This was my first Grady Hendrix book and now I'm eager to read more. I love the "final girl" trope and enjoyed Hendrix's satirical take on it. It was action-packed, bloody, suspenseful, and psychologically twisty. I also enjoyed the flashbacks to police interviews, magazine articles, and movie reviews in between chapters to tease out the characters' back stories. It had a few inconsistencies I questioned as I was reading it, and there were a few other characters and scenes I wish had been more fleshed out. But overall, I really enjoyed it and will probably re-read or listen to it on audio when it's officially released.

This is everything I’ve ever wanted.

“The Final Girl Support Group” is exactly what it sounds like, a collection of women who have endured the horrors most people only have nightmares about and have come together to lean on one another only after so many years going over the past some decide it is time for a break only for the death of one to bring them all back together.

This book is everything.

The set up is fascinating as we follow Lynn who is so deeply traumatized that the group is the only thing she has going for her and those moments where we follow her through her routine makes you all the more sympathetic for what it means to be a survivor.

Each woman has a harrowing survival story ripped straight from our favorite horror classics and it is interesting to explore what would happen to these girls after the credits roll and they try to put their lives together. There’s a lot of self medication and poor decision making that you can’t blame any of them for and as much as I would have loved a story on them healing this book takes us on a completely different journey to get them to that point.

Having someone hunting the infamous “final girls” is such a fascinating yet terrifying idea. Knowing what they have endured and wanting to be the one to get them in the end is something we see all the time with people going out of their way to become copy cats or just simply fans and going after victims when the killer no longer can and this book explores the crazy and the cult like fascination people have with monsters and what happens when it’s taken too far.

This book is rough and gory and I loved every second of it finishing it in a single sitting but man do I wish I had gone slower just to savor every bloodthirsty bite.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

This book!!!! A fictional novel dedicated to anyone that loves horror which I do. Horror, troupes, horror related chapter headings, final girls...it’s all here. I absolutely love this book and I know you will too.

Hendrix has done it again! This time, he tackles the trope of the Final Girl in horror movies and the various psychoses they suffer after surviving massacres. There are a variety of characters that makes each Final Girl easy to distinguish. WARNING: The main character/narrator is not very likable, but she goes on quite a journey of self-discovery.

Sometimes gory, sometimes amusing, this is definitely a read for horror fans. It has twists and turns throughout that had me guessing on the "real" killer with a satisfying ending to the story.

I legitimately did a little dance when I checked my email and saw an approval for this book from the publisher. Grady Hendrix’s previous book, ‘The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires’, disturbed me in the best way AND AND I’ve been obsessed with this niche ‘the final final girls’ trope since I read the Riley Sager book when it came out a few years ago.

This was everything I needed it to be and more. The premise was very similar to Riley Sager’s ‘Final Girls’ but the story
was absolutely NOT a wash-rinse-repeat scenario and it’s super fascinating to see how two different authors can take a similar idea and develop it into two completely different tales.

I’m not sure how a book can be fun and scary at the same time, but that’s what we have here. ‘The Final Girl Support Group’ is creepy, dark, frantic, and twisted and... well, it’s fun! Honestly, it’s exhilarating. It’s well-written, dryly funny, and includes a lot of nods to slasher film pop culture and, of course, borrows from all the best slasher film tropes. The main characters were heavily flawed (duh! they’re horrifically traumatized people!) and admittedly, they’re not terribly likable, but you still find yourself rooting for them - it’s impossible not to.

All the moxie! Loved that this kept me guessing until the end. Every Final Girl was interesting and excellent. I'm a sucker for survival thrillers and I devoured The Final Girl Support Group in one sitting.

This was a very interesting read. I liked the way the author modeled the Final Girls in the group after real scream queens. Fans of the slasher genre will really appreciate this book. I will say the twists are a little muddled, but I did read the book in one evening. It is very entertaining!

ATTENTION GRADY HENDRIX FANS! The Final Girl Support Group will NOT disappoint. Not a fan? I think you mean not a fan, YET. If you've never sunk your teeth into a Hendrix work, The Final Girl Support Group is a perfect place to start & get hooked. Grady knows that we love our thrills, and he always delivers. And always, he delivers in his very-Grady way with meta-analysis of every horror trope perfectly embedded into his reimagining of a genre.

The Final Girl Support Group tackles the subgenre of slasher horror and final girl mythos through the hypothetical: What if all those horror movies from the late 70s to early 90s were really real? And what if those final girls knew each other? What happens to a final girl when their franchise is done, but their pain is still present and monsters are still out there? Explore Grady's take on the slasher genre. Whether you're a final girl aficionado or horror novice, this book will strike a chord as it pulls at the the fabric of what makes this horror subgenre truly horrible.

Only someone as conversant in horror tropes as Grady Hendrix could bring us a horror novel that's both a loving critique of the genre and an expansion of its possibilities. Focused on the plight of several "Final Girls" from different real life murders that were made into horror series, the novel explores our collective attraction to the survivors of these gruesome stories and asks what survival means if you're never free of the past. In true Grady Hendrix fashion, the novel is equal parts humor and pathos, invitation and indictment. The monsters, as always, are us, but so too are the heroes. Women's friendships and networks of care are the weapons of survival in Grady Hendrix's stories and that is what makes him one of the most interesting and exciting writers in the genre today.

I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. I have been a huge fan of Grady Hendrix since I first found Paperbacks from Hell and went back and read his novels, they never disappoint. This is another great read, not to be confused with Riley Sager’s Final Girls, this is its own book. Grady takes you on a wild ride with plot twists and turns right from the beginning. This book captured my interest right from the start and I couldn’t put it down. With an interesting cast of “broken” women who have fought to survive after tragedy struck, this book will have you along for their wild ride.

Fourth time is the charm for myself and Grady Hendrix. I enjoyed his other novels enough, but wasn't blown away by them. Well, this time I'm blown away. Like his other novels, this one includes a cast of flawed characters who aren't necessarily likeable. However, by the end I was rooting for every single one of the protagonists in all their damaged glory. I loved the nods to tropes and famous slasher stories, just enough nostalgia for this horror fan. I would highly recommend this one, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars.

While I really enjoyed this book, it should come with a warning for those with weak stomachs. The descriptions of crime scenes are bloody and will absolutely turn your stomach. That said, I really had a good time reading this. I think it was fun that the backstories of the actual Final Girls seemed to be based on movie plots. That was an interesting addition. (Ex: Halloween, Scream; the place of the final showdown was named Camp Red Lake- a play in Camp Crystal Lake? ) There was no shortage of excitement and twists, and I had a hard time putting this one down. Sure to be a best seller.

#TheFinalGirlSupportGroup
#MustRead2021
First let me say thank you so much for the E-arc copy of this book!!! So much!
The first time I read Grady Hendrix was his last book The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, which was wonderfully creepy! I knew that I had to read this one when I saw it available on NetGalley.
The Final Girl Support Group brings the sh*t to the table. It is a dark, thrilling suspense filled novel that twists and spins your head. The characters are fascinating women with dark pasts and harden lives. The plot of this novel though makes me giddy. I started it one day and stopped but I kept going back to it in little times. Finally, I just had to stay up all night and let it engulf me. It did too. I page turned until the terrifing end and let me tell you it was worth it! It is a Must Read!

By now, we all know the final girl is the one who survives the lunatic killer at the summer camp or the creepy abandoned house. She’s the innocent ingenue, more interested in books than boys. In real life, the final girl’s life goes on long after the media sensation dies away, then what? Lynette survived a horrific ordeal 22 years ago and it still affects her every single day; that’s why she and five other final girls have formed a support group where they share their fears and survivor’s guilt. The one day, one of the women doesn’t show up and Lynette worries her greatest fear has come true and that someone has discovered their little group, someone who intends to be sure there are no more final girls. Chilling

Like all of Grady Hendrix's books, I was totally enraptured by TFGSG and read it in one sitting. It was engrossing and thrilling and violent, but kind of lacked the Grady Hendrix magic!

Of his books that I've read, it's the first non-paranormal title, and I think that's just where he shines. By saying "what if slasher franchises were based on real murders?" it really changed the vibe of the book. TFGSG had sort of layers of Final Girls getting their revenge / poking fun at the trope / questioning why we love to watch women getting murdered in movies...but the experience ended up being more stressful than terrifying.

But! It's still Grady Hendrix and I will recommend this book to all horror + eighties nostalgia fans.