Review: Final Girls

Final Girls by Riley Sager
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am really struggling with whether this book deserves a 3 or 4 star rating. Usually I'll just give a 3.5 and round up, but I don't think I can in this case.
The set up in this book really grabbed my attention: Quincy, the sole survivor of a massacre in a lonely isolated vacation cabin many years ago, is one of three famous "Final Girls." These are the girls who managed to escape bloody crime scenes, take down their would-be killers, and live. But this is a group that is hard to belong to, especially it seems for Quincy. In the beginning of the story, Quincy seems to be doing well: she has a successful baking blog, a great fiance, a wonderful apartment, and a bright future. Apart from the occasional call or text to the police man who helped save her life back in college and the occasional Xanax swallowed down with grape soda, it appears as though Quincy has moved past the dark and horrific events at the cabin. But then Samantha, another "Final Girl," shows up and Lisa, the original "Final Girl," is found dead. Quincy's finely created reality begins to splinter and she is not sure what is going on, who she can trust, or whether or not she is in danger.
I enjoyed the book up to the point when Samantha showed up. It was incredibly strange to me that Quincy would just let her in her home, let her in her life, and allow her to talk Quincy into doing some highly dangerous things. I certainly didn't like Sam, and the way Quincy was acting around her made me almost start to dislike Quincy. So the middle of the book, in which Sam comes into the picture and begins influencing Quincy's spiral into deceit, drugs, alcohol, and incredibly self-destructive behavior was difficult to get through. I just kept wanting to yell her her, "What are you doing? Why are you doing this? Stop! Kick Sam out of your apartment!! How many times are you going to let someone you don't know at all talk you into abusing prescription drugs, getting drunk, and then committing various crimes?" I felt like Quincy was just being too dumb.
Then the book picked up right toward the very end. The pacing, the tension, the story...everything got interesting again all of a sudden and I had to keep reading until I got to the very last page. I did not see the ending coming at all, and the author did a great job with the red herrings at that point.
So, that's why it's hard for me to rate this book. The beginning was pretty good. The middle was boring, repetitive, and frustrating, and then the ending was great. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it or not...maybe? Just know if you can get through the middle there is a pretty good conclusion waiting for you.

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