I have loved every single one of Grady Hendrix's books, so I entirely expected to love this one, but it did not do it for me. I am really disappointed that it wasn't a new favorite. I liked the concept of it and how it brought back the idea of slasher films and turned it into a campy real life story. That was super fun! However, I felt there wasn't enough information about the characters' backgrounds to fully invest. I felt like I was waiting for crumbs to drop for me to gobble little bits of their story, but I was never satisfied. They all tended to blend into each other for me and it didn't make me excited to continue. I still look forward to see what he does next though!

Not really what is expected, but so good. Hendrix’s other books have had a bit more humor and I was looking forward to that, but every once in awhile there was something that made me chuckle. I was definitely surprised at some of the twists. This was a really entertaining book.

Holy crap.
SOOOO good.
As a teen I loved the Nightmare on Elm Street , the Halloween, the Friday the 13th movies so this book was RIGHT up my alley!
Grady Hendrix tells us the tale of what happened to those lone girl survivors of those horrific events (and their sequels)...the final girls. Of course, they join a support group. And of course, it goes as well as could be imagined.

A great read!

If you are a fan of slasher films you probably already know what a final girl is: she’s the one still standing at the end, after all of her friends have gotten murdered. The one who defeats the killer. The only survivor. The Final Girl Support Group is a group of women in LA, who were all final girls, and their therapist, Dr. Carol. Lynette is one of the final girls, and when it seems as if someone is coming after them, Lynette is determined to save the other final girls before it’s too late.

Wow, this was a crazy adventure! This fast-paced book definitely kept me on my toes and I could not put it down. One thing I love is that while it was suspenseful and at times a little scary, but then on the same page I would be laughing. I’m not super familiar with slasher films (I’m a scaredy cat) but it seemed that Hendrix made references to those movies throughout the book. If you are a fan of those movies, you will love this book! There were definitely some graphic scenes, so prepare yourself if you can be squeamish like me.

Thank you to Berkley and the Let’s Talk Books Promo team for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I loved the synopsis of this book with final girls all being targeted and attacked! However, I would have liked a little more information on each of the girls and their histories. It felt like it jumped all over the place with the girls and their backgrounds. There were SO many crazy things too it just was hard to follow and keep track. Unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me.

Nestled within the chaos that puts Final Girls back in the crosshairs of a new slasher mystery is a dissection of the subgenre itself. Hendrix takes aim at the cultural obsession with serial killers and their violence by giving an intimate look at the aftermath. Support Group intentionally never bothers fleshing out any of the slasher icons that birthed the Final Girls in the first place; it’s the victims who matter. It’s the victims and survivors that deserve the spotlight. This approach makes Hendrix’s latest accessible both for slasher fans and those who hate slashers.

The Final Girl Support Group moves at an incredibly fast pace, pummeling its heroine over and over again as she gets a second, or third, chance at redemption. Through Lynette’s brutal, blood-drenched discovery of what it means to live, Hendrix offers an examination of the slasher and the fascination with them. The novel adheres a little too close to the Final Girls’ cinematic counterparts, though. Using that framework allows the story to hit the ground running, but it dampens the originality to an extent. While parts of the ending feel rushed in places, Lynette’s journey brings catharsis, unpredictable detours, and thoughtful insight into one of horror’s most popular subgenres.

Such an interesting concept, but it didn't hit the mark for me. Perhaps I was expecting too much. I've never read anything else by Hendrix. I've heard good things, so I'd consider checking out other books.

Action was well paced, and I enjoyed the nod to classic horror movies, but I had a hard time connecting with any of the characters. I'm not quite sure if that was due to the writing style itself or the lack of character development, as there was no real depth to the cast. Also, I read a Kindle version of this, and I wasn't able to read the article snapshots, transcripts, etc. that are in between the chapters. Perhaps that will be different (and easier to read) in the finalized version, as I did read an advance copy. Had I been able to read them, I might have connected more with the book and characters. I'm not sure. It just felt disjointed overall.

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

Grady Hendrix continues to demonstrate why he is one of my insta-buy, no questions asked authors. I have been eagerly awaiting The Final Girl Support Group since it was announced, and it was even better than I anticipated. I can’t wait to get my hands on a hard copy just so I can read it again.

We all know who the final girl is, most horror fans can name at least a handful without really having to think about it. She’s the one who survives. She’s the one who fights back. She’s every horror villain’s worst nightmare because her life spells their death. But what happens with the credits roll and the monster IS dead, but the final girl is still left standing? Lynnette is one of a group of former final girls who, years later, are just trying to put their lives back together. Until one of them goes missing.

Just as with My Best Friend's Exorcism, Hendrix once again mines the history of the horror genre to create a novel that is as loving as it is critical of the genre that gave it life. The Final Girl Support Group manages to hits all those slasher fan sweet spots while still sustaining a serious critique of the slasher subgenre, its treatment of women, and its place in a modern world where our definition of violence has been redefined by mass-shootings and other acts of frequent, wide-scale violence.

The Final Girl Support Group is a great read for anyone who loves classic films. Throughout the book, fans will notice nods to several famous franchises such as Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream.

Lynnette Tarkington is a Final Girl - capital F, capital G. She was the last one standing (well hanging) after a maniac dressed as Santa axe murdered her entire family. Lynnette does her best to stay say with constant vigilance. She takes roundabout ways home. She has reinforced her one-room apartment to ensure if someone were to attack, she'd have the upper hand. She basically only leaves the house for her meetings with her therapist and a group of other Final Girls. But Lynnette is always ready for the worst because she knows that once a monster has come for you, they'll keep coming back.

FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP BOOK REVIEW

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Drink rec: Bloody Mary

This was the first Grady Hendrix book I’ve read, so I was super excited going into it! A final girl is the last girl standing in a horror movie…after the villain slays many characters, she is the last one standing and defeats the evil person. But, what happens to real life final girls after they survive these atrocities?

THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP is exactly what it sounds like—all of these women who survived horrific events meet up for group therapy. I thought the premise of the book was SO interesting but the execution (no pun intended) fell a little flat for me. If I were more familiar with slasher films I’d the 80s and 90s, I think I would’ve enjoyed it much more.

⚠️⚠️⚠️This one has lots of gory scenes, so if that’s not for you I wouldn’t recommend this one.

Overall, I enjoyed the twists and turns this one took and it was definitely a fast-paced read! If you’re looking for a thriller that will take you on a wild, gory ride or are a fan of slasher movies, check this one out!🔪

Holy moly Batman!! I was getting major Scream/ slasher vibes. The final girls, the ones who fought back and took down their killers. For the past 20+ years since her attack Lynnette has lived in fear, constantly triple checking everything and rarely leaving her safe zone. The only thing keeping her sane are her meeting with the other final girls, that is until one goes missing. Suddenly Lynnettes worst fears begin to come true and she sees no other way to deal with the situation but to deal with it head on.

Ok so I had no expectations going into this one but I was truly shook! I had no idea what was going to happen next and had to go back a few times to make sure I what I thought I read was really what I read!

What just happened?!

This book was a rollercoaster of emotions with the ever present creep factor. The author really keeps you guessing. throughout the book I jumped from one suspect tp the next, never really knowing who was out to get the Final Girls.

The story follow those who are left over after a tragic event occurs. They are broken and paranoid, thinking that their killer is lurking around the next corner. The fact that there is an obsessives fan club centered around them doesn't help the matter either. When Final Girls start dying, they must save themselves since no one believes that bad things could happen to the same people a second time, this is where the plot becomes entangled within its self, pulling the reader through a maze of crazy events.

It isn't until the last few chapters that my mind could even wrap itself around who the true killer was, but could I believe it? The author had given me so many different scenarios that never panned out how I imagined them, keeping me guessing the whole time.

I loved this book and all the characters, no matter how messed up they were. It really gave this fast paced story the backbone it needed to deal with this content. Great read.

Review will be live on my blog Book Confessions on July 9th, 2021.

A "final girl" is the sole survivor of a horrific attack where she had to rise up and kill the monster who slaughtered those around her. In this book, a group of final girls meets for group therapy in an effort to move on with their lives. When one of the group turns up dead, it looks like the terror is not over because someone is hunting final girls. This book was touted as a fast-paced, wickedly humorous thriller but it fell flat with me. I didn't find it humorous and although it was fast-paced the character development suffered and made it an choppy, unbelievable mess. I finished to see how it ended but sadly I wish I had put aside for another book instead.

I was hooked from the beginning. I loved that this took me on a journey through the horror industry and the nostalgia of 80s horror movies. The Final Girls Support Group showed that some of the final girls were able to move on from what had happened to them, while others drastically changed the way they lived their lives. Take Lynnette, she is constantly worried that what happened to her might happen again. Her life has become consumed by what happened to her all those years ago. But then a final girl from the support group goes missing, and Lynnette is on a journey to figure out why this is happening.

I thought that the use of multimedia to tell the final girls stories made for a more engaging experience. Though at times I did find the sudden change from the story to a blog post, abrupt, I enjoyed it.

It wasn't a classic horror story, but if you're feeling nostalgic or love thrillers, I think you'd enjoy it.

I chose this book because I devoured The southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires and loved it. This one did not disappoint either. If you are a fan of classic horror movies, where there is always one woman left standing that takes down the killer, this book is for you. The nostalgia of movies like Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street lives in this book. I even felt like there may have been mention of something similar to Scream.

The Finals Girl Support Group consists of final girls who have been meeting for more than a decade. Some have moved on from what happened to them, others still suffer, but Lynnette has let it take over her life. She is not technically a final girl, but she managed to be the sole survivor.

Suddenly a group member goes missing, and Lynnette isn't taking any chances. As we all know, there is always a sequel. She has a game plan not only to escape but find out who is targeting the final girls before she's next.

I give so much praise to this book. It is quirky and witty, and I wouldn't consider this a horror novel other than it is based on the horror movies and those who survived. It wasn't scary or intense but very entertaining. Lynnette is a character you won't forget.

Die hard 80s slasher movie fans will, I'm sure, lose their minds over this book. It's a slasher horror book taking the perspective of "what if all the final girls from all the slasher movies had group therapy together?" It also pays homage to slasher movies throughout the entire book. It zooms in a few of the "final girls" personal lives - kind of a "where are they now?" but from the inside. Most of them are super messed up, living in constant fear, judging the other final girls about how they survived their murderers or how they're benefiting from movie franchises or book deals. I felt like it was a kind of sarcastic/witty take, without being sarcastic or witty straight at your face - like, you just knew you were in some kind of gruesome parody. The ending was brutal.

If you've read Grady Hendrix before, you know he gets pretty creative with plot and story format, and this book is no exception. The thing I disliked the most about this book, and about all other books that do this, is that Hendrix interjects all these random "external" things. For example, we're moving through the plot at a good clip, chapter ends, then it's a completely disjointed and unrelated blog post about serial killer movies. And all the serial killer movies are allusions to the real thing (probably b/c of copyright, I'm assuming) so it took a bit for my brain to figure out what the heck movie he was talking about, and why it might matter in this fictional universe and if the final girl in the recent chapter has to do with whatever random blog, movie critique, interview, article, etc. is being interjected. I HATE this device. It removes me immediately from the story, stops the flow of the book dead in its tracks, and I just find it annoying. Other books are using this device too, i.e. "Head Full of Ghosts" by Paul Tremblay. I just hate it.

But the plot was fine, interesting, for the most part. It got ridiculous, but that's also Grady Hendrix and 80s slashers for you - ridiculous but also gory.

I really enjoyed this book! I know it’s cliché but I was on the edge of my seat the whole time! It’s super fast paced and action packed! Hendrix is a great writer and knows how to keep your attention. I know we are supposed to suspend belief but the ending to me was just a bit too unrealistic. It’s extremely hard to explain that without giving anything away. It came as a surprise but it was so random which I guess if you are a major thriller/slasher film watcher then you will get it. I still 100% highly recommend reading this book! (But not if you are squeamish!)

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix is a wild crazy standalone horror thriller. A final girl is the lone survivor in all those horror slasher movies, where they managed save themselves and kill the crazed killer. There are six girls (each having been victorious in saving themselves against the evil monsters), who meet with a therapist monthly, to help them try to get beyond the trauma they suffered through. Though with many years having past for most of the girls, they still need these sessions to help them try to move past the horrors.
Lynette Tarkington, one of the final girls, is the main heroine in this story, as we follow her throughout the forth coming ordeal, when one of the girls does not show up, and is found dead. Lynnette goes home to lock herself in, and we watch what she has to go through to get back to her place (multiple buses, train, cage outside her door, keeping her address secret, and no social life at all, etc), which showed how much her life was still like, living in fear.

When one of the other girls comes to visit her, Lynette knows she has been compromised, and suspects someone is out there, planning to kill the remaining final girls. When shots are fired, Lynnette manages to escape, leaving the other girl injured. Lynette was a good heroine, though at times a bit batty, but then again, constantly being faced with a murderer on the loose, we can understand that. She is determined to find out who is out to kill them, (though she constantly suspects various people along the way), as well as try to save her friends.

What follows is a wild intense dark ride that never let up, with a number of twists and surprises along the way. With Lynette acting mostly on her own, she does everything she can to escape an evil killer, and try to save her friends; with a surprise betrayal. It is a gruesome and at times gory journey that will give you the chills. At the same time, it was amazing how these women, especially Lynette, would continue to fight, never giving up.

This is a difficult review to write, as the action is non-stop and saying too much would ruin the book for you. The Final Girl Support Group was a chilling dark story, with lots of violence and gory details. Grady Hendrix did a great job writing this book, tying together many of those massacres from those movies. If you enjoyed your slasher movies, this book might be for you.

Read for the references, less so for the story. I've recommended a lot of books to horror movie fanatics, but The Final Girl Support Group may top them all. This book is overflowing with easter eggs and you could probably find some sort of hidden callback to an 80's slasher on every other page.

But be warned, there are a lot of points in this novel where it felt like it needed a breather. Once you're around the 15% mark there is absolutely no coming back, as the rest is basically non-stop action. And while I'm not strictly against fast-paced stories, I think a lot more could've been done with the Final Girls themselves.

But I especially LOVED our introduction to the characters. The therapy session itself that introduces the novel was a ton of fun, even though there was nothing notably creepy or horrific about it. I also did enjoy one article segment in particular (which are wedged in between chapters) where it talked about how every murder in a horror movie needs to be unique or special in some way. Comparing the over the top and cheesy deaths in slashers to a mundane reality was pretty hard-hitting and unexpected.

All in all, you know what you're getting into when you buy another Grady Hendrix novel. A really fun story and a heck of a crazy ending. Thank you Berkley and Netgalley!