Book Review: Final Girls

I tend to avoid Thrillers because I always think I’m too much of a wimp to read them. And then I do read them, end up enjoying them, and roll my eyes at myself for not reading them sooner. Had it not been for Dutton Books sending me a copy of Final Girls, I probably would have added it to my TBR and left it there to collect imaginary virtual dust.

I’m so glad I read it though because I haven’t flown through a book that quickly in a long time!

I enjoyed reading about the main character, Quincy, and how her life has been after what she went through. I was intrigued by the idea of a Final Girl which was a term coined for the last surviving girl in horror movies. In this book, there were three and while the story focuses on Quincy, we also got to read about two other Final Girls.

It’s hard to say much without spoiling anything but I really liked how Sager wrote her characters. They were interesting yet ‘normal’ enough to be relatable while being suspicious and unreliable at the same time. I was hooked by every new piece of information that could lead me to guess the missing pieces in Quincy’s story but as hard as I tried to figure out the plot twist, I was off until just before the reveal. Sager put enough misdirection in the book that it challenged any assumptions I had, which was what made it fun!

The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the underwhelming feeling I got with the reveal. The reason behind the person’s actions was quite… anticlimactic and I just expected a bit more punch to come along with it. I also thought the ending, particularly the last page, was  a little cheesy/out of the character. I could see the character making the same decision in the future but not at the time she did. It just felt a bit too clean and convenient.

Overall, Final Girls was a successful debut novel by Riley Sager and I’ll be on the look out for her future releases. I recently discovered Sager is a pseudonym so I’m also very curious about what else she writes under.

[star rating=”4″]