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 Final Girl, 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.
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 Final Girl, 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.
Review
This was my first Riley Sager and yes, it took me a long time to read it. Here's the thing - I'm used to romance books. lol I love horror and true crime, but you know what romance has made me expect? Usually a quickly unfolding story with a usually good ending. They say the romance genre is formulaic and that's because it is...because it works.
So, what does this have to do with Final Girls?
It means I had to be a whole lotta patient with the story. The story takes a bit to get into - the reader is left to wonder just what happened to Quincy that fateful night when someone killed her five friends. We learn a bit more about her even though she remains something of a mystery throughout most of the book.
It was really in the last third of the book where I felt, whoa, okay...here we go. Did I think all the build up was worth it? Ehhhh. I could have done with less of it, but the in all honesty, it really is the third of the book that made this book go from a 2 star to a 3 star for me. I wish it would have been higher. I am, however, looking forward to reading more of Sager's books because that last third...it was fantastic.
This was my first Riley Sager and yes, it took me a long time to read it. Here's the thing - I'm used to romance books. lol I love horror and true crime, but you know what romance has made me expect? Usually a quickly unfolding story with a usually good ending. They say the romance genre is formulaic and that's because it is...because it works.
So, what does this have to do with Final Girls?
It means I had to be a whole lotta patient with the story. The story takes a bit to get into - the reader is left to wonder just what happened to Quincy that fateful night when someone killed her five friends. We learn a bit more about her even though she remains something of a mystery throughout most of the book.
It was really in the last third of the book where I felt, whoa, okay...here we go. Did I think all the build up was worth it? Ehhhh. I could have done with less of it, but the in all honesty, it really is the third of the book that made this book go from a 2 star to a 3 star for me. I wish it would have been higher. I am, however, looking forward to reading more of Sager's books because that last third...it was fantastic.
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