Final Girls by Riley Sager
Published 11th July 2017 by Ebury Press
Star Rating - ****
Goodreads Challenge - 26/50
Synopsis (from Goodreads)
Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them, and, with that, one another. Despite the media's attempts, they never meet.
Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past.
That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.
Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past.
That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.
My Thoughts
I haven't read a good mystery/thriller for a while so when I was looking for books to fit the O.W.Ls prompts and this one came up I was keen to dive in as I'd heard good things. It took me a while to get into it but in the end I really enjoyed this story.
As I said it took me a while to get into this story, it started off a little slow for me. This story follows our main character Quincy, who is the only survivor of a horrible attack that killed all of her friends, as shes dubbed a Final Girl along with 2 other woman who have survived similar attacks. We watch Quincy as she tries to get on with her life and be 'normal' but then events happen that start to unravel Quincy's past and her future. In the beginning we follow Quincy and the events that ultimately lead up to the conclusion of the story. Things begin to unravel slowly and the elements of mystery are gradually introduced and you find yourself with a lot of questions. Although, there wasn't anything wrong with this and I did find myself wanting to keep reading to have my questions answered, I do prefer my thrillers to be a bit more fast paced. However, the story did pick up the pace in the last 3rd and I really enjoyed this part. I definitely didn't see any of the plot twists coming, I had a lot of theories and none of them were correct so I found myself genuinely shocked several times.
I enjoyed our main character, in my opinion, I think the author did a good job and portraying a woman suffering the after affects of a trauma and trying to move on with her life. There were a lot of strains on the relationships in her life, both with her partner and her mother, but these were resolved in a way that felt genuine to me in the end. I especially enjoyed the development of the relationship with her mother which showed the importance of talking to others. Sam and Coop were also really interesting characters. I enjoyed the development of both of these, it was particularly interesting to watch Sam's development and see the motives behind her actions.
Overall I enjoyed this story, especially when the pace picked up in the last 3rd. I thought the writing was quite clever and it unravelled the elements of the mystery slowly and this kept me engaged in the story, wanting to know what happens next. There were several shocking twists and turns that I was completely unaware were coming and these kept me on my toes. I would definitely recommend this one and I will be checking out this authors other work.
As I said it took me a while to get into this story, it started off a little slow for me. This story follows our main character Quincy, who is the only survivor of a horrible attack that killed all of her friends, as shes dubbed a Final Girl along with 2 other woman who have survived similar attacks. We watch Quincy as she tries to get on with her life and be 'normal' but then events happen that start to unravel Quincy's past and her future. In the beginning we follow Quincy and the events that ultimately lead up to the conclusion of the story. Things begin to unravel slowly and the elements of mystery are gradually introduced and you find yourself with a lot of questions. Although, there wasn't anything wrong with this and I did find myself wanting to keep reading to have my questions answered, I do prefer my thrillers to be a bit more fast paced. However, the story did pick up the pace in the last 3rd and I really enjoyed this part. I definitely didn't see any of the plot twists coming, I had a lot of theories and none of them were correct so I found myself genuinely shocked several times.
I enjoyed our main character, in my opinion, I think the author did a good job and portraying a woman suffering the after affects of a trauma and trying to move on with her life. There were a lot of strains on the relationships in her life, both with her partner and her mother, but these were resolved in a way that felt genuine to me in the end. I especially enjoyed the development of the relationship with her mother which showed the importance of talking to others. Sam and Coop were also really interesting characters. I enjoyed the development of both of these, it was particularly interesting to watch Sam's development and see the motives behind her actions.
Overall I enjoyed this story, especially when the pace picked up in the last 3rd. I thought the writing was quite clever and it unravelled the elements of the mystery slowly and this kept me engaged in the story, wanting to know what happens next. There were several shocking twists and turns that I was completely unaware were coming and these kept me on my toes. I would definitely recommend this one and I will be checking out this authors other work.
Overall Rating
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