A fantastic, fabulous thrill ride. Couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end. I can't wait to read another book by this author - as the thing that really hooked me was how smartly this was written and how well executed the twists were. 5 stars!!

My first novel.of the year finished!

Imagine the burden of being referred to constantly as a final girl. A girl who is the sole survivor of a terrible massacre that has taken place where everyone else died, be it friends, or just other people that were unfortunate enough to be around at the time. 3 girls all dubbed the final girls. Each of them surviving something horrific. Quincy is the 1st girl, a sole survivor who has a blank in her memory as to what happened to her and her friends on that fateful night. Years after the massacre, after all the buzz has died down, she leads a normal life as a baker, with the help of xanax, her husband and the comfort of knowing that the policeman who saved her all those years ago is still around whenever she needs him. A comfort blanket of sorts. Lisa is the 2nd, someone who has embraced the title, written a book about her ordeal and now helps other girls who are in peril. The 3rd and final is Sam. She has disappeared off the grid.

The 3 girls dont have any connection with each other, other than what happened to them, that is until Lisa is found dead in her bathtub and Sam comes knocking on Quincys door

Who is Sam? What does she want? Will Quincy finally remember what happened to her all those years ago?

This is a fresh and confident debut with some of the most believable dialogue i have ever read. The novel has chapters that alternate between Quincys life now and what happened all those years ago. It builds to an incredible climax that i did not see coming even though i thought i had it sussed many times. A scorching read and a great start to 2017.

Thanks to netgalley for the advanced copy.

Final Girls by Riley Sager (Random House UK, Ebury Publishing, Ebury Press)

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Drama, Mystery



RATING: 5/5


The Story

Quincy is a baking blogger living a picture-perfect life with her lawyer boyfriend in central New York. At least, that's what an outsider would see. When Quincy was in university herself and her friends were brutally attacked at Pine Cottage, a trauma which Quincy has carried with her, along with a media label she can't escape - she is a 'Final Girl'. This name links her with two other survivors of violent crime, Sam and Lisa.

The famous trio have never met, but that will quickly change with Lisa's apparent suicide and Sam's arrival on Quincy's doorstep.Alongside her Final Girl companions comes the past Quincy wants to forget, and some hard truths which make her question even her most steadfast beliefs.

Final Girls is a compelling mystery thriller with a intricate narrative that keeps the reader hooked until the very last page.

The Review

The first thing I thought when I picked up this book was that it was extremely well written.

This may seem obvious - after all it is a published novel. Sadly, that is becoming less and less indicative of quality literature nowadays. When I started reading Final Girls I could tell within the first few pages that it would be an easy read. Sager's prose has a diversity and fluidity which makes it interesting, engaging and yet not so complicated as you have to work out what she's on about. Even better, it's not so simple that you feel like you're reading a book aimed at tweens.

By no means, however, does an easy-reader mean that we are faced with a simple chick-lit novel for people who aren't interested in a good plot or character development. The story is one of the most compelling I've read in a long time.

Sager has actually managed to write a novel full of twists which I didn't see coming. I don't mean to bang my own drum here, but I find imaginative twists more and more difficult to come by. Perhaps I've read too many books, so I expect the unexpected. Or maybe quality authors who still have the ability to surprise a modern audience are just harder to come by. Whatever the reason, I'm delighted to have come across Sager. She's one of those authors who gives you just enough information to make you think you're clever and that you've worked it out, and then throws not one but ten curve-balls at you.

I will admit, I wasn't always happy about those curve-balls. The ending of the novel is not as satisfying as I'd like it to be, because it results in Quincy losing someone who I thought was a brilliant, admirable character. I felt a little cheated, and I'm not sure that the decision really benefited the novel. That, however, is personal preference.

Final Girls is an intriguing, harrowing, uplifting and occasionally tragic story, which sensitively illustrates the reality for many real victims of violent crime. Sager provides a unique opportunity to delve into the psyche of the 'victim', not with one character but with many, and reveals just what we would expect; no two victims are the same, and they may, in fact, be something entirely unexpected.

In many ways Final Girls is a by-the-numbers mystery novel. As you proceed through the story you discover, alongside the protagonist, the gratifying and horrifying truths of life. What helps it to stand out from the crowd, however, are clearly defined characters with real motivations. They are the backbone of this novel. The reader feels for them, understands them, envies them, hates them, and has to find out how their stories end. The plot is compelling, but without this strong cast of characters I'm doubtful the story would have the same impact.

A review copy of this book was sent to myself via Netgalley – the novel is released to the public on 29th June 2017.

I hope you put it on your reading wishlist, and please let me know what you think!

You can follow Riley Sager on Twitter.

[edit]
I loved the cover and description of the book and was delighted to be given the chance to read this. There is so much buzz for The Final Girls around, including Stephen King who called it "The first great thriller of 2017". The story centres on Quincy Carpenter who is the sole survivor of a massacre 10 years ago during a trip with her friends to Pine Cottage. She along with two other girls Samantha and Lisa, also sole survivors in different horrific circumstances, have been labelled The Final Girls. A Final Girl is the girl often depicted in horror movies who fights back against her attacker to win agains the odds..

Since the attack Quincy has rebuilt her life and is doing well until Samantha shows up on her doorstep. Quincy has buried the memories of what happened due to the trauma she suffered but Samantha arrival forces her to relive the past and the true horror of that night. But what are her motives? When the other final girl, Lisa, dies in an apparent suicide, Quincy has to delve deeper in the mysteries of both her and Sam's past to find out the truth.

This book has such an original concept, I loved how the mysteries within the book unraveled and especially Quincy herself. She is strong but also vulnerable, suffering from guilt at being the only survivor. She is taking medication and is not able to refer to her attacker by name, they're just called 'Him' The character of Sam is very different to Quincy and immediately I was very suspicious of her motives, she soon starts to turn Quincy's life upside down and makes her and us question why she has suddenly appeared in her life. The only part of the book that threw me was why Quincy would allow Sam, essentially a stranger, to stay with her at hers. For someone who survived a massacre and is advised against doing this by people close to her didn't feel right to me. However this didn't stop me enjoying the book by any means and I soon enjoyed how the story went from there. Being narrated by Quincy the story switches between the present and the past as she slowly remembers and the way the events at pine cottage are slowly revealed really ramped up the tension and suspense. Even towards the end of the book when I was feeling like I had guessed the outcome I was shocked the find that I had it completely wrong.

This book will have everyone talking in 2017 and I'm sure that it will be picked up to be made into a movie. If you like original thriller books that will keep you reading well into the night just to find out what happens, this one is for you!

Big Thanks to Ebury Publishing for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely thrilling and fast paced. Just when you think you've got it all worked out, you don't.

I absolutely loved this book, by far one of the best books that I've read in ages. Just when you think you know how it's going to turn out there is another twist and mystery continues. Would definitely recommend this book to my friends as an engrossing read.

Stephen King,no less, has tiped 'Final Girls' as a thriller to watch for in 2017 and I would agree . Not only does he have a reputation for picking books I tend to adore but also it is a damn fine book.
The basic premise is this : the lone survivor of horror movie type killings are collectively known as 'Final Girls'.
Whether by accident or design, these girls were left behind by brutal killings that stormed the media and had them spot lit for celebrity whether they liked it or not.
This trope is used to excellent effect here where Quinn, sole survivor of the Pine Cottage killing, about which she remembers nothing, is unwillingly bought face to face with the events that gained her the wealth that allows her to live a life from the other side of a computer screen.
Her 'safe' relationship with a lawyer who is often away and her fan base at arms length on the flipside of her baking blog, she can avoid dealing with any of the issues she is so obviously struggling with.
The suicide of another 'Final Girl', the resurgence of interest in her case and the appearance of another 'Girl' who has literally dropped off the face of the earth all bring reality crashing in on Quinn in this excellent thriller.
I can see this being a huge hit, thanks Netgalleu and publishers for allowing me to read the proof in return for an honest review.

This book has everything a good thriller needs. There is a gruesome murder story, unreliable characters and a good plot. But somehow it did not get me. It started so well but it started bugging me.

Quincy is a Final Girl. This is a horror-movie-term. The Final Girl is the girl who is still alive after a massacre and maybe she even killed the killer. 10 years ago Quincy survived the attack of a disturbed young man. He killed her five friends while they spent a weekend in a cabin in the woods. Unfortunately she can’t remember what happened during this dreadful hour. She just knows that she survived by running through the woods where a police officer found her. She is fine now, has a nice boyfriend and runs a successful baking blog. Beside her, there are Final Girls knocks on her door. Samantha, who hid for several years because of the press, wants to know if she is all right. Quincy, who feels guilty because of Lisa, invites Sam to stay with her and her boyfriend for a couple of days. But Sam is up to something. She eagerly wants Quincy to remember what happened that night in the cabin.

This book is perfectly all right. It starts very intriguing, and Sam and Quincy a very interesting characters. So it seems. But after a while the story is treading water. The tension stops, there is a lot about the press which is eager to get hold of the girls to get a story. Sam misleads Quincy to do some weird things which made me curious but even more it unnerved me. There are some false leads and you can keep guessing what happened that night in the cabin and who was responsible. But somehow it was not gripping. The twist felt forced. They don’t come subtle, they are really forced into the story. Quincy really annoyed me. She is a character who had a horrible experience but I just could not feel connected to her. She just annoyed me. She does stupid and disturbing stuff. I found it hard to understand that almost everybody in the book was so amazed by her and thought she was strong and just wonderful. I disliked her so much. As a reader I would like to at least understand a little bit why she is obviously so amazing to everybody. But somehow the author failed to show this to me.

I can imagine that this book could be a huge success and a lot of readers like it and write enthusiastic reviews about it. For me it somehow failed to work.