My first introduction to this author was with Horrorstör. I could not read that book fast enough. From there, I wanted to read more. Yet, I got behind and missed reading several of this author's book until The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. To be honest, I did not like The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. In fact, I barely got a third of the way into that book when I DNF'd it.

So, when I saw this latest book, I had some hesitation. However, the premise was too good to pass up checking it out. Um...hello. I just finished reading this book. It did not disappoint. Fans of this author will be in for a real treat. I enjoyed this book so much that I am willing to give this author another chance to wow me with hopefully his next book as well.

I like the "campy" slasher film vibes this book is giving me. It references to so many famous movies like Jason and Scream. Horror fans alike will like this book. Lets cheer for the final girls. The ones that survived only to keep surviving every day.

Interesting way to approach a horror mystery. It really makes you think about the the roll of woman in horror movies and how damaging it can be to a regular mass murder society.

If you are a newcomer to horror, Grady Hendrix’s portfolio is a great place to start. This book especially showcases his extensive knowledge of slasher films and tropes in the genre. This book focuses on the survivors. A group of women, known as “final girls”, are thrown together in a support group. They are all dealing with incredible trauma when things start to go awry. But the main protagonist that you follow, Lynette, is the only one that seems to notice it. Will she be able to convince her support group in time?

At first, I was disappointed that the support group was not actually very supportive of one another. But, I think this creates a realistic depiction of complicated female friendships. I grew to love Lynette and her support group as they finally come together to confront those pesky, patriarchal monsters that are all too familiar in horror.

Hendrix has a special way of creating characters you love and root for, and realistic horror that will have you on the edge of your seat. Like his other works, FGSG features beautifully woven interpersonal relationships existing in a world that can bring us such monsters. Each Final Girl feels familiar to us right off the bat as their traumatic history are written as the inspiration for classic horror films we all know and daresay, love (looking at you Scream and Halloween). And how true crime can encourage unhealthily obsessions and superfans (i.e. murderabilia). FGSG shows the audience the people events like that leave behind and the struggles and triumphs that come to pass, and moments big and small of redemption.

Minor spoilers below:

So, I adored Grady Hendrix's THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB'S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES, which, although it had a cast of mostly white characters, interrogated whiteness and the harm that it does as a construct in suburbia. The characters were also all mostly white for a reason—they're meant to represent a specific demographic, and the character pitfalls that come with that demographic.

In contrast, THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP has a cast of all white characters for seemingly no reason. But maybe that's good, given that Hendrix treats the only person of color terribly. There is one Black woman, but she dies off the page in like, chapter two, and we never get to meet her. (She later appears as the Magical Negro trope, of course, in a flashback.) Most of the characters besides the lead are two-dimensional, reduced to stereotypes, and this was just a big disappointment compared to Southern Book Club.

Hendrix takes a look at trauma and voyeurism in this clever tribute to 80's slasher horror. He displays his usual skill with pacing and writing some gruesome scares along with his excellent character work. Good for readers looking for a horror title, and there are a lot of nice easter eggs for hardcore slasher fans.

Grady Hendrix does it again with an amazing blend of horror, pop culture, and girl power. Perhaps it is my penchant for final girls and slasher flicks, but this quickly became my favorite Hendrix novel.

You might not recognize all their names, you might get some of their stories confused, but you know these women. They're the last ones standing at the end of the movie, and we see the bogyman isn't quite dead yet. They're the demure babysitter, the unassuming girl next door, the friendly carefree counselor. They never the one's you think should out last everyone, but there's something in them that keeps them fighting, keeps them alive. Makes them Final Girls.

But what happens after the credit roll, and everyone goes home? Where does the final girl go after the hospital. After the funerals? She goes to group therapy. Enter: The Final Girl Support Group.

And what happens when the safety and sanctity of that solemn circle is broken? Final girls do the only thing they know how to: fight to survive.

Thank you to Netgalley for an Advanced Reader's Copy

I received a digital ARC through NetGalley from Berkeley Publishing Group. Lynette and her fellow support group members were a big deal in the 80’s and 90’s when they were in the spotlight for living despite their monsters trying to kill them, once and even twice. Now they have their support group meetings to keep their fears in check. After a series of unfortunate events, Lynette is convinced someone is coming after all the final girls. She is on the run hitting up her support group friends and coming into contact with people from her past.

Grady Hendrix is great at bringing a nostalgic feel to his stories. He gives obvious nods to Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Scream and more. He does it with grace and fun. Lynette is an unreliable narrator. The story kept me reading to find out the mystery and hear the backstory of every final girl. Overall, another entertaining read from Hendrix. If you are familiar with him, this is classic Hendrix.

This book feels like a spiritual companion to Daryl Gregory’s We Are All Completely Fine. I can imagine a meeting between the two support groups would be wild. This story has lots of fun twists and turns that keep you guessing right up until the end.

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.