Book Everyone Will Be Talking About in 2017: Book Review: Final Girls (Riley Sager)

Quincy Carpenter is the sole survivor of a massacre that killed six of her friends while they were on vacation at Pine Cottage ten years earlier.   The media dubbed her one of the Final Girls; joining Lisa and Samantha, who were also survivors of murderous rampages. These girls screamed louder, ran faster and fought harder.   They survived. Quincy is trying to move on with her life, and is doing well until Lisa is found with her wrists slit in her bathtub; an apparent suicide.   Leaving Quincy reeling, Samantha shows up on her doorstep, making Quincy relive bits of her past that she has fought so hard to forget. As the details surrounding Lisa’s death become clearer, Quincy begins to unravel the truth, Sam’s truths and her own, to remember that night at Pine Cottage…the night she became a Final Girl.

 Final Girls is the debut novel by Riley Sager. It is an intense, on the edge of your seat, completely addictive mystery thriller. I refuse to believe that this novel was a debut. It was that amazing. From the first page, I knew this would be a book that I would need to read in one sitting. I finished this one in an afternoon easily.

The concept for this novel is completely original; Quincy is a Final Girl, like the girls at the end of the horror movie who stumble out of the woods and flag down an unassuming vehicle. Except, that this was not a movie. This was her life. She stumbled out of the woods, covered in blood, and escaped becoming HIS (she will not speak his name) final victim that night at Pine Cottage. As she works through her past demons, she is surprised when Samantha, another Final Girl (having survived a massacre at a motel) arrives at her home. Sam quickly throws Quincy’s life upside down as she brings up past memories and calls into question everything that Quincy knows.

From the initial moments, this novel proves to be a suspenseful, engaging read. The plot was intricate and smart.  The novel is narrated by Quincy, both in the present and in flashbacks to the past, before and after the massacre, as she tries to piece together her lost memories. This one has many twists and turns; I was left reeling. Just as I was beginning to understand what was happening or guess where Sager was leading me, it turned out to be a red herring and I was left baffled. By the ending of the novel, when all the pieces come together and the revelations are made, I was in complete shock.

I also loved the character development in this one.  Quincy Carpenter is both tough and vulnerable. I loved watching her experience her survival’s guilt, struggle to deal with her loss and see the media circus that follows her. I also loved watching her piece together what happened that night.

Frankly, I believe that Final Girls by Riley Sager is a book that everyone will be talking about in 2017.   I would also be shocked if this one didn’t get picked up for its film rights.  If you are a fan of the mystery/thriller genre, or just a fan of an extremely well-developed narrative, you’ll want to add this one to your TBR pile and pre-order lists. This one releases (and starts taking the literary world by storm) July 2017.

 Thanks to Dutton, Riley Sager and Netgalley for granting me an e-copy of this book; it was my pleasure to provide an honest review.