The Life & Times of a Book Addict: Final Girls by Riley Sager

Publication: July 11, 2017
Publisher: Dutton
Source: Purchased my own copy.

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.

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“Trust me...Would I ever lead you astray?”

Quincy is the third final girl. Though she likes to pretend that she's not. She likes to pretend that she's normal, but I'm not sure how anyone can be “normal” after they've gone through such a traumatic experience like Quincy has. Even if she can't remember all of the details. Her seemingly perfect life is going almost according to plan. That is until Sam, the second final girl comes into her life.That’s when things begin to take an interesting turn for Quincy…

I liked how the the story flip flops between present day events and the events at Pine Cottage 10 years ago, where Quincy and her friends was attacked. Quincy is a fighter, she has a temper, and she would do whatever is necessary to survive. But is there a limit to what she would do?

Sam I did not like from the beginning. She seemed very manipulative and I felt like she had an agenda and Quincy was all too easy to be manipulated and pressured into doing things. Which annoyed me. I don’t want to say too much about the storyline and characters because it’s fun to discover things yourself as your reading.

However, I will say that this book is labeled in the mystery, thriller, suspense category and I felt like it fit the bill perfectly. This may even be one of the better mystery/thriller books that I have read so far this year. I ended up listening to the audiobook version of Final Girls. There were two female narrators for this book; Erin Bennett and Hillary Huber. They both did a good job of bringing the characters to life. It did start off a little slow, but I kept with it until it picked up. I am so glad that I did. Around 75% into the storyline I thought I knew exactly where things were going and how everything was going to be wrapped up. It turns out the author pulled a fast one on me and I ended up knowing nothing! There were surprises and twists to the story that made it even more interesting than it already was. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I cannot wait to see what the author chooses to write next.

RATING: 4 out of 5

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