“In horror movies, the final girl is the one who’s left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious. But after the sirens fade and the audience moves on, what happens to her? Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre twenty-two years ago, and it has defined every day of her life since. And she’s not alone. For more than a decade she’s been meeting with five other actual final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, putting their lives back together, piece by piece. That is until one of the women misses a meeting and Lynnette’s worst fears are realized–someone knows about the group and is determined to take their lives apart again, piece by piece. But the thing about these final girls is that they have each other now, and no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.”
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23 Books In 2023 – Book 5 of 23
Content Warning: graphic murder, violence, death. Moderate addiction, cancer, panic attack/disorder
I am nothing if not a self proclaimed horror film connoisseur, a real life Mindy Meeks-Martin, if you will, so this is a book that has been on my radar for quite some time, and I decided that 2023 was the year I finally read it.
The Final Girl Support Group is fast paced and chock full of horror references as we follow a group of Final Girls, and not the ones we are used to seeing make stupid decisions on screen. Lynette Tarkington and her small group of Final Girls have suffered through real life trauma to be donned with the title, and much like Sidney Prescott in Scream 3, Lynette is paranoid. Paranoid to the point that she barricades herself into her house and never takes the same route twice.
Each of our final girls has lived through their own traumatic experience to get to where they are today, some of them truly horrific. Some of them are still ever so clearly haunted by it, and some have tried so hard to get over the past and continue on with their lives, so when they are targeted and each of them start being killed, Lynne is the only one who seems to be taking it seriously due to who dies and how they do so.
One of many things that I loved about this book was the constant slasher film references throughout pretty much every chapter, and also the chapter headings taking direct inspiration from famous films in how they are titled.
While it may not have been a fast paced read for me, I can’t say that it wasn’t a fun one! I’ve already said it before, but I love, love, love it when slasher films are referenced in other pieces of media, especially when it is films I adore, such as Scream (1996), and so, the fact that one of the slashers in this book takes clear inspiration from Ghostface, I just loved it!
I really do look forward to reading more from Hendrix in the future, with another of his books, Horrorstör, also being on my 23 in 23 list!
All the love,
Jade x
Tea Stains and Book Spines 