The Final Girl Support Group — Cover to Cover

Author: Grady Hendrix
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: July 13, 2021
Pages: 352
Genre: Horror / Thriller

SPOILER WARNING

This is Cover to Cover, which means we're talking about EVERYTHING. If you haven't finished The Final Girl Support Group, stop here and read my Spoiler-Free Review first. Because from this point on, there will be spoilers.

SJR Quick Take

⭐ Overall: 3/5
🔪 Scare Factor: 2/5
💔 Emotional Impact: 1/5
📖 Would I Read Again? No
💬 Would I Recommend? Yes—with a warning

Overall Reaction

As soon as I saw 16 years, I said, DAMN. They need a new therapist because got damn! Either these women are dependent on Dr. Carol, or she is doing a horrible job. Then after seeing the way they were acting in therapy, I was like, these chicks are toxic!

I can understand still being paranoid after everything they've survived, but after almost 16 years, these women don't seem healed or even close to healed. Heather is struggling with addiction. Lynnette has basically isolated herself from the world. They're catty, harsh with each other, don't communicate, and don't seem to trust one another.

What have y'all been doing in therapy together for almost 16 years?! And this was just the beginning.

The Final Girls

Learning that Adrienne was Black, but they let a white woman play her in the movie based on her story, was already crazy to me. However, that is Hollywood; they don’t think a black main character can make big bucks even today in 2026, yet look at Sinners!!

But damn, Black girl dies first!

And out of everyone in this group, Adrienne seemed to have experienced some of the most growth and improvement. She took what happened to her at Camp Red Lake and turned it into something that could help other women who had survived violence. And she's the one we lose first?! I was pissed.

Another mass-casualty event takes place at Camp Red Lake, with Stephanie Fugate introduced as the survivor. Then Adrienne dies. Her death obviously scares everyone... and I completely understand why. If someone managed to kill another Final Girl, there's a possibility the rest of them could be next. But then everybody basically goes home.

Hello, y’all have been meeting for sixteen years dreading this exact moment, and no one is prepared. Where is the emergency plan?! Nobody ever said, “Hey, just in case shit goes down again, maybe we should have a plan?”

A meeting place? A way to contact each other? A backup number? Something?! That became one of my biggest frustrations throughout the entire book.

Lynnette

For someone so damn paranoid, Lynnette frustrated the hell out of me. This woman has been doing this for years. She has escape routes, weapons, security measures, routines, and plans for practically everything. But once shit actually starts happening, it feels like none of that preparation helps her. She can't even stay focused on getting home safely. Then she realizes her routes have been compromised. Okay...

How the hell would the killer know all of her routes?

My brain was scrambling, trying to figure out the story, which characters were supposed to represent which horror movies, and how all the articles and Reddit posts fit into everything.

I'm stubborn. And I'm usually good at spotting breadcrumbs.

But Lynnette was going off the damn rails with so many guesses and ideas about who, what, when, and where that I didn't know what to believe either. Then we learn she wrote a book including everyone, and she has her opinions on them that the killer has gotten a hold of somehow.

Woman... You obviously aren't that damn smart if you didn't upgrade your own spyware! And once she realizes she can't reach the other women, I went right back to the same question: WHY DON'T Y'ALL HAVE A BURNER PHONE?!

Julia & Russell

Then Julia shows up with Russell. And Russell is dressed like Julia's Ghostface-style killer. What the hell kind of reporter thinks this is a great way to start a relationship with someone I want to communicate with about something. You are dealing with women who survived massacres, and your plan is to show up at another Final Girl's home dressed like the killer who attacked one of them?!

Lynnette fires at him. I would've shot at his ass too! However, she realizes her cage is great, but bullets can’t pass through, and she is forced to realize this is also a cruel ploy to talk to her. He wants to talk about a book that is being written and wants to get all the details he can...in his pee pants.Then he makes a mistake; he peeks out her window. Then gunfire comes from outside, Julia and Russell are injured, and everything goes completely left. This entire first half of the novel highly irritated me.

Dr. Carol & Skye

Lynnette eventually flees to Dr. Carol's house, which also felt weird to me. Her kids are there. If you genuinely believe a killer is after you... Why are you going to your therapist's house?! They would know where she lives and who she is, too. Second, i’m not letting you stay in my house with my kids if a killer is after you. She could've gotten Lynnette a hotel or found somewhere else for her to stay.

Because if a killer really is after her, they're coming to my house!

Again, all of these characters were driving me crazy with their lack of common sense, empathy, and communication skills. Then we meet Skye. Lynnette needs his help, but she also catches him masturbating to violent porn—a red flag—and ignores it.

And she doesn't really stop to question it. But girl... then she has this weird, almost lusty phase where he reminds her of her boyfriend who was murdered; it was giving me weird vibes.

Dr. Carol is reckless and just in it for the cash grab, it seems to me. I mean, hello, the police are looking for Lynette; they would a hundred percent come to your house to look for her. They would try to contact anyone who they know she is communicating with.

Marilyn, Heather & Michelle

Lynnette eventually makes her way to Marilyn's and realizes Heather is there too. Heather's story still confused me because hers is basically the Nightmare on Elm Street story. Her killer is supernatural.

Everyone else's killers are actual people. So we have actual slashers and supernatural killers who have different sets of rules for Heather and her nightmare. So I kept wondering how exactly Heather's story worked in this universe.

Then we get Dani, who is supposed to be Laurie Strode from Halloween. I can see how possibly killing your brother, who you aren’t sure is the actual killer, could mess up your head, but she has been living off the grid with her sick wife. What was she doing that was so triggering to Skye?

And of course Marilyn is from Texas Chain Saw Massacre… This movie had my great-grandma shook when we watched it. I get it, money can buy security and safety, but the way Lynnette handles it. I was shaking my head again. That woman probably has more biometric locks and scanners in the house to keep her safe for decades. Why would she leave!!

Then we get to Michelle, Dani's wife. They take this dying woman out of hospice because they're trying to get her home to help out Dani, who is in jail.

Except... THEY DON'T KNOW WHERE DANI LIVES?! Then Michelle dies, and they leave Dani's dead wife in the park with an old man.

What!?!

They could've done many other things, especially since Marilyn obviously has money. How did leaving her dead wife in the park with an old man become the solution?! Then Heather snitches.

These women are ruthless and have no loyalty!

Lynnette's Arrest & Garrett

Then we find out the police believe Lynnette may have had something to do with what happened to her own family. We hear more of her story and learn about the letters supposedly connecting her to Ricky Walker. And the entire time I'm thinking:

WHY DOESN'T LYNNETTE HAVE A LAWYER?!

Then we learn Garrett was sleeping with her when she was a traumatized teenage girl. This completely creeped me out. Okay, based on the timeline, she is 18 not 16, when they hook up, but still… Gross.

Then what happens to Lynnette while she's in police custody was also a LOT for me to handle. At this point, my brain was struggling to suspend my disbelief. Everybody knows about the book Lynnette wrote. Nobody wants to talk to her. Her entire life is unraveling. They mock her and ridicule her because, by proximity, she is considered a police killer too now.

Garrett eventually becomes the reason she gets out of there because he knows something about the situation isn't right after saving her from a murder attempt. And I'm sitting there thinking...

WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

I was screaming at this book in frustration by this point.

Chrissy, Keith & Stephanie

Then...who the hell is Chrissy?! She is supposed to be a mash-up of Prom Night and My Bloody Valentine. And why is she batshit crazy?!

Chrissy is another Final Girl who used to be part of the group, and now she's surrounded by murder memorabilia and living with this Michael Myers-like killer named Keith. And THIS is who Lynnette is going to for answers?! My brain was close to exploding.

But this is also where Lynnette really started feeling like a different person to me. Stephanie gets pulled into everything, and Lynnette becomes determined to save her. She drives her car into Chrissy's house trying to rescue Stephanie.

And suddenly, this woman who has spent so much of the book terrified and paranoid is running directly toward danger.

I understand that she's changing. But for me, it felt like a different Lynnette. Now she needs to save Stephanie. She needs to save the other Final Girls. She's becoming the hero. And I wasn't completely buying the transition. 'Cause now she never wants to kill anybody ever again !! My Gosh Woman ..

Dani & Camp Red Lake

Eventually, they get to Dani. And Dani is angry. As she should be! Her wife is dead. Everything is falling apart. Nobody knows who to trust, and Lynnette is trying to convince everyone that she has finally figured out what is happening. Then we learn the other women are at Camp Red Lake.

And here comes another big WHAT DO YOU MEAN for me. Adrienne turned the site of her massacre into a retreat for women who survived violence. I can understand reclaiming the place where something horrible happened to you.

But...that is where another event happened! Secondly, why would people go back so quickly?

Whatever I continue … We learn Stephanie is a bad guy!! She tries to kill Dani and Lynnette and fails, but Lynnette manages to play dead and become some badass bull charging in to save everyone.

Now, upon arriving, Lynnette sees people have been killed... How did no one hear them getting shot?! WHY WOULDN'T YOU TRAIN YOUR STAFF FOR A MASS-CASUALTY EVENT?!

Everybody working there should know what to do. Where to go. How to lock everything down. How to communicate. How to protect the women staying there. Why didn't anyone activate the safety measures other than Lynnette?

Adrienne survived a massacre at this camp! I expected that place to be prepared for exactly this kind of emergency.

And then... Stephanie is working with Skye.

Lynnette gets to Camp Red Lake and stumbles into the beginning of another mass murder. She saves who she can and tries to warn the others. And once again, we're seeing this version of Lynnette who is running toward danger instead of away from it. She eventually has to fight alongside Heather to take down Skye and Stephanie, and everything finally starts coming together.

Skye manipulated and groomed Stephanie. They were behind what had been happening to the Final Girls.

Finally... Was I scared?

No.

Was I invested?

Yes.

Because after everything this book had put my brain through, I needed answers.

THAT ENDING?!

And then we get to the ending. Nope.

I understand that Stephanie was groomed and manipulated by Skye. I understand that she's also a victim. Both things can be true. But she also willingly participated in what happened. She attacked Lynnette. She attacked Dani. She helped kill her friends!

She helped Skye terrorize these women. She helped try to kill them. And then we basically end with:

Welcome to the club.

NAH.

That ending—and especially that last part—made me want to throw the book out the window.

After ALL of that?! That's where we're landing?!

I was pissed.

I’m done.

Characters

The characters were my biggest problem with this book. Not really the pacing. Not the overall idea. The characters and their decisions. And because I spent so much time frustrated with them, I didn't have as much sympathy for these characters as I probably should have.

Pacing & Story

The pacing actually wasn't my biggest problem. The first half was difficult for me to get through because I was so irritated with the characters and everything happening around them. But somewhere in the second half, the mystery finally got me.

I had to know what the hell was going on.

I'm usually good at spotting breadcrumbs, but between the articles, Reddit posts, the different Final Girl stories, Lynnette's theories, and everybody acting suspicious... I genuinely didn't know. So I have to give the book that.

Scare Factor 🔪 — 2/5

This book wasn't very scary to me. There are murders, attacks, violence, dead bodies, and plenty of horror elements. But the scenes that were supposed to scare me mostly made me frustrated. And after the reveal, some of them just pissed me off.

Emotional Impact 💔 — 1/5

I know these women survived horrible things. I felt bad for what happened to them. But I spent so much of the book irritated by their decisions that I never developed the emotional connection I expected.

Adrienne's death probably bothered me the most because she seemed like the one who had experienced the most growth and tried to do something positive with what happened to her.

Mostly this book had me rubbing my temples.

Final Verdict

⭐ 3/5

After everything, I can absolutely see why some people didn't finish this book.

But I HAD to finish it.

Would I Recommend It?

Yes—but with a warning.

A 3/5 doesn't automatically mean I think nobody else should read it. If you love Final Girls, slashers, unreliable narrators, horror-movie references, my issues may not be your issues.

Would I Read It Again?

No. Once was enough for me.

This was my first Grady Hendrix book, though, and I'm willing to give him one more book before I decide whether his writing style just isn't for me.

But The Final Girl Support Group?

We are done.

Until the next chapter,

Happy Reading,

S. J. Robinson

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