This book is what I wanted Final Girls by Riley Sager to be. I enjoyed seeing the stand-ins for classic horror movie heroines teaming up. Hendrix created an interesting, tragic world in which surviving a serial killer doesn't just mean years of therapy and Lifetime movie deals, it means horror movie deals and, worst of all, real life sequels.

"In horror movies, the final girls are the ones left standing when the credits roll. They made it through the worst night of their lives...but what happens after?

Like his bestselling novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix’s latest is a fast-paced, frightening, and wickedly humorous thriller. From chain saws to summer camp slayers, The Final Girl Support Group pays tribute to and slyly subverts our most popular horror films - movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream.

Lynette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized - someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece.

But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up."

I really wanted to read Grady Hendrix's first book but was waived off by many people I trust for it's white savior issues. I hope this one is issue free.

I picked this for request on a whim because if my love of all books Riley Sager. This one didn't disappoint, but didn't quite live up to Riley's books. I would still recommend it to customers looking for a new twist on classic thriller story.

Another gem from Grady Hendrix - and Berkley! A recommended first purchase for all public fiction collections.

Lynette is a final girl. Having been the last survivor in a killing spree as a teenager, as an adult, she and other survivors have formed a support group to fight the trauma that has plagued them. When one their members ends up dead, Lynette suspects that someone is out to get them all, but no one else believes her. Lynette has become unstable over the years and in order to make it out alive, she'll have to depend on herself and her friends.

This book was a wild ride. I love following Lynette as a main character since she seems both unreliable but also likable. This book really kept me on the edge of my seat. I have read a lot of thrillers before, and there were twists and turns in this book I really didn't see coming. I loved how I started to doubt Lynette and then root for her and then doubt again all in the same chapter. Hendrix did a great job of both parodying and paying homage to the 1980's slasher film. This was a great read that I cannot wait to recommend.

A classic slasher horror homage featuring a twisty whodunit thrill ride and literally all the easter eggs. While Hendrix's use of 1970s and '80s slasher films served as a way into the plot, I got caught up in the minutia trying to figure out which movies he was referencing. Horror lovers will enjoy the nods to classics of the genre, but thrill-seekers may be bored by the backstory. (But I will say that I did not guess the ending!)

It’s not often I find myself thinking a book would probably be better as a movie, but here we are.

Grady Hendrix’s latest novel, The Final Girl Support Group, takes a cheeky look at the last girls alive at the end of slasher flicks. The central premise being, what if Sally from “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Nancy from “Nightmare on Elm Street” and a handful of other final girls got together regularly for group therapy?

Brilliant idea! Okay-ish execution.

While Hendrix’s characters are inspired by cinematic scream queens, they’re his own creations. Here Sally is Marilyn from Panhandle Meathook and Nancy is Heather from Deadly Dreams. Discerning readers will note that Hendrix’s girls are named after the actors that portrayed their movie counterparts. Marilyn Burns played Sally in Texas Chainsaw, for example.

Confused yet? I definitely was at first. It took me awhile to understand the world Hendrix was trying to create, and I honestly still couldn’t tell the characters apart by the end. Their names were a giant blur of multiple syllables, so if they were up on the big screen with actual faces I would have had an easier time.

Now let’s talk genre. The Final Girl Support Group is clearly being marketed and shelved as horror, though that doesn’t feel quite right to me since I was never the least bit frightened. The jump scares that are so important to slasher movies didn’t translate to the page.

I did enjoy the L.A. setting, plus I do appreciate that this author has built himself a unique niche of horror-inspired thrillers. And the final scene for his final girls? It’s pretty darn killer.

This campy homage to the best of 80s and 90s slasher films is an absolute blast!
It's been years since the final girls who inspired some of the genres most famous horror franchises faced off against their attackers, but those blood filled nights still haunt their every waking hour. Not even group therapy seems to help- especially when it appears that someone has discovered that the famous survivors have been meeting together for secret sessions, and decided it's time to end them, one by one. Who will be the last one standing? Like any good bloodfest, you'll be left guessing until the grand finale!

An excellent nod to all the old slasher movies. The book is a bit crazy, unreliable narrator, which makes it a lot of fun, except for the few parts that it gets to be a little too much.

It was a very enjoyable and quick read, but the road trip then final confrontation went a bit too long. I drifted off from the book a couple of times during those parts. I think part of it was that I didn't really like Lynnette. I did really enjoy the other women in the group and how different they were, how they dealt with what had happened to them so differently.

Overall, it's a worthwhile read. I enjoyed the author's My Best Friend's Exorcism more, but I'm still happy I read this.

Huge thanks to Berkley for making my dreams come true with an ARC of this highly anticipated release!

I am a sucker for any book, movie, or TV show featuring the final girls trope. The Final Girls Support Group is the ultimate homage in my opinion because we rarely get to explore what happens to the final girls when the machetes and chainsaws stop on the screen/page.

Lynette Tarkington is part of a support group for other final girls. Every day of her life for the last twenty two years has been a preparation for the day her monster comes back for her. When one of the other women in the group misses a meeting, Lynette's worst fear comes true as someone comes for the final girls one by one.

The rest of the book is a wild ride as Lynette races to save the other women and herself. I will admit the journey is a bit unbelievable at times, but any slasher-horror fan knows that is exactly what the genre is 99% of the time! The book plays out exactly like a slasher movie, so definitely steer clear if you are squeamish!

My only problems with the book were distinguishing between characters and the killer is essentially spoiled from the first page. You don't really get to know the final girls long before the action starts, so I would forget which final girl survived which massacre, but it didn't really affect my enjoyment of the book. I was really disappointed that the ending wasn't a surprise because it really cut down on the suspense and shock of the final reveal. Skip the first page with the Reddit thread if you want to be more surprised by the ending.

Review will be shared to more platforms closer to the pub date.

I love Grady Hendrix. He might be my favorite author right now. This book was an absolute trip and I loved almost every second of it. I adored the badass group of final girls and couldn't wait to see who would be left standing. I can't wait to see what he writes next!

Grady Hendrix has quickly become a favorite author of mine. His unique and quirky writing style always manages to pull me in. This particular book, took me awhile to get into however. But once it grabbed me, I couldn’t stop reading until I finished.

A deliciously thrilling page-turner filled with heart pounding twists and turns that will sure keep you entertained. A group of 'final girls', all sole survivors of different massacres, have been attending a support group run by Dr. Carol Eliott for guidance in needing to heal and overcome their trauma. When one woman misses a meeting, their nightmare comes true. Someone knows about the group and is coming after them.

The narration is done in the perspective of Lynne Tarkington and I truly enjoyed the unreliable and unlikable characterization. She is definitely paranoid and very flawed. A complex character that you can't help to despise, empathize with and root for her survival. We are able to witness Lynette's growth through her series of introspection. Each of the "final girl" were created with their own distinctive voices and colors with exploration in different ways each woman experienced and dealt with trauma. Filled with over the top scenes done with purpose that is darkly humorous. "The Final Girl Support Group" is addictive, gruesome and full of tension that will impress readers of horror fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Grady Hendrix is obviously the go-to horror guy of the past few years, but in sort of a "I know the genre" way. He's as likely to write about the genre as write a book in it. This book really drives that home. It's clever, it's referential, but it never lets go of that cinematic feel. For some, that will make it a better experience; for others, it will feel like a fleshed-out screenplay begging to be picked up. The girls are legitimately difficult to keep track of through a big chunk of the book, and he's not as light-handed with his narrator as he could be (to say more would be spoiling), but beyond that, it's a solid thriller, with plenty of twists and turns and possibilities for whodunnit.

I loved the premise of this book. In all slasher films there is always the one girl that either gets away of kills the person that killed all her friends. This is usually the "good girl" that is above reproach during the film. But after the film what happens to these "Final girls"? I love the nod to all of the slasher films throughout the book. I would have like for the characters experiences in the past to have been presented earlier in the book. For me at times the book gets somewhat muddied up and confusing at times. I'm not sure that I liked the interwoven "blog posts" throughout the book and would have like to seen better character development. I didn't always understand the motivation behind these women and therefore I didn't really get invested in them. Having said all that, I would still recommend you read this book. Could they make a slasher movie from the book about the girls that survived the slasher movies? Absolutely.

This book kept me on the edge of my seat! When I thought I knew what was going on Hendrix surprises you and takes you in a new direction. I love Hendrix's writing style. The "final girl" is an interesting part of lore and this book does a great job of exploring what happens to them after they survive and what they will do to survive. I really enjoyed this book.

While slasher films and the final girl trope are at the center of this story, this book is more of a thriller than a horror novel, which isn't a bad thing. Through the group of women who were made famous through their survival we see all the different ways to cope with the trauma-some of which allow for living a real life, and in the case of Lynette, means only ever surviving a daily grind of panic and fear.
The novel is really fast-paced, so much so that occasionally it's hard to tell if the events are plausible or if they feel extra bananas because we're seeing them through Lynette's eyes, and her not entirely trustworthy point of view.
Sometimes all the various horrors addressed in the story start to feel a little bit like being spun around in a bingo ball cage, leaving it a little hard to remember who endured what and what that meant in pop culture. And once you add a dash of social commentary about the fascination with killers and the women who survive them, it's sometimes hard to know if there will be any real kind of resolution for these characters. But the ending is ultimately satisfying even if it feels like it's inevitable that the cycle of violence and public interest in it will endure.

I always enjoy Hendrix's twists on horror and pop culture. I will do a full review after the publication date.

Imagine all of the final girls of the classic slasher films all attend the same support group. These individuals experienced great loss and tremendous trauma, which exhibit themselves in very particular actions and routines in each character's adult life.

Grady Hendrix has crafted our perspective final girl, Lynette, who is considered an outsider even by group members, in that she did not have a final stand against the monster in her story...yet.
She has certainly experienced final girl levels of trauma and violence, and follows a particular set of routines and rules to keep herself safe.

When their therapist says the end of group is coming, Lynette has a strong and negative reaction, especially as she realizes there is someone new targeting the final girls. She takes to the road and seeks to keep her only friends safe from this new threat.

Twists and turns abound. Grady Hendrix has a talent in creating multi-level narratives, and we only get about half way through the story when he completely flips the script. This really provides a summer blockbuster or cinematic experience in the reading, perfect for someone seeking a page-turning and exciting thriller kicked up a notch.

I received this as an early review copy from NetGalley and Berkley. All opinions are my own.

Where do I begin? Oh. My. Goodness! Lynette is the main character. She’s a pitiful, paranoid, loner whose best friend is a houseplant. She talks to the plant and in her mind, the plant talks back. Lynette thinks she’s taken every precaution to keep her whereabouts safe. But, she hasn’t. Someone is after her and will stop at nothing to take her down. Lynette escapes and is on the run from her tormentors and the police is hot on her tail. She realizes that not only her life is in danger but all the final girls in her group. She has to warn everyone, but they all think she’s crazy. Lynette says she knows who is behind the attempts on their lives. Is she right? Could it be the person she thinks it is? This book is non-stop action. I had to put the book down a few times because I started getting anxious with how the book was heading. I had to take a break because The Final Girl Support Group just had me inside Lynettes head, on the run with her to find the truth. You won’t see the ending coming in a million years. I haven’t enjoyed a book like this in quite awhile. I’d give it 10 stars if possible. Buy this book! You won’t be sorry.