Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Final Girls is a whirlwind of a story, a truly gripping read. Riley Sager’s ability to suck the reader in is amazing. By the time I got to the middle of the book, I was hooked. A lot of books sag in the middle, and middles are notoriously hard to write. Sager does it with gusto. Now, on to the review.
Plot: Sager unfolds the scenes of the book in two ways. Firstly, we see the events in present day New York unfolding through Quincy’s eyes as they happen, in present tense. Second, in past tense, we see the events leading up to the attacks of Quincy and her friends at Pine Cottage, and beyond. I’ll get to the Cottage in just a moment.
The first Final Girl is Lisa Milner, who also survived a mass murder at a sorority house. She was stabbed several times, and was lucky to have escaped with her life. She later becomes a child psychologist. Then, suddenly she is dead, apparently by her own hand.
Samantha Boyd is the second of the Final Girls, who survived a horrific event at a motel called the Nightlight Inn. The perpetrator of the murders was a man, referred to as The Sack Man, due to his attire, which includes a sack over his head with eyeholes and a slit over the nose. Quincy is seven years old at the time of this crime. She sees a news report, and marks it as the first time she remembers actually watching the news, and being scared by it.
Quincy, our hero, is the third Final Girl. She survives a massacre at a place called Pine Cottage, which is really more of an expanded cabin with many bedrooms. Quincy is in college, and comes to Pine Cottage in late October with her friends Craig, Janelle, Ramdy (the name for a couple that are always together, Amy and Rodney), and Betz.
Joe is a stranger who shows up at the party after his car breaks down nearby. Janelle, who’s celebrating her birthday, says to invite him inside, even with the amount of inherent risk that comes with doing so. He’s seemingly a shy man who wears dirty glasses. He seems harmless. He isn’t much of a drinker, but certainly the alcohol is flowing in copious amounts for the others.
It doesn’t help matters that Quincy, now 10 years post Pine Cottage can’t remember what happened that night during the attacks. She tells police detectives that she is drawing a blank from that night; she apparently has a type of amnesia in which her brain locks away the traumatic events, in essence protecting her from those events by choosing not to remember them. This is actually a real thing and it seems plausible. She has effectively put the events of Pine Cottage behind her. The other Final Girls, Lisa and Samantha, have tried to do the same with their nightmares.
She has reinvented herself into a full-time blogger. The name of her blog is Quincy’s Sweets, and it helps her when she gets anxious to get into the kitchen and bake something. Everyone there died, except Quincy. A rookie cop, Cooper, found Quincy running through the woods, covered in blood. Quincy is rescued by Coop, and she now (presently) keeps his number on speed dial, texting or calling whenever she feels anxious. Coop comes into the city and tells her that Lisa is dead. This is basically the setup for Final Girls.
Quincy refers to the perpetrator only as Him, and will not say His name, partly due to the intervention of her mother, Shelia, who says it’s better to never discuss what happened to her daughter. Quincy begins taking, and eventually abusing, Xanax. She lives with her boyfriend Jeff, a criminal defense attorney, who is currently working on a big case he can’t really discuss with her. There is definitely a wall up between Jeff and Quincy. She never quite feels fulfilled, as though something is really missing in her life since the murders. Quincy has desperately tried to move on, but the cracks are showing in her carefully laid façade.
Eventually, Quincy meets Samantha, who shows up outside her apartment. Sam moves in temporarily with Quincy and Jeff. Jeff is not amused by this turn of events, but eventually gives his consent. Just for a few days. Supposedly, Sam has come because of Lisa’s suicide, and wants to see if she can help Quincy so she doesn’t travel down the same road. And Coop, he seems so hands-off, never touching, never hugging, but will come at a moment’s notice when Quincy needs him. He seems to know something, but it’s anybody’s guess as to just what that is.
Quincy spends a fair amount of time getting to know Sam, or so she thinks. It turns out Sam may be keeping a lot of things to herself. Quincy only has the illusion of closeness. The way Sager plays Sam off Quincy, and how Sam goads her into doing things she never thought she would do, is part of what makes this book so good. Sam and Quincy have been making side trips to Central Park at 1 AM. What, exactly, are they doing there? What does Samantha have planned when she takes a purse loaded with paperbacks along? Why is a police detective suddenly so interested? Questions, questions.
Ending: The suspicions against Sam are well-warranted. Who is she, really? The twist is great, and there is certainly more than one! Did Quincy murder her friends all those years ago, or was it the mysterious Joe? What was Lisa’s role in all of this? Can Quincy uncover it before it’s too late? A stellar mix of mystery and murder, with plenty of blood to boot! This is my kind of novel.
Final Thoughts: I loved this book! It was so engrossing and riveting, and the story just kept getting better and better. I highly recommend you read this one, and then you should check out Sager’s next book, Lock Every Door. So, so good! Riley Sager is definitely one of my new favorite authors!
Grade: A for sharp writing, and shocks and surprises throughout. Sager is the king of twists and turns. Be prepared to be up all night with this one. You literally won’t be able to put it down!
Have A Good Day!