Book Review: Final Girls by Riley Sager
My hype for "Final Girls" was unbelievable, the minute I heard of this book I immediately placed a pre-order on Amazon. Where it fell a little short was in the delivery. I love the idea of this book, and it kept me up all night to find out what happens, but there is something missing from this book and I can't quite put my finger on it.
Quincy is a believable (ish) character who survives a massacre at Pine Cottage. The reader follows her on her journey of recovery from the night she almost dies, her interactions with the other 'Final Girls', and flashbacks to that night at Pine Cottage where she became a Final Girl. There is no need for me to repeat the many summaries below and above so I will proceed with why I gave it a 3.5.
The good, the bad, the okay
Overall, this story was good, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and have suggested it to some of my friends that I think would enjoy the story as well. I am a huge crime (true or not) fan and I work for Dateline so these story lines always catch my attention.
I am also a huge horror movie fan, so the concept of a book being written about the "Final Girl" trope was irresistible, and it was not disappointing on that front. But like most horror movies aren't the best movies ever made, that doesn't prevent them from being entertaining and worth your time. I think the same can be said about this book.
Where "Final Girls" take a downturn is with the writing was just a little off for me. At times it was so awkward for me personally to read, I skimmed to just the dialogue, which itself was also at times hard to read. As a Chicago native and current New York resident, some of the descriptions of these two cities was just so cheesy -- i.e. show don't tell. Also as a journalist, the dialogue with the press, with Jonah was painful. No one talks that way unless you're plucked from the movie screens of what people think journalists act like. At least in my experience.
When it comes to this book I think show don't tell was the biggest thing that made me downgrade this from a 4-star to a 3.5-star. But I still think you should read it this summer because, heck, it's entertaining and a fast summer read.
Quincy is a believable (ish) character who survives a massacre at Pine Cottage. The reader follows her on her journey of recovery from the night she almost dies, her interactions with the other 'Final Girls', and flashbacks to that night at Pine Cottage where she became a Final Girl. There is no need for me to repeat the many summaries below and above so I will proceed with why I gave it a 3.5.
The good, the bad, the okay
Overall, this story was good, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and have suggested it to some of my friends that I think would enjoy the story as well. I am a huge crime (true or not) fan and I work for Dateline so these story lines always catch my attention.
I am also a huge horror movie fan, so the concept of a book being written about the "Final Girl" trope was irresistible, and it was not disappointing on that front. But like most horror movies aren't the best movies ever made, that doesn't prevent them from being entertaining and worth your time. I think the same can be said about this book.
Where "Final Girls" take a downturn is with the writing was just a little off for me. At times it was so awkward for me personally to read, I skimmed to just the dialogue, which itself was also at times hard to read. As a Chicago native and current New York resident, some of the descriptions of these two cities was just so cheesy -- i.e. show don't tell. Also as a journalist, the dialogue with the press, with Jonah was painful. No one talks that way unless you're plucked from the movie screens of what people think journalists act like. At least in my experience.
When it comes to this book I think show don't tell was the biggest thing that made me downgrade this from a 4-star to a 3.5-star. But I still think you should read it this summer because, heck, it's entertaining and a fast summer read.
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