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Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons,
The horror genre has undergone a wealth of change (some not for the better) and innovation in the past forty years. But one sub-genre that has endured is the slasher film. Movies like Friday the 13th and Halloween have taken the "final girl" trope and invented and re-invented it. I have been a fan of these films since I was a pre-teen. And when I read the synopsis for Final Girls, I knew what my next book in my To Be Read pile would be.
Final Girls is written by Riley Sager (a pseudonym for author Todd Ritter) and it is published by Penguin-Random House under their Dutton Books imprint. Final Girls follows the life of Quincy Carpenter, the sole survivor of the notorious Pine Cottage murders that occurred a decade ago. She is living in New York City in an apartment paid for by earnings she has accumulated from interviews that she had done in the past about her story. A successful baker with an up-and-coming website called Quincy's Sweets, Quincy is not the girl she used to be. She is happy (with the help of Xanax) and is engaged to a Public Defender, named Jeff. She has long since blocked out the events of Pine Cottage. She may not sleep well, but at least she does not remember seeing her friends butchered.
But then news arrives that another "Final Girl", Lisa Milner (sole survivor of an Indiana sorority house massacre), is found dead in her bathtub with her wrists slit. Acquainted with Lisa, Quincy is struck with sadness and doubt at the news of her fellow survivor's suicide. Lisa was strong-willed. Lisa was helping other victims of traumatic experiences. Lisa would never kill herself. A mystery that is set aside as Samantha Boyd (sole survivor of the Nightlight Inn massacre) ends up on Quincy's doorstep bearing the same doubts that Quincy has about Milner's passing. But Sam is also in New York City for other reasons that Quincy's fiancee is dubious about. And even Coop, the cop who saved Quincy a decade earlier at Pine Cottage, is wondering what Sam's real motivations are. But when a reporter from a tabloid enters into the mix, Quincy begins to remember that night at Pine Cottage. And she is warned that Samantha Boyd may not be telling her all of the truth.
But the question still remains: If Lisa Milner was indeed murdered, who killed her? And would Quincy and Sam be next? Three famous Final Girls: one down, two to go.
Final Girls is written with the structure of a mystery novel, and the brutality of a gory slasher film. The reader is given snippets of the events of Pine Cottage as the current-day mystery of why Lisa Milner committed suicide unfolds. Sager's writing often overlaps the past and present as the reader is sucked deeper into the mystery of Lisa Milner's suicide, while slowly thrusting us into the terrifying events of Pine Cottage. I found this to be a bit nerve-wracking as I sat there into the late hours of the night reading. Just when I was settled into the mystery of the present a chapter pops up with the header, Pine Cottage. And each chapter at the doomed vacation cabin is love-letter to the horror fan. I remember anxiously awaiting the header: Pine Cottage- Midnight (when all hell breaks loose).
But Final Girls is not just a mystery-horror novel. It also dives deep into the psychology of the survivor. The depictions of post-traumatic lives in this novel had a way of seeping into my pours. I felt that I was with the characters and living their struggles. This aspect of the book made the story personal. And when Sager delivered the shocking twist at the end, I was just as shocked as the main characters were.
I read this book in part with the audio presentation read by actresses Erin Bennett and Hillary Huber. Both narrators did a wonderful job reading the current and past narratives. Their voices could be soothing at times, but rough and emotional when the words needed those inflections. They were the perfect complement to Sager's story.
I gave this book four out of five stars. I was thoroughly entertained by the mystery and its love letter to slasher films of the past.
Have fun reading this week. Let me know in the comments below what you are reading.
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All written content (c) Copyright 2023 by Thomas Bahr II
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