Final Girls 🔪 Book Review

Written by Thelonia

Quincy Carpenter is the only survivor of a mass murder in a cabin in the woods, trying to live a life that is as close to normal as possible, distancing herself from the events that had her labelled "Final Girl" by running her baking blog and living a quiet life in NYC. But after hearing that another "Final Girl," Lisa, who survived a sorority house massacre, has killed herself, and having another, Sam, turn up on her doorstep, Quincy may need to return to her memories of what happened all those years ago at Pine Cottage in order to find out the truth of that night...and who would want to kill off the Final Girls after all these years.

Quincy has been doing well for herself since the incident at Pine Cottage, but her memory stops short when it comes to whatever happened that night. The book is structured in such a way as to carefully withhold and reveal information at just the right time to keep you on tenterhooks.

The first two thirds of the book do a good job at building suspense and establishing character, but this building of tension sometimes translates into boredom, since what is currently going on in is less interesting than discovering the mystery of the murders. As the Pine Cottage flashbacks begin to be introduced, the pace picks up, but those flashback scenes are definitely the ones you start to look forward to, because it doesn't feel like anything is happening in the present day scenes. Of course, once you get to the end of the book you realize how much was built up and foreshadowed earlier on in the book, but it doesn't change the fact that on a first read-through the beginning drags a lot, especially in comparison to the last third.

Overall, this is a good thriller that uses and incorporates horror, drama, and mystery into a fun read. Just don't give up early on because it seems like nothing is happening: it is, you just have to get to the end to realize how much it is.


Final Girls is available at Amazon and all major booksellers.