The Final Girl Support Group

Written by Grady Hendrix

Narrated by Adrienne King

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

VOTED GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD BEST HORROR NOVEL OF 2021

A Good Morning America Buzz Pick

“The horror master…puts his unique spin on slasher movie tropes.”-USA Today

A can't-miss summer read, selected by The New York Times, Oprah Daily, Time, USA Today, The Philadelphia Inquirer, CNN, LitHub, BookRiot, Bustle, Popsugar and the New York Public Library

In horror movies, the final girls are the ones left standing when the credits roll. They made it through the worst night of their lives…but what happens after?

Like his bestselling novel The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, Grady Hendrix’s latest is a fast-paced, frightening, and wickedly humorous thriller. From chain saws to summer camp slayers, The Final Girl Support Group pays tribute to and slyly subverts our most popular horror films—movies like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream.

Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she’s been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized—someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece.
 
But the thing about final girls is that no matter how bad the odds, how dark the night, how sharp the knife, they will never, ever give up.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Audio
• Release date: Jul 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9780593410035

Grady Hendrix

Grady Hendrix es novelista y guionista y actualmente vive en Nueva York. Ganador del premio Bram Stoker por su ensayo Paperbacks from Hell, ha sido nominado al premio Shirley Jackson y al Locus por Horrorstör, El exorcismo de mi mejor amiga y Vendimos nuestras almas. Ha recibido el elogio unánime de la crítica por Guía del Club de lectura para matar vampiros o Grupo de Apoyo para Final Girls en reseñas de la NPR, el Washington Post, el Wall Street Journal, Los Ángeles Times, A. V. Club, Paste, Buzzfeed y muchas más. Asimismo ha colaborado con Playboy, The Village Boy y Variety. Sus últimos trabajos Cómo vender una casa encantada Y Brujería para chicas descarriadas han sido un fenómeno de ventas en EEUU. gradyhendrix.com @grady_hendrix on Twitter @PaperbacksFromHell on Facebook  

Reviews for The Final Girl Support Group

[Ben · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I couldn’t even finish it. I kept waiting for something to happen but either it never does or I couldn’t stay around long enough. Also, every other sentence is something about how horrible or dumb men are. Initially I thought that it kind of made sense based on the book’s premise but ended up just seeming over used and forced.

[theeclecticbookworm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Final Girl Support Group
by Grady Hendrix

Want to know how to build a clock? Ask Grady Hendrix what time it is! I love these stories but good grief! Get ON with it! At some point I probably wanted to kill each of these characters myself. How often can you repeatedly say the same thing? Pretty often! The only redeeming quality about all the repetition? It helped me keep track of the many, many characters by the way they talked. Way too many characters here.

Even with all that, I love the way this guy writes. In the midst of murder and mayhem, I’m laughing all the way to work.

It took a long time for the plot to reveal itself and make sense. Most of the book is spent trying to figure out if we’ve got an unreliable narrator here. I’m still not sure about that. This nagging question overshadows everything else.

I did like the book and already have a few more on my TBR list. I’ll just have to accept that they’re all a lot longer than they need to be.

[sensory-376444 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I should have known by the cover about what to expect. I didn't though; for some reason I didn't realize it was categorized as 'horror'. It was good, but not my usual mystery/thriller read. Won't read another by this author as it wasn't quite my cup of tea.

[caanderson-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fast pace with lots of twists and turns until the end.

[romonko · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

In my own personal opinion, this book is garbage. It is the most graphic, viscious and depraved book that I've ever read.
The only reason that I read it was because it was a gift box book. I am sure that there are fans of the horror genre that have read this and enjoyed it, and I am sorry to disagree with them. I read it to the end, even as difficult as it was, and am kind of glad that I did as the end was the only tiny flicker of light in the entire book. The descriptions of the slayings are so horrendous that I am afraid I skipped through most of them. The characters are a depraved and vicious lot. At some primal level, I can understand how anyone that had gone through and seen the horrors that these girls have lived through would forever be scarred and unable to function normally. It is the most extreme form of PTSD that there is. That at least came through loud and clear in this book. Each of the victims had their own coping mechanisms, and each relied on their group therapy to help them through it. That all makes sense, but to have to live through what each of them saw and experienced was too much for me. I know there are monsters in this world, but I don't have to get to know them as well as I came to know the monsters in this book.

[lyrrael · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

80s slasher flicks coming home to roost with The Final Girl Support Group, the members of which seem to be dropping like flies. But who is behind it? What the actual hell is happening? And is Lynne crazy or is everyone really out to get her?

I honestly struggled a bit in the second half of this book and had to switch from audio to print. Once I did that things chugged right along. Note to everyone -- the audio is r e a l l y s l o w. I normally listen to a book at 1.1 or 1.2, and I had this ramped up to 1.6.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is set in a world where all those 80s slasher movies (or their thinly veiled equivalents) are in fact based on real stories about real people. Yes, even the sequels. And, of course, such movies tend to leave one sole survivor at the end: the "final girl." But can you imagine how traumatic it would be to actually be one of those women? You'd need an infinite amount of therapy. And you'd need a support group... especially when someone seems determined, decades later, to finish the job the killers couldn't.

It's a decent enough story, with a twisty plot and a feminist take on the slasher tropes, but there's just something about the premise that sits a little uneasily with me, and not entirely in the ways it's meant to. I suspect it suffers a bit from the fact that I read it not all that long after reading Alice Slater's Death of a Bookseller, which explores a lot of the same questions about people's fascination with killers and the idea of violence against women as entertainment, but without the suspension-of-disbelief-straining premise or the extended depictions of the very kind of violence-as-entertainment that it's critiquing.

[lynnmpk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. There's nothing groundbreaking or anything, though the author does try to subvert some expectations. It was a fun ride with a satisfying ending.

I thought Heather (and the Dream King too, even though he's only mentioned) was the most interesting character, and I would have liked to learn more about her background. I dunno, maybe it's because A Nightmare on Elm Street is my favorite of the slasher movie franchises so I felt drawn to the character.

The author did a good job of showing all the different ways that people can deal with trauma. I understand why he chose to tell the story through Lynnette, but honestly she was the least interesting out of the bunch.

[geauxgetlit · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was so excited to read this book! Especially with it being in the 90s and those slasher type horror movies, which is up my alley.

I thought it had great potential, however it did fall off the mark for me. I wasn’t able to connect to the MC and even though the premise might have been good, I am usually one if the character isn’t well developed I have a hard time with the book.

If you enjoy a plot based book, you should give this one a shot

[adonisguilfoyle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I remember watching trashy 80s slasher films when I was young, and loved spotting the tropes in this ode to the 'final girl', or the virgin who survives the massacre and kills the 'monster'. The final chapters in particular are filled with the twists and turns of 'don't turn your back, they're not dead!' I have never seen the Friday the 13th series, shock horror, or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but I picked out Nightmare on Elm Street (Heather), Halloween (Dani) and Scream (Julia - a reference to Party of Five?)

The story is full of film references and in jokes, reworking the famous franchises as 'true crime' cash-ins, but also takes the survivors' stories beyond the credits and into adulthood. What happens to the final girls when they are in their 30s and life has moved on? The first few chapters are fairly slow paced, full of final girl paranoia and preparation and an unreliable narrator, but when history started repeating, putting the group at risk, I was hooked (no pun intended!) I also spotted one of the 'monsters' but needed the second spelling out for me.

Probably more entertaining with a greater knowledge of the films, but I loved the mix of 80s camp and modern cynicism anyway!

[Sihaya ??‍♀️??‍♀️??? · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you like movies in the style of Scream, this is the book for you. Final Girls are the survivors of the massacres; to cope with what they have suffered, they attend a support group, but at the last meeting, one of them arrives late, the reason being that she has been murdered, and this is when the mystery begins: Who did it? Who is after the Final Girls? An extremely addictive book, with a mystery to unravel, it makes you see everyone as a potential killer, with touches of humor. (Translated from Spanish)

[ValeGomez24 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Well, it’s the first book I read by the author and the truth is that it left me with a bittersweet taste.

The beginning of the book overwhelmed me with so many characters; I didn't know who was who, and it doesn't help that the protagonist is very mentally unstable. I couldn't empathize with her, and I had no idea what was happening for a large part of the book.

It is categorized as horror, but the truth is that it didn’t scare me at any moment.

Towards the end, it became more interesting, but I found what happened with one character to be somewhat unbelievable. Although I must admit that I was surprised to find out who the culprit was, and I liked the way it was discovered. (Translated from Spanish)

[jenn88-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The ending was a bit convoluted and far-fetched, but overall this was a very entertaining book that I didn't want to put down.

[patxi77 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

7/22/23
Joint reading of the horror genre from the Telegram group.
A mix, in my opinion, of gathering all the survivors from those slasher movies of the 80s and 90s, and having this book be the final movie, like the conclusion.
The group consists of women who have survived their monsters, and after years of seeing their stories on the big screen, they still meet with a doctor.
Everything changes when one of them fails to show up for a group session and is found dead. From that point on, the protagonist becomes paranoid that they are coming for them.
The events escalate at an increasingly rapid pace. It starts slow but quickly turns into a race for survival and protecting each other, even though the perpetrator wants to divide them.
Very good second part, action, blood, chases, and everything else typical of these kinds of stories. I found it an enjoyable read, with long chapters as the only downside, but entertaining and a very good ending. Recommended for those who like this style. Thank you very much. (Translated from Spanish)

[ejlesny · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing! I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire novel! This book gave me a clear understanding of what it truly means to be in a life or death situation. The character development for our protagonist was fabulous! I was able to fully understand the many minds of many final girls while reading this book. This book forced me to grasp the concept that all people grieve and process differently, depending on the circumstances they’ve been dealt. Really crazy plot twist too!

[thewallflower-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the book I wish Riley Sager’s Final Girls would have been. Horror fans, like me, will love this. Especially all the references, nods, and Easter eggs which alone make this worth reading. The author definitely did their research. But more than that, you can also tell he loves the material.

In this novel, the concept is that all the horror movie franchises actually happened–Friday the 13th, Halloween, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre–and that the movies we see are based on their real stories. I’d say it’s more thriller than horror, but that’s fine for me, because, as I’ve said before, horror just doesn’t seem to work in the written word. Text doesn’t deliver that visceral visual stimulation or suspenseful timing that movies or plays can deliver. (You get scared? You can just peek at the end of the chapter to see if they live through this.)

All the characters have different voices, personalities, and motivations. There’s a good sense of plot movement and pacing so I never got bored. And of dealing with trauma. I loved it so much I added Hendrix’s other most popular book (“The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires”) on my “to-read” list.

[gpangel_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Final Girls Support Group by Grady Hendrix is a 2021 Berkley publication.

The Final Girls- We all know what that phrase means...

In present day- six famous or infamous 'final girls' belong to a secret support group, moderated by Dr. Carol Elliot. Unfortunately, someone is trying to kill them off- one by one. Despite all their precautions, they are all once again in the fight of their lives…

Before reading this novel, I had read three Hendrix books and really liked them, when this book came out, I excitedly added it to my TBR list- but then I noticed quite of few lukewarm ratings and reviews and got cold feet. But since it’s September, I’ve been scrolling through my TBR pile for Fall/Halloween reads and noticed this one had been languishing on the list for over a year. I needed to either read it or remove it. I was nervous, but I just couldn’t scratch a Grady Hendrix book off my list without at least giving it a chance.

I don’t know what this says about me, but while my peers jeered this one- I cheered it. Truly, though, this is not exactly a pure horror novel- it’s more of a mystery/thriller, really, but Hendrix is satirizing the slasher films, so in a way it still fits into the horror genre.

I say the book is partly a satire, but it was also a homage, and a bit nostalgic, as well. The humor is sly and those well versed in slasher films will love all the references, the final girl trope, and even the clichés. The book moves fast, though not always cohesively, but there’s plenty of action, and the story even has a bit of depth and adds a long overdue feminist viewpoint.

I’m glad I gave this book a try, and though I have now enjoyed all four books I’ve read by Hendrix, I must admit this one is not his best work- though I don’t agree with the overly harsh criticism of it, at all- and wondered if maybe it was a bit misunderstood. The story does some issues, for sure, but I thought it was a wildly entertaining, if a bit unorthodox, thriller, and I rather enjoyed it.

3.5 stars rounded up.

[irenecole · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A group of 6 "Final Girls" meet once a month for a group therapy session that seems more like a place to argue and insult each other than to recover from past trauma. Now someone is out to kill them all... I guess because that is what's supposed to happen, the slashers in horror movies keep coming back no matter how many times you manage to kill them and survive. But who is it? Which monster has found out about the group? Who is coming to kill them after all this time? Or maybe it's more than one person. What if it's several all working together? Now it's up to Lynette to find out who is after them before there is no one left to save. They never considered Lynette to be a true Final Girl because she didn't have to kill her attacker to survive. Maybe this time she will outlive them all.
I really wanted to love this book more than I was able to. It was a great idea and I'm not entirely sure why it missed the mark with me. I think it is partly because the characters in this book are heavily "borrowed" from or at least based on the survivors of old slasher movies that I enjoyed. Because of that I already had my own ideas about their personalities and the way they might behave. In this book, these survivors mostly do not like each other, or themselves so I didn't like them much either. It also felt more like an action/thriller to me than a horror. There were lots of exciting action scenes but nothing that was really scary.

[angelajmaher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I heard a lot of positive word of mouth about this book and it didn't disappoint. The story steamrolls on mercilessly but with lots of twists and evolutions, and it was genuinely hard to put down. Even though it made me feel really paranoid the first night after I started reading it.

[micareads · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Final girls are the sole survivors at the end of a horror movie. The one whose friends have all been murdered and the one who takes care of the killer. A group of final girls gets together monthly to discuss their fears and how they get by every day.

Lynette Tarkington became a final girl twenty-two years ago when her family was massacred as she played dead. Since then, she has been doing everything she can to remain safe. One day, a member of her group is murdered and she knows that all her friends are at risk. Lynette starts to run and hide until she realizes the only way to stop the murders - find and kill the killer.

I love Grady Hendrix. He is such a different kind of writer and I love that he pulls me out of my comfort zone. All of his stories have a quirkiness that makes them appealing and unable to be put down. I am always attached to the characters and am anxious to see how their story ends. There are usually some sort of gory details within the story and this book is not an exception. If you are not a fan of gory moments, then Hendrix is not the author for you. I was so excited to see that HBO Max has optioned the books to be a series - if done properly the show can be amazing.

[sheriawilkinson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

This is the story of a group of "final girls, the last survivors of brutal attacks/murders. Lynnette attends (a group) with other survivors. Then one day one of them doesn't show up. Soon their lives are in danger unless Lynnette can figure out who wants them dead, and why.

A fast paced page-turning thrilling read. Engaging dialog, attention to detail, shocking surprises and non stop suspense. I was on the edge of my seat until the end. Overall I enjoyed The Final Girl Support Group and highly recommend to those who enjoy thrilling suspense filled reads.

[jfranklin592262 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ok, first off.......if you are not a horror fan and will not recognize any of the characters or understand references in this book, then this is NOT for you! To enjoy this book you definitely need to be knowledgeable about horror movie filmography.

I am a huge horror movie lover!! This type of book is right up my alley and I did enjoy it. However, I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. For some reason, it just didn't hit the same note as the other Hendrix books I have read and loved. I found myself having to trudge through some parts and I didn't find the characters as likable or relatable. That said, I do recommend it for anyone who loves horror movies. It is definitely worth the read.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I don't even like slasher movies, but this is the second book that I've read in close succession that was basically a love letter to the genre, and I thought it was great fun (the other book was My Heart Is a Chainsaw, and certainly these two novels make a good double feature). Hendrix's books have been hit or miss for me, but I appreciate how he plays around with well-worn tropes and humanizes the stock characters of the horror genre. In this case, the trope is the final girl: the last survivor of a slasher movie who kills the baddie--but no one knows or cares what happens to her after the police arrive. In this novel, slasher-type massacres were an actual "trend" during the '80s and '90s, and all of the well-known films were based on real-life cases (you won't have to be a slasher-movie fan to recognize the references--these movies are embedded in the culture now). The survivors of these massacres, two decades older now and coping (or not) with their trauma in various ways, meet once a month in a church basement as a support group. The narrator is Lynette, who is obsessively paranoid, convinced that the Monster will return and there will be a "sequel"--and when one of the other final girls doesn't show up for group, it seems like she may be right. After being shot at in her apartment, Lynette goes on the run, which turns out to be a cinematic, plot-twisting, page-turning ride. I tore through this book in two days. I thought it was fun, clever, campy in all the right parts, and fairly feminist (if maybe a bit heavy-handed in that department). A good follow-up to The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires.

[rosaalonso · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's clear that the author is a screenwriter because he offers us a clear Hollywood movie.

It grips you from beginning to end, with very well-developed and entertaining characters.

During one of the plots in the book, a series of people suspect a possible mental disorder in the protagonist. The author manages to include the reader among them.

As for the ending... Unexpected? Maybe, but not in a way that completely breaks the mold.

It's a good thriller; while not one of my favorites, it is one of the ones I've read in less time.

Recommended as a form of entertainment. (Translated from Spanish)

[jynell-71874 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Maybe I wasn't in the mood, but this one just fell short for me. I enjoyed the drama of the girls and the idea that they remained in therapy, but overall, it wasn't enough to hold my attention and I ended up not finishing it.

[toric90 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

**spoiler alert** I listened to this on audio and so I probably missed a few small pieces as I was multitasking, however the twists! They just kept coming! I think it was just a few too many twists for my taste… by the end I just wanted to know who it actually was, maybe no longer took it as seriously. Kind of reminded me of The Burning Girls by CJ Tudor, mixed with Final Girl by Riley Sager, mixed with Southern Bookclub’s Guide for Slaying Vampires by same author, Grady Hendrix. The group of women vibe definitely reminded me of southern bookclub which was fun because I liked that book but also meh, probably because I recently read that one so felt repetitive.

Part of the book I didn’t get, was the age of the therapist’s son?!? I feel like he was originally younger… but maybe an editor said that could get creepy since these women are in their… 40s?… also vague. But I’ll admit, the 26 year old son was also still weird and still kind of creepy. Not so much because of age but because of how he was written into the story which again made him seem MUCH younger… so remembering this, maybe this is closer to a 2….

I liked this. But I didn’t love it. I’ve purposefully read a lot of final girl style books recently and while this isn’t my least favorite, there was just SO MUCH happening… and while I was intrigued, I also didn’t really care…. Hopefully that makes sense?

[christilee394 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As a fan of the 80's and 90's slashers movies, this was right up my suspenseful, creepy alley!

[jthierer_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I think this book is actually hampered by its high concept and would have been better served to just focus on the story. Essentially, this book starts from the premise that all of those classic 80s/90s slasher flicks were based on real events and happened to real people. Those real people then form a support group and their story is interspersed with fictional analyses and factoids of the movies based on their experiences. Its an intriguing premise but it felt like Hendrix wasn't quite sure where to take that concept once he came up with it. That said, this book was definitely a fast-paced read and I was surprised by the ending (although perhaps I shouldn't have been).

[dcoward_6 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an odd book. I'm not even sure how to describe it - it is set in an alternate world where "final girl" is not just a horror movie troupe, but an actual think. It was fun and had interesting characters tho.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

What if hand-massacring groups of teenagers had become just as popular as school shootings? The most well-known survivors of two rounds of attacks have a support group in LA, until things start going bad—one killed, others endangered and also accused of participating in/organizing the murder sprees they survived. Like other Hendrix books, it’s both about the harm that women do to each other and the patriarchal system in which they do it. Nothing supernatural and ultimately I didn’t find it to be a workable alternate world precisely for the reasons explained by one of the many “nonfiction inserts” in the book: School shootings became widespread because guns are different.