Halfway to Halloween: Top 5 Final Girls

- April 27, 2024

Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons,

The final girl. She can be anyone strong enough to break through the chaos that surrounds her and defeat her adversary. Sidney Prescott, Laurie Strode, and Kirsty Cotton come to mind when I think of a strong final girl from the movies. But who are my top 5 heroines in books that overcame the odds?

Here is my list of Top 5 Final Girls in books. My book reviews are linked below.

5) Quincy Carpenter from Final Girls by Riley Sager. After her friends are butchered at a cabin, Quincy is found wandering the woods by authorities. Years later, her recovery has led to a popular blog and television notoriety as a survivor. But a serial killer has resurfaced murdering those the news labels as Final Girls. Can she survive a second time or will this killer finish what he started?

4) Flora Dane from Lisa Gardner's Find Her was kidnapped by notorious serial killer, Jacob Ness. For over four hundred days she was held captive in a coffin and forced to aid in his murders. But she survived and killed her captor. Now, she is a one-woman force of justice, singling out predators and ensuring they are caught. But a part of her past has found her. And once again she is forced to fight for survival.

3) Dana Nolan from Tami Hoag's 9th Girl and Cold, Cold Heart was a news reporter before she was kidnapped by serial killer, Doc Holiday and tortured. But in the back of his van, on the way to being killed, she survived and stopped him forever. Disfigured and dealing with her trauma, she moves to her hometown to heal. But her investigative sense kicks in when a local murder is still unsolved. As she moves closer to the truth, a killer is ready to silence her for good.

2) Vic McQueen from Joe Hill's NOS4A2 is a girl with a gift. She can teleport anywhere she wants. This is fun at first until she meets child killer Charlie Manx, a deceptive and unique man. He shows her a side of the world filled with vampires, alternate realms, and paranormal frights. She is integral in his capture and after his death, she feels at ease. Years later her son is kidnapped by someone resembling Manx. She is forced into a rematch with the dead to save her son. And she plans to make sure this immortal killer stays dead.

1) Wendy Torrance from Stephen King's The Shining is a mother determined to give her son, Danny, a good life. She is thrilled for peace and quiet as she and her husband travel to the Overlook Hotel to be caretakers. Months of isolation will give her the time to read and relax when she is not keeping the hotel together. But demonic forces run this hotel and soon Wendy and Danny are in a deadly hide-and-seek game with her possessed husband. It's up to Wendy to protect her son and defeat the ghosts of the Overlook Hotel.

That was my Top 5 Final Girls. Let me know in the comments below who your favorite Final Girls are.

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