Lizzy Walker | Musings of the Monster Librarian

Book Review: The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

Berkley, 2021

ISBN-13: 9780593201237

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, Audible audiobook ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

The Final Girl is the lone survivor of horror movies. She fought valiantly, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends who were each gruesomely dispatched by the killer. But after the truck drives away, the sirens fade, and the credits roll, what happens to our heroine, other than the potential for franchise sequels? We find out in Hendrix’s new novel, The Final Girl Support Group.

Hendrix, as with We Sold Our Souls and The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, displays an uncanny ability to write complex women. Combining this with the concept of the Final Girl works quite well. Twenty-two years ago, Lynnette Tarkington survived a harrowing massacre. For more than a decade, Lynette and other women meet in the Final Girl Support Group led by their therapist, Dr. Carol Elliot. Lynette keeps herself locked safely in her home with her best friend, a houseplant named Fine. She has no identification paperwork or ID, no social life, and keeps her head on a swivel when she does gather up her strength to go outside, usually to the support group. In the support group, we meet Adrienne Butler, the first Final Girl; Dani Shipman, who along with her partner Michelle owns a rescue ranch for abused and abandoned horses; Heather DeLuca, whose life has gone off the rails with bad decisions and jail time; Julia Campbell, the talkative and angry paralyzed survivor of her own story; and Marilyn Torres, the wealthy wife of a CEO, who is a recovering alcoholic and activist in the community. When one of the women doesn’t show up for their regular meeting, Lynnette’s paranoia kicks in full-bore. Someone knows about the Final Girl Support Group and wants them all to suffer, and then die. The suspect knows where they live and congregate, and what they do. It comes to light that someone in the group has written a tell-all book about the women in the group. Who betrayed the Final Girl Support Group? Lynette sets out to find the killer and expose the truth.

There is so much going on in this book, I had a hard time putting it down. If you like the slasher subgenre and have ever wondered what happened when the Final Girl’s story ended, pick up this book. Interspersed throughout the book are articles and reports about the Final Girls, which add that extra touch to each character. Highly recommended.

Contains: violence, gore, body horror, descriptions of torture

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker

Women in Horror Month: WiHM LibGuide at the Wichita State University Library

When I talk about promoting horror at the library, THIS is what I’m talking about.

Lizzy Walker is the Metadata and Digital Initiatives Librarian at Wichita State University Libraries. She has a background in public services and metadata. She also has a strong interest in medieval studies, horror studies, and English literature studies. And check out what she did.

While other libraries and librarians are creating exhibits themed around Valentine’s Day, Black History Month, President’s Day, and other themes common to February library displays (and I’m not discounting the importance of any of these), Lizzy came up with this:
And she has created a Women in Horror Month LibGuide to go with it. How cool is that?
WiHM LibGuide Here’s what Lizzy had to say about her guide:

I created a Women in Horror Month (WiHM) LibGuide after researching materials we have in at the Wichita State University Ablah Library, as well as materials that we ordered just for the display. I quickly realized that not all of the materials would physically fit in the case. I didn’t want all of this research to go to waste, so I decided a subject guide would be the best place to keep all of this information. Here, users may browse the materials I included in the Movies, TV Series, Gothic Novels, Modern Fiction, Literary Criticism, and Film Studies tabs. It’s a work in progress—I plan on continuing to populate it with materials as I find them, as well as when we purchase materials that fit the criteria.

Lizzy included some really cool stuff in her guide, but it’s clearly just a beginning. It will be really interesting to see how this resource develops!