The first Riley Sager book I read was Lock Every Door, so I appear to be reading his novels all out of order! And you know what? That’s fine by me!

I could be wrong, but I feel like if you become a fan of an author because of their first book, you are bound to compare every one of their works to their first novel. While it’s entirely possible that an author’s first book is their best, that perception may change if you read them out of order and become connected to one of the other/newer novels first. (For example, will I favor Lock Every Door because it was my first of Sager’s books?)

On Goodreads, I heard a lot of people commenting that Lock Ever Door was Riley Sager’s “worst” book. So when I saw that, I thought, “Well shit, I loved that book! Does that mean his others are even better than this one?!”

Let’s see. 🙂

Synopsis

Although the media labels Quincy Carpenter a “Final Girl” due to surviving the Pine Cottage Massacre, which left all of her friends dead, she has never liked the term. Not then, and not now.

Quincy even kept her distance from the other two “Final Girls,” Lisa (from the Sorority House Massacre) and Sam (from the Nightlight Inn Murders,) not only because she wanted a calm and normal life, but also because she has no memory of the Pine Cottage Massacre, and she hopes to keep it that way.

Quincy now lives a quiet life in NYC with her boyfriend, Jeff. She has a baking blog, a nice apartment, and a helpful friend Coop, who also happens to be the police officer who saved her life all those years ago.

Things were as “normal” as can be, until Lisa was found dead in her bathtub, and Sam, the other “Final Girl,” shows up on Quincy’s doorstep. Sam, who says she’s just concerned for Quincy, seems intent on forcing Quincy to relive the night of the massacre, despite knowing that it’s too painful.

Which makes Quincy wonder; why is Sam actually here?

My Feels

Final Girls kept me guessing from front to back.

Throughout the experience, I came up with multiple scenarios for the plot twist and ending in my head. First, Final Girls teased me with it, making me feel like my guesses could be right… Only to harshly turned me down moments later, which made me want to know even more! #imnotdamagediswear!

As I learned last week, (see The Silent Patient,) I am very disappointed when I successfully guess the plot twist or ending of the book. You’d think I might be proud, but really it makes me wish the author would’ve been a bit more creative.

With that being said, I was glad that Riley Sager was able to blow my mind once again with an ending and twist I didn’t fully see coming. However, I also appreciate that I was given the pieces to put the twist together while it was being revealed. (Some books have so many damn plot twists that I end up not even understanding the ending at all!)

Additionally, this story made my entire body clench up for the entire day and a half that I read it. It made me so tense, girl, for real!

When Sam enters Quincy’s life you can just see it coming… You can feel it starting, but you can’t do anything to stop it… This girl is going to ruin Quincy’s life.

I felt genuine anxiety for our main character, Quincy. I cringed at her giving in to Sam’s toxic ideas, and how she dug a hole for herself so deep that no one could even see who she used to be anymore, and how she let this person completely up haul and derail her sanity. (Quincy, what the frig?)

I am not going to spoil anything for you, but Sager’s writing and story telling abilities are top notch.

While we’re learning of Quincy’s present day life, we’re also reading random chapters in-between, detailing the evening of the Pine Cottage murders many years ago. We’re discovering the night’s events in little pieces, which keep us on edge about all of the past and present events.

We think Sam is a dangerous stranger, but how well do we actually know Quincy?

Yet another entertaining, quick paced, well written, and fun story from Riley Sager. I didn’t expect anything less. Sager has easily become one of the few author’s I will be following closely.

My Rating: ★★★★☆

At the end of the day, I loved this book. However, truth be told, I didn’t love the main character, which is usually a pretty important factor to me. (i.e., if I can’t stand a main character, I usually can’t finish the book.)

For some reason, I instantly clicked with Jules from Lock every door, as well as the Rosemary’s Baby vibe of it all! Not to mention I was so desperately in love with the mystery of the building and it’s fabulous tenants! It was sort of a perfect recipe of fun for me.

Final Girls has an element of true crime and horror that I also adore, and that was not a part of Lock Every Door. I was excited to get to know these Final Girls due of their massacre survival hardcore-ness, but was ultimately not as connected to them as I wished I would be.

I honestly feel like, outside of comparing the characters, I cannot compare the two stories. They’re each so amazing in their own individual ways that I can honestly say I enjoyed them both fairly equally.

What did you think of Final Girls?

In your opinion, how does Final Girls hold up to Sager’s other writings?

I’m dying to know.

xoxo,

Ande