I've been a fan of this author for the last several years and, while I didn't like his most recent novel, I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately, I lost interest in "Support Group" even faster than I had with "Southern Book Club"
There's far too much that happens much too quickly and we're supposed to see these characters as important before we've gotten any information about them at all. Any real information comes too late in the novel and at much too slow a pace - aside from that, the characters all resent each other so the stakes don't really feel high enough and none of the supposed emotion feels genuine.
Each of the final girls is clearly a reference to a popular franchise - a fine idea in theory - but if you don't already know everything about those pre-existing movies, then what exactly are you supposed to take away from this?
Over all, I love the concept and wanted very much to like this book, but between the barely-there characters and the horrific pacing, the only thing I really found myself actually enjoying was the denouement - which is a bit late in the game to finally be getting invested.

5 billion stars, honestly. I l-o-v-e-d this book, even more than Southern Book Club. At this point I'd preorder Grady Hendrix writing the instructions on how to bake a potato.
This book had me up too late, feelin' VERY paranoid about the entrance points of my apartment, and I know I'll be looking over my shoulder and trying to keep track of people's shoes as I walk home from work now. Grady Hendrix books string you along for a bit, quietly turning up the tension until WHAM it all hits you and it's terrifying and brilliant and you're basically white knuckling it and unable to turn the pages of your kindle fast enough. I saw exactly zero of the twists coming (and holy smokes, what twists!!!).
I'll be talking this one up for ages and will be buying my own personal copy.

I like Grady Hendrix, and I think I would have liked this better if I had seen most of the 80’s slasher type movies. I also had a hard time keeping the girls straight. All in all though, I enjoyed the book.

I thought I knew what I was getting into when I requested Mr. Hendrix's new novel, The Final Girl Support Group. However, it was more than I could have ever hoped for. It was a definite home run for me. I loved every single character and their horrid pasts, but also their courage and resilience to carry on. This book definitely supports the theory that life keeps on marching by even though you don't want it too. 10 stars!!!!**********

What if all the survivors of those gory slasher movies were real women and they met once a month in a church basement for group therapy? How do you think they would react when someone starts trying to kill them again?

The concept of a final girl support group drew me in to this book! Honestly, such a great concept for a book. The Final Girl Support Group follows Lynette as she tries to piece her life back together after being the sole survivor of a brutal attack on her family. An attack that left her physically and emotionally scarred.

Every month Lynette meets up with a group of other final girls for a support group led by therapist Dr. Carol. Then one member misses a meeting, all hell breaks loose, and it appears as though someone is out there targeting final girls.

This book is a sort of ode to the thriller/ horror genre, in my opinion. There are many aspects to this book that thriller lovers will enjoy. This whole book felt like one big inside joke that you will only understand if you love thrillers/ horror (if that makes sense?). I loved that the author included movie reviews and interview transcripts in between the chapters. It added a fun element to book.

If you're a fan of thrillers and you want something unique to shake things up, I recommend giving The Final Girls Support Group a read!

I just love Grady Hendrix and his books and the Final Girl Support Group was no exception! It was a thrilling romp through 80s slasher films with a unique perspective, that of the Final Girl who survives and kills the monster. It looks at what life might be like for the survivors after the trauma.

This was a fast read that was hard to put down and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this digital arc.

This was marvelous! I love this author, and I enjoyed this much more than the Riley Sager book on a similar subject from a few years ago. I read this one rapidfire over an afternoon. It was such a creepy, page turner delight!

Hendrix's newest book will quickly join his others as a horror favorite.

Lynnette never really started living again after a household massacre in her teenage years left her a "final girl," but after an unknown individual begins to target final girls, Lynnette is thrust back into a dangerous world without her safety checks and preset escape plans.

I received a ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Final Girl Support Group is for women who survived horrific events that became well known slasher films, you'll recognize the women from Scream, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Friday the 13th, but they won't be outright named. There is also Lynnette, a final girl with a unique background and continues to live her life prepared for any situation where she suspects any person can be after her. When one of the final girls doesn't show up for group Lynnette automatically becomes paranoid and when several other strange events occur to the members of the group Lynnette concludes someone is after final girls.

I enjoyed the background given to characters in these movies that were kind of glossed over and showed real mental health issues that happen to people who experience trauma. There were times it was hard to keep track of who was from which movie, but it really doesn't matter. Lots of twist and turns and good commentary about how society views the women in these horror movies. Worth reading if you enjoy slashes movies and holds up to Hendrix's books, so fans will enjoy!

Dang! I began this book with no intention of doing more than peeking at the beginning, while working with Grady on convention programming, and ended up finishing in less than 24 hours, unable to set it down even for other books I had more pressing deadlines for. Despite her flaws -- and they are many -- Lynnette Tarkington had me immediately invested in her story and rooting for her to survive, even while questioning whether she would indeed manage to be a "final girl" a second time around. Readers can contemplate what makes human "monsters," what draws people to be obsessed with mass killers (fictional and / or historic), and gender roles while the body count mounts, and Lynnette seems ever more unlikely to end up fine.

What if those 80s slasher films were all based on real Final Girls. Would you want to know what happened to all of them after the credits roll and the sequels are done and their stints on talk shows are over? Well, this book does just that. This is The Final Girl Support Group.

What did I think could be better?
I think the book relied too heavily on unreliable characters with mental health issues where the word "crazy" was thrown around too often. I felt like a lot of these ideas are utilized too often and I am not a fan of mental health being used as a plot line in this way. Also, I didn't find myself truly rooting for any character, which is what I look for in a book.

What I enjoyed?
The book was fast paced and had my adrenaline pumping the WHOLE TIME, just like an actual 80s slasher film. There were some twists I definitely didn't see coming. There were villains. There was action. There were female characters fighting back and overcoming trauma throughout the book. Also, I feel like you get a great understanding of the relationship between all these "Final Girls," even though you only get the perspective of one of them.

If you love 80s slasher flicks? I think you'll love this and you should give it a try!

3.5 stars rounded to 4 for Netgalley!

Trigger Warnings: PTSD, Trauma, Violence

I'm a huge fan of Grady Hendrix and devoured all his books this past summer after reading My Best Friend's Exorcism. This book is no different and kept me glued to its pages and on having to make myself slow down so I wouldn't miss anything! Loved the story and the characters and as a fellow South Carolina native I'll forever be a fan of Grady!

This book was simultaneously a satirical masterpiece about the horror industry and an allegory of the female experience. Lynnette was an unlikely, and sometimes unwilling, heroine who grew to be more than just a victim. Mixing in multimedia about fictional horror stories (which believe me, I googled because I thought they were real!) made this book so immersive. I'd recommend this to any classic horror fans or any thriller junkies. Amazing!

I loved The Final Girl Support Group. I have watched so many classic slasher movies, and this novel explores what happens to the girls who survive. The dynamics of the group are so relatable- the friction, the love and the trust when shit hits the fan. Also, it's funny.

Grady Hendrix always manages to write fast paced, well crafted thrillers/horror and he does it again here. The characters are well developed, with clever nods to classic slasher film heroines and actresses. Anyone who likes horror films and true crime will appreciate all the little mentions of genre classics and real life serial killers. He manages to indulge this love without making it grotesque and adds a lot of feminist themes and questions about why men kill women and why we enjoy watching it and reading about it. He doesn't reprimand horror fans, as he is an obvious one himself, but doesn't shy away from questions about what drives us to like it so much.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Penguin Random House for the ARC of The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix. Like most of Hendrix's work, The Final Girl Support Group kept me on my toes. I found the main character, Lynette, an interesting character who suffered greatly at the hands of not one, but two evil men. As her story continues, I second guessed everyone (including her) and wondered whom I could trust. That kind of guessing makes for a great thriller, and brings attention to the media and how as a society we focus on *mostly* the "bad guys." It leaves us questioning...what happens to victims and how do they cope?

This is my first Grady Hendrix novel, and I wasn't entirely sure what to expect: will it be funny, like a horror spoof? Or will it be straight-up horror? This ... is a mix. Let me say first that Hendrix is a good writer. The setup of the novel is pretty genius: 6 women in a support group group for survivors of mass murder events (Final Girls), and what happens when someone starts trying to kill them (AGAIN. Most of these women have already undergone two "revenge" style mass killings, rendering their stories the perfect fodder for the slasher films of the 1980s-90s).

It's a quick romp of a read, with a nice level of unputdownable-ness (my kindle telling me there's only half an hour left in the book is a great motivator to keep going), and snappy dialogue. Is the story believable? Hell, no (at least I hope not). But it sure is entertaining, even if I didn't really love the ending and am still pondering the questions that Lynnette, our Final Girl heroine (of sorts) poses about who is responsible, and why. It also gave me new perspective about how survivors deal with guilt and navigate their lives post-trauma, and how I generally take my own security for granted on a daily basis.

Altogether enjoyable, especially if you don't think too hard, which you don't want to do anyway in a story about repeated mass murders and the survivors of same.

Another thoroughly enjoyable Grady Hendrix book full of the scares, thrills and classic horror tropes turned on their heads that I've come to expect from him. This book was fast paced and focused in on a particular character and her personal trauma, similar to Southern Guide. While I didn't feel as strongly connected to the characters in this book as Southern Guide, it was still a wild and thrilling romp. Reminiscent of 80s slasher films, this book will entertain even the most well versed horror fan.

Having loved Grady Hendrix’s last book, I was eager to read Final Girl Support Group. His writing and a book full of twists and turns make this a great book to read.