THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP - Grady Hendrix

Lynette Tarkington is a final girl. In horror movies the 'final girl' is the one left standing. The one who fought back and defeated the killer who just brutally murdered everyone else in the film. The 'final girl' is the one people tend to forget about after the movie is over.  The madman, the killer, people remember.

Lynette Tarkington is a final girl for real. Twenty-two years ago she survived a massacre and every day since then her life has been defined by this one event. By surviving. And she's not the only one. For many years now, Lynette has been joined by final girls Marilyn Torres, Adrienne Butler, Dani Shipman, Heather DeLuca, and Julia Campbell in Dr. Carol Elliott's Final Girl Support Group.

Meeting for years, that is, until one of the girls missed a meeting. Lynette is sure that this is the first sign of more horror to come - that someone has found out about the support group and is going to take them down, one by one, until there is only a final, final girl left.  Unless they can stand together and fight back. They've had each others' backs for a decade and a final girl knows how to be the last one standing.

Author Grady Hendrix is an absolutely brilliant horror writer. In everything I've read by Hendrix to date, I've felt like I was right there, in person, observing the story as it unfolds. These stories take place in the real world, with real people trying to live an ordinary life but something beyond their control is interrupting them.

Hendrix toys with the reader with the central character, Lynette Tarkington.  Is she right, or is she paranoid?  Is there a legitimate threat or is Lynette's PTSD overwhelming every aspect of her life? Her apartment has a safe room and a cage that will trap unwanted visitors.  Is this the behavior of a sane woman?

Hendrix keeps the reader guessing about so many different things (Is she crazy? Who's behind this? Is the ex-cop out to get her? Is Lynette even an actual Final Girl?) and is always moving the story forward that this is a joy to read.

Looking for a good book? The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix is a modern horror story rooted in reality that will keep you guessing and on edge until the last page.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

The Final Girls Support Group

author: Grady Hendrix

publisher: Berkley Books

ISBN: 9780593201237

hardcover, 352 pages

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