The Final Girl Support Group

For years, Lynnette Tarkington has done everything to keep a low profile, not to be found and to be absolutely secure in her apartment which is equipped according to her needs: security cameras outside, several locks, a cage to hinder any intruder from getting close to her. She has a reason to be careful, she is a final girl, the only person surviving a massacre. She is not alone, there are more girls who share this fate and for more than a decade, they have been meeting regularly in a self-help group led by Dr Carol. But now, somebody seems to try to finish what hadn’t been completed before: killing the final girls. After the first of them has died and Lynnette is attacked in her apartment, she is sure: all the others are in danger and she needs to warn them. Yet, one question remains: who is the killer? Grady Hendrix’ novel is a roller coaster ride though a kind of teenage horror and splatter movie, just like the ones that were highly popular during the 1990s. Lynnette, the first person narrator, does not seem to be totally reliable, quite obviously, the events she had to go through did leave some scars, not only on the outside, but much more importantly on her psyche. She is a bit strange, to put it nicely, or crazy when judging her behaviour from the outside. Yet, she could be right, somebody might try to kill them, but maybe this also only happens in her head. As a reader, it takes some time to decide which perspective to take. I absolutely enjoyed the novel, it is just like the movies, fast paced, a bit over the top, some quite scary moments which make it highly entertaining. However, it is not only a shallow novel, there some depths when it comes to what such an experience does to a victim and also how people react to a single survivor who becomes a popular figure due to such an horrendous cruelty. There are some cruel horror scenes with a lot of violence, so the novel surely isn’t for everybody, me, personally, I had great fun reading it.

For years, Lynnette Tarkington has done everything to keep a low profile, not to be found and to be absolutely secure in her apartment which is equipped according to her needs: security cameras outside, several locks, a cage to hinder any intruder from getting close to her. She has a reason to be careful, she is a final girl, the only person surviving a massacre. She is not alone, there are more girls who share this fate and for more than a decade, they have been meeting regularly in a self-help group led by Dr Carol. But now, somebody seems to try to finish what hadn’t been completed before: killing the final girls. After the first of them has died and Lynnette is attacked in her apartment, she is sure: all the others are in danger and she needs to warn them. Yet, one question remains: who is the killer? Grady Hendrix’ novel is a roller coaster ride though a kind of teenage horror and splatter movie, just like the ones that were highly popular during the 1990s. Lynnette, the first person narrator, does not seem to be totally reliable, quite obviously, the events she had to go through did leave some scars, not only on the outside, but much more importantly on her psyche. She is a bit strange, to put it nicely, or crazy when judging her behaviour from the outside. Yet, she could be right, somebody might try to kill them, but maybe this also only happens in her head. As a reader, it takes some time to decide which perspective to take. I absolutely enjoyed the novel, it is just like the movies, fast paced, a bit over the top, some quite scary moments which make it highly entertaining. However, it is not only a shallow novel, there some depths when it comes to what such an experience does to a victim and also how people react to a single survivor who becomes a popular figure due to such an horrendous cruelty. There are some cruel horror scenes with a lot of violence, so the novel surely isn’t for everybody, me, personally, I had great fun reading it.

I don't read much horror, but the female-centric plot of The Final Girl Support Group, which promises to be a subversion of the "Final Girl" trope, made me curious. I've heard good things about Grady Hendrix and have always wanted to try one of his books. So I did - and I was not disappointed! Hendrix has a really great writing style that includes a dash of comedy, which I really enjoyed. The novel had excellent twists and turns, and although I anticipated some parts, I didn't expect others! I'm definitely glad I read the book, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to slowly get into the horror/slasher genre. It would also make an excellent movie. I definitely want to read more by Grady Hendrix!

Ein leider eher enttäuschender Horror-Roman über das Final Girl Lynette, das seit vielen Jahren in einer Selbsthilfegruppe mit anderen Frauen ist, die allein einen verrückten Serienkiller besiegt haben. Doch plötzlich scheint es jemand auf sie alle abgesehen zu haben und Stück für Stück landet jede in Lebensgefahr - wovon Lynette sich aber nicht einschüchtern lässt, sondern sich mutig den Angreifern entgegen stellt. Die Idee ist wirklich mega cool und originell und tatsächlich wird das Thema Final Girls an manchen Stellen interessant diskutiert, so dass man auch mal ein bisschen über dieses Horrorfilm-Phänomen nachdenkt. Dennoch ist das Buch ansonsten leider ein ziemlicher Flop; es kommt absolut keine gruselige Stimmung oder große Spannung auf und die meiste Zeit erinnert der Plot eher an einen leicht langatmigen Thriller, gerade da der Einstieg etwas trocken ist und die Charaktere wirklich unsympathisch bzw. schwierig sind. I mean, Lynettes bester und einziger Freund ist eine Zimmerpflanze, von der sie das Gefühl hat, die sie würde ihr wirklich antworten - das ist echt einfach nur traurig und seltsam. Klar, die Auflösung ist zwar eigentlich nicht schlecht, dennoch bringt das Buch eben nicht die versprochene Stimmung rüber. Insgesamt würde ich es also eher nicht als Gänsehaut erregenden Horror-Roman einstufen, da die Umsetzung teilweise eben echt etwas langweilig und gewöhnungsbedürftig ist. Schade, aber da kann man aber nichts machen. 

In this horror novel, Grady Hendrix shows us what happens to the last woman standing at the end of a horror movie. „The Final Girl Support Group“ is a story about six women who have one thing in common – they were the sole survivors of massacres and decades later are still part of the same support group. When one of the Final Girls is found dead, Lynnette knows that they are to be killed off one by one, but nobody believes her. Can she single-handedly save all of them or is she really just being paranoid? Going into this book, I expected it to be gory and at the same time somehow funny. Well, it is bloody alright, but still different than I thought it would be. Hendrix shines a light on different coping mechanisms and how trauma, like the women in this book suffered, is impossible to ever really overcome. That part of the story I really liked, even though it was hard to read about at times. Not knowing how reliable a narrator Lynnette is, was really frustrating to me, but at the same time made the story more interesting. As a reader you are kept in the dark for a long time as to what exactly happened in the past, but your resulting curiosity just keeps you hooked, so that’s really a good thing. Also, there’s a few interersting twists and turns I did not see coming, which I am always a fan of. Even though, I enjoyed „The Final Girl Support Group“, I didn’t love it. I do appreciate the underlying message, though: Stop glorifying killers and instead remeber their victims. If you are a fan of horror movies, this book might be right up your alley.