Content Warning: graphic violence, murder, attempted sexual assault, suicide and discussion of suicide, murder, addiction, family dysfunction
If I was forced to guess, probably more than half of the books I read are thrillers. There's nothing quite like trying to anticipate the twists, theorizing, trying to decipher what are genuine clues and what are red herrings. But, although this is by far my favorite genre, there's a negative attached to reading so many of them: they become predictable.
A lot of the time, I'm able to figure out what's going on within the first half of the book. It isn't that the authors aren't talented, that the plots aren't interesting, or that the writing leaves something to be desired, but rather that anything you can imagine has been done before. So while I definitely enjoy the ride, I'm not exactly shocked by the twists and turns.
Final Girls, though - Final Girls is different. I was shocked. I was surprised, thrilled, astonished. But before I get ahead of myself, I'll tell you a bit about what's in store for you when you pick this book up.
Our lead character is Quincy Carpenter, one of the media's "final girls," a label she doesn't exactly relish. She is the sole survivor of a massacre that took the lives of several of her college friends. Two other so-called "final girls" round out the group: Samantha Boyd, who survived a mass murder at the Nightlight Inn, and Lisa Milner, the only girl to make it out of a sorority slaying alive. But when Quincy receives the news that Lisa has killed herself, she's shocked. That leaves two of them. And Samantha Boyd, who has been off the grid for a considerable length of time, suddenly shows up, inexplicably making the effort to connect when she never has before.
Throughout the novel, I entertained tons of different theories, trying to pinpoint the one that felt "right." In the end, I wasn't right about any of them! It was a refreshing take on the genre, and when I look back at myself in 2017, uninterested in reading this, I want to shake myself. If only I'd known!
Sager's writing is punchy and, in spite of the heavy subject matter, fun. In the beginning, I wasn't too sure of Quincy - she came off as someone who thought of herself as better because she had her life under control. As I continued to read, however, I found myself sympathizing with her, understanding the anger she fights to suppress, the way she feels her life a thread away from total destruction.
Quincy grows. By the end of the book, she's a world apart from where she started. All of the other characters were well-realized, too: I particularly liked prickly and unpredictable Samantha. She sticks out in my mind, and I have a feeling she will continue to do so for quite some time.
All in all, I'm pleased to say that Final Girls might be the highlight of my reading this year. Beautifully done, cleverly plotted, and chock-full of suspense, I'm very excited to pick up my next Riley Sager book.
