not! Final Girls was more a mystery, this is more an action packed/horror book. With an ode to all the slasher films of the 80's, this book brings together 6 girls that survived murderous sprees (all different scenarios). They are in a support group and when one girl ends up dead, one of the girls, Lynette, freaks out that the other 5 are next!

This was an interesting story because I wasn't sure if we had a reliable narrator or not. I enjoyed seeing it all unfold and I didn't guess one of the twists! Overall, this wasn't my favorite but I did enjoy it. I thought a few parts were a little gruesome and a few red herrings (one in particular) that seemed a bit random. I was excited to find out what was happening!

*Thank you to Berkley for an advanced copy. Opinions are my own.

I read it in two sittings, it was very exciting, I admit that I didn't guess the identity of the killer! I've also read My Best Friend's Exorcism and The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampire and I enjoyed those as well. A little black comedy interspersed with gore and suspense. Don't read if the genre scares you. Well-written, though the author keeps repeating the words "final girl" too many times, plus a little long-winded at the end, though it builds the suspense. It was a change of pace from my usual historical fiction! Would definitely recommend to my patrons.

(The following review will run the week of publication on CriminalElement.com)

Lynette belongs to an exclusive club.

To join, it’s pretty straightforward: everyone around you just has to die. You have to outlast the psychotic maniac. Survive your grievous wounds. And then you have to do it again.

She’s what society calls a Final Girl.


You’re watching a horror movie and the silent killer knocks off the stoner, the slut, the jock, and the deputy, and now he’s chasing the virgin babysitter through the woods. The killer’s got a chainsaw/boat hook/butcher’s knife and this girl’s got zip: no upper body strength, no mass, no shotgun. All she’s got is good cardio and an all-American face. Yet somehow she kills the killer, then stares numbly into the middle distance, or collapses into the arms of the arriving police, or runs crying to her boyfriend, makes one last quip, lights one last cigarette, asks a final haunting question, gets taken off in an ambulance screaming and screaming like she’s never going to stop.
Ever wonder what happens to those final girls?
I know what happens to those girls. After the movie deals get signed, after the film franchise fails. …After you realize that the only interesting thing that’ll ever happen to you happened when you were sixteen, after you stop going outside, after you start browsing locksmiths the way other women browse the windows of Tiffany’s, after all that happens you wind up where I’m going today: in a church basement in Burbank, seated with your back to the wall, trying to hold the pieces of your life together.
We’re an endangered species, for which I’m grateful. There are only six of us still around. It used to make me sad there weren’t more of us out there, but we were creatures of the eighties and the world has moved on.


Lynette and the other Final Girls — Adrienne, Dani, Marilyn, Julia, and Heather — are all middle-aged now. Their bloody stories, and the monsters they outlived, are instantly recognizable for any horror fans in the audience. There’s the camp counselor and the babysitter. One was attacked by inbred redneck cannibals, and another fought off the nightmarish Dream King. A boyfriend and his best friend, fueled by an obsessive love of horror movies, decided to make one into their own Final Girl, and the last suffered through the worst Christmas imaginable.

They survived, but the physical and emotional scars linger. They’ve turned to drugs and alcohol and extreme prepping to cope. They’re saddled with PTSD and steel plates. In Lynette’s case, it sometimes feels as though the only thing that keeps her going is their monthly support group.

But after sixteen years, cracks have formed in the once tight-knit group. Their meetings quickly devolve into senseless bickering, and talk begins of ending the sessions for good.

Then one of them is murdered, and campers at the Camp Red Lake retreat are massacred in an awful repeat of history. Soon, it becomes obvious that the others in the support group are being targeted in a coordinated series of strikes — and Lynette is determined, desperate, to stop this new monster from racking up a higher kill count.


Who’s coming for us? A fan? That has to be it. The monsters in our lives are as particular about their final girls as people are about their Starbucks order. African American nonfat camp counselor with high threshold for pain and an extra shot. A double soy lesbian babysitter who’s not afraid to stab someone in the eye, hold the foam.


Grady Hendrix has built a solid reputation for himself in the horror genre for blending gallows humor, pop culture references, and solid characters with visceral violence and genuine chills. The Final Girl Support Group is yet another stellar entry in his bibliography.

Every slasher film archetype and trope is featured here, and it’s great fun figuring out which Final Girl belongs to which franchise and how Hendrix will put his own spin on things. Chapters focused on the primary plot are interspersed with snippets of interviews, police reports, psychological assessments, and magazine essays critiquing the film franchises inspired by each Final Girl, adding layers of color and depth to the story.

Hendrix is that rare male author who does a phenomenal job writing female characters that feel truly real. We spend the bulk of the story in Lynette’s head, and it’s not always a comfortable place to be, but it is always authentic. Peppered throughout her narrative and blood-soaked trials is plenty of commentary on the evils of misogyny and the dangerous reality of existing in a world where violence against women is so normalized as to be expected, where it’s even turned into entertainment. And all of it is heavily seasoned with righteous feminist rage.


Men don’t have to pay attention the way we do. Men die because they make mistakes. Women? We die because we’re female.

…What does it say about us that so much of the entertainment we consume is about killing women? I want you to think about that.
How is the murder of women fun?
You go to the big new thriller, you finish your popcorn, go out for dinner, talk about the plot twists with your friends, it’s just another part of your evening out. But no one brings that woman safely home. Her body is left back there on the screen while everyone goes on with their lives. Let’s think about what that means. Let’s think about what’s wrong with us.


The Final Girl Support Group is a solid thriller even outside of the slasher pastiches, with enough surprises, twists, and turns to keep the most jaded of readers off-kilter. Every time you think you’ve got it all figured out, Hendrix throws another monkey wrench — or machete, or shotgun blast — into the works. There are even a couple heady dips into the meta and mythic, plumbing the origins of Final Girl trope in a way that will please fans of Cabin in the Woods, before it all comes to a screaming (and very satisfying) end.

If this is your first foray into Grady Hendrix’s work, you’ll walk away from The Final Girl Support Group eager to dive straight into his backlog. If you’re a longtime fan, this will not disappoint. Hendrix was already penciled onto my auto-read list, but now he’s earned the permanent marker.

I’ve read a few of the authors novels in the past and while I can certainly see the appeal to readers his books simply don’t stand out to me. For some reason I expect more from his stories than he delivers. This is probably due to the fact that other readers rave about him so much which is fine, but I can’t seem to see what they do. I suppose that in order for me to express my thoughts in a way that makes sense that I should tell you what I didn’t like. Here goes…

This book deals with the lone victims (the “final girls”) who survive acts of violence (mostly from serial killers). These are the girls we all see in horror movies who are the only ones to get out of the grips of a killer who annihilated all their friends. The premise sounds intriguing right? Unfortunately, the violence that these girls endured is a little too close to the popular horror movies of the 80’s and 90’s (which stand to be some of my favorite movies of all time). Eerily close actually. It’s like the author USED those movies and just changed the titles so that they fit into his story without infringing upon copyrights or something. It was a bit weird to read to be honest and an author who is going to write a book like this should have used a little more originality.

Another thing I didn’t like about this book is how LITTLE the author describes what actually happened to these girls. I think it would have benefitted the story and made me like the characters more if he’d used their backstories in a bigger way. It’s like he skirts around them and gives as little detail as necessary.

Finally, these characters are extremely dry. I honestly didn’t like any of them especially the main character whose POV is used throughout the story. I didn’t feel bad for her, I found her to be off-putting, and her clear mental issues could have been better focused on for more likability.

All that being said, this isn’t a terrible book, and I did read it quite fast because I wanted to see what happened. However, it wasn’t a book I’d favorite or even recommend to everyone who enjoys reading.

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙:
• Old school horror movies
• Action packed novels with a bit of violence and gore
• Authors like Riley Sager, Stephen Graham Jones, Chuck Wendig

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐

This book was so good! I grew up on the old slasher movies and watch them every year around Halloween. This book brings the final girls to life and I am here for it!

I need this to be made into a movie or TV series because it was that good. I enjoyed the references to the slasher movies I know and love and could figure out which movie each final girl was based off of, which was really fun. I don’t know if this is a typical horror book; it read to me more like a gory thriller, but it definitely does have some gory scenes. I felt it was pretty action packed for most of the story and I could not put it down. I read it in two sittings.

Lynette’s plant which she named Fine… so cute.

There were times I wanted to scream at Lynette for being so prepared yet so naive - but that’s what I do at my TV every time I watch a slasher so that was on point. I loved how all of the girls ended up in such different places but still stuck together for their monthly group sessions.

If you’re down for a wild and intense ride, you should absolutely pick this book up.