Final Girls: A Novel Hardcover – July 11, 2017 by Riley Sager (Dutton)

Part One: Critique
For whatever reason this summer, I've been drawn to psychological crime thrillers. Within the last couple of weeks I've read Ruth Ware, Tana French, and now this. One aspect that binds the three novels together is that they each overuse the theme of "protagonist forgets the details of the traumatic event that happens to them" which leaves the reader in the dark, too. In my opinion, and probably because I've read three separate novels employing this theme back-to-back, I was highly annoyed by this. I understand this is a necessary technique to utilize when creating an atmosphere of suspense, but clearly it's overdone. Within this genre, I'd like to see authors become a bit more creative. The last irksome detail, in my opinion, was the final twist. While I didn't see it coming, I also didn't really buy into it. It was far more believable and better written than the twist at the end of "In a Dark, Dark Wood", but for some reason, I felt that Sager built us up for something much more dynamic. I was not displeased with the ending, I just felt lukewarm about it.

Part Two: Praise
Of the three novels, Sager's novel was the easiest and most entertaining read. I read it quickly; tore through it, in fact. I know many of the reviews claim that the characters are unlikeable; however, I feel that our leading lady--Quincy Carpenter--was believable, likable, and yes--in extreme denial. All of those traits made me buy into her post Pine Cottage mentality. She was broken and rattled to the core, but who could blame her? She tried to frost herself to perfection like one of her Food Channel acclaimed baked goods. Again, I truly felt her actions would be a normal response to numbing oneself back into normalcy. When Quinn meets Sam, I even found myself angered and disappointed in her choices and this was necessary. Quinn moves quite swiftly into a dynamic character and watching her mentality evolve was a joy to read. She needed to feel everything Sam brought to the forefront; Quinn never had the chance to grieve the tragedy or her role in it. Before the blood could even dry at Pine Cottage, her mother tried to put her on Xanax and make her forget and move on from the tragedy. At 19-20 years old, how can anyone fully grieve and move on? We can't. I believe Quinn is an extremely well-written and thorough character.
Secondly, I felt that this novel was a page turner. The writing enveloped me and transported me right into Quinn and Jeff's apartment, Pine Cottage, etc. I felt scared, thrilled, angered, sad, and at the end, complete. I almost see Quincy as a Jessica Jones type who now wants to help fellow victims (and I love that parallel).
Thirdly, whether intentional or not, Sam (as Quinn meets her) reminds me of Joss Whedon's Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They have the same attitude, vengeance, and morals. Again, probably a not so conventional parallel but this made me enjoy the novel even more