Final Girls by Riley Sager

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Published by Dutton July 11, 2017

Genres: Fiction, Horror, Mystery, Thriller

Pages 342

Quincy Carpenter is trying to move on. In fact, life has become almost great - she has a successful baking blog, a caring and protective boyfriend, a Xanax prescription that never runs out, plenty of wine, nightmares that only happen once in a while, and she has faded from the media’s grotesque camera lens. She works to put her nightmares of ten years earlier behind her, shedding her media-dubbed title as a Final Girl much like she shed the dress soaked with the blood of her friends after they were all murdered around her. She rejects being thrown into a macabre and casually morbid club with Lisa, who lost nine of her sorority sisters to a college dropout’s butcher knife, and Sam, who single-handedly killed the Sack Man after his rampage during her shift at the Nightlight Inn that left six people dead. 

But “recovery” and “moving on” come to a standstill when one of the Final girls ends up dead, and the other shows up on Quincy’s doorstep, intent on discovering the truth. The questions become who is lying and who is telling the truth? Just what happened to Quincy and the others at Pine Cottage? And, most importantly, is what happened all those years ago actually over?

I would be lying if I said I was not at war with myself to read Riley Sager’s debut novel, between a recommendation from Stephen King, awards, and positive reviews almost everywhere it would have been easy to get swept up in the blind positivity. However nothing is ever as good as it seems, and I tried to keep a level head while reading. I was terrified that I wanted to love it and would end up bitter and hating it instead.

The Perfectionists By Sara Shepard

The Perfectionists by Sara Shepard
Published by HarperCollins on October 7 2014
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 336

Ava, Caitlin, Mackenzie, Julie, and Parker are all driven to be perfect—no matter the cost.

At first the girls think they have nothing in common, until they discover that they all hate the same person: handsome womanizer Nolan Hotchkiss, who's done things to hurt each of them. 

They come up with the perfect plan to murder Nolan—jokingly, of course. They'd never actually go through with it. But when Nolan turns up dead in the exact way they'd discussed, the girls suddenly become prime suspects in his murder. 

Only, they didn't do it. 

So who did? Unless they find the real killer, and soon, any one of them may be the next to die….

"You don't have to be good to be perfect."

At first glance, this novel seemed familiar. Very, very familiar. From the pastel cover with beautiful script writing and a group of affluent girls all hiding dirty secrets that run the risk of being discovered after they become involved in a mysterious death. However, I found I enjoyed this work much, much more.