Book Review: Final Girls (Riley Sager) @riley_sager @DuttonBooks

Screen Shot 2017-07-10 at 9.54.37 PM The day is finally here!

The publication day for one of the most anticipated novels of the year, Final Girls by Riley Sager, is here!!

When I read this novel late last year, I named it the book that everyone will be talking about.

Months later, I stand by this statement. Intense, on the edge of your seat, and completely addictive, this mystery thriller is binge read worthy. If there is a novel that lives up to the hype, it would Final Girls.

If you are a fan of the mystery/thriller genre or just a fan of an extremely well-developed narrative, you’ll want to clear your TBR piles and make this one a priority.

My full review of this novel can be found here.

Chandra and Jessica gave this one a read and made it one of our #cjsreads picks for July. Keep reading to see if they felt as strongly about this one as I did!

What Jessica Thought:

Here is probably one of the most talked about thrillers of 2017 – and with good reason! When the King has a blurb on the cover, I’m drawn to it instantly. When he says this is the best thriller of 2017, then I need it! Riley Sager’s debut FINAL GIRLS was an incredible thriller with a nonstop pace that had me flipping through pages. Quincy, Lisa, and Sam are all Final Girls. All three are the survivors of horrific, horror movie worthy killings. Quincy was the only one to make it back from her vacation with five college friends. Lisa survived a knife attack when her nine sorority sisters did now. Sam went up against the Sack Man during her shift at work at the Nightlight Inn. Despite the constant attempts from the media, the three girls have not met. They just want to get on with their lives. Quincy has finally gotten on with her life – a fiance, job, beautiful apartment, and her Xanax make for a great life. That is until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, from an apparent suicide. Sam, the second Final Girl, shows up on Quincy’s doorstep and her world is turned upside down. Quincy is our narrator, but we alternated between past and present to try and work through all the lies and buried memories. The characters were so well developed – you could relate to Quincy and she felt like a real person. The girls are multi-dimensional and as the story goes on we learn more and more about them. I loved how original this story was – a girl wandering out of the woods and covered in blood. That only happens in horror movies, right? Not for these Final Girls, that is only the beginning of their nightmares. From the first page this book has you on the edge of your seat. If I didn’t have work interrupting, then I would have easily read this in one sitting. The ending! Did not see that coming – I thought I could predict where things were going to end, but then a huge twist was thrown in. Sager tied together everything so well in this novel and I will be waiting for more from this author! If you want an addictive thriller with nonstop suspense, then stop looking because this is the book you need!!

I give this 5/5 stars!

What Chandra Thought:

Final Girls – named by the horror industry as the only girl left alive after a massacre. In Quincy’s world, there are three of them – the first being Lisa, the second being Sam and then Quincy. Quincy survived a night with her friends at Pine Cottage that was supposed to be a fun weekend. Stabbed and somehow left alive, Quincy’s tried hard to make her life as normal as possible. With a successful blog on baking and an understanding boyfriend, she’s moving forward as much as she can. For ten years she’s managed with the blessing (?) that she remembers almost nothing about that night. But she does hold secrets on how she handles some of her post-traumatic stress and she keeps that secret close to her chest. Then one day, she gets a call that Lisa has been found dead in her bathtub and shortly after, Sam shows up on her doorstep. Bound by their survival stories, Lisa brings Sam into her home. Sam tests her and pushes her to remember and deal with her residual feelings of anger. But can Sam be trusted? Can she trust her own memories? This book has been EVERYWHERE and it holds up to its hype. Written almost like a slasher film, it’s taut, tense, action packed and keeps you on your toes. Trust me when I say that what you think it is, probably isn’t… and it isn’t THAT either. Flashing back to the night in question, we get a deep look into Quincy ten years ago and to her today – building up into a final reveal you really won’t see coming. Riley Sager has a way of seamlessly building Quincy’s world and everyone in it. I read this in one sitting and couldn’t put it down. After turning the last page, I immediately went into conversations with others who have read it and we all readily agree – it’s a shocker… and a good one! Already being touted as the thriller of the year, this book will be talked about for quite some time – get yourself a copy and join the conversation!