Final Girls - What a Disappointment...WAIT! Maybe Xanax and Grape Soda Will Help.

TITLE: Final Girls
AUTHOR: Riley Sager
PUBLISHER: Dutton
PUBLISHING DATE: July 11, 2017

FROM GOODREADS: Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him. The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them, and, with that, one another. Despite the media's attempts, they never meet.

Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past.

That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out. And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished.

MY THOUGHTS:  So I commented prior to actually completing this review that perhaps I needed a Xanax and some grape soda before writing it. Well, I decided to skip that plan but definitely apologize to anyone who has already read this because you've probably grown really tired of that phrase since you heard it a thousand times in the book. At least that's how I feel. I went into "Final Girls" pumped and ready to find my next favorite horror writer. I mean come on, there's a blurb on the cover from Stephen King. Surely my favorite author wouldn't mislead me? Well, sorry Stephen, this is one book which can "float on" with Pennywise. I wanted to love "Final Girls" and thanks to all the hype and all the 5/5 reviews, I knew the book was packed full of excitement and twists and turns and I couldn't wait to see how it all panned out. The problem was, that promise set me up for failure. All the time I was reading I kept imagining where all the twists could lead and unfortunately, I think some of my scenarios interested me more than the reality of the book.

"Final Girls" tells the tale of Quincy Carpenter, a young woman who ten years ago escaped the massacre of her college pals while camping in a Pine Woods cottage. Riley has blacked out a lot of what happened, but was basically labeled a "final girl" by the media, along with Lisa and Sam, who also survived similar fates. And if you need help understanding the concept of a final girl, don't worry, the author explained it over and over again throughout the book. Riley lives with her public defender boyfriend and insists her life is going well, despite drinking too much and downing the previously mentioned Xanax and grape soda on a regular basis. Early on in the book, one of the other two girls, Lisa, is murdered, and the third elusive girl, Sam, literally shows up on Riley's sidewalk. What happens next is a train wreck which for me went on and on (and on and on), to determine what happened to Lisa and if Riley and Sam are the next intended casualties.

The main problem for me with the book is that I didn't connect with any of the characters. Riley was a mess which was made worse because she was always justifying she was okay. Sam is all over the place and I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her. Jeff, the boyfriend is unlikable and I don't know why he put up with Riley and vice versa - maybe they did deserve each other. Coop, Riley's savior cop had potential and at the end, I still probably liked him the best of all which is saying a lot. I think I would have liked Lisa but since we learn she died practically in chapter one, the reader never gets to know her very well. So see, not a great cast of characters. Also, the actual twist feel flat for me and I spent a lot of time wishing everyone would just die.

I don't mean for this review to come across so harsh. I know lots of people love this book and in the end, my expectations were probably just too much. I should know better than to allow the hype to suck me in. I wouldn't actually tell people not to read it. I mean, come on, this book is plastered everywhere so it's hard to ignore. However, if any of my comments seem like things that might prevent you from enjoying a book, do yourself a favor and borrow it from the library so you don't actually pay for it or perhaps skip it altogether. I might be interested in reading Sager's next effort, or since it's actually a pen name for an already established writer, maybe some of his past stuff. Right now, I'm just not sure.

I received this book from Netgalley and the published in exchange for an honest review.

RATING: 2 PAWS