Final Girls (Sager)

Final Girls 
Riley Sager, 2017
Penguin Publishing
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101985366


Summary
Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with five friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie–scale massacre.

In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to—a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls. Lisa, who lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam, who went up against the Sack Man during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and now Quincy, who ran bleeding through the woods to escape Pine Cottage and the man she refers to only as Him.

The three girls are all attempting to put their nightmares behind them, and, with that, one another. Despite the media's attempts, they never meet.
 
Now, Quincy is doing well—maybe even great, thanks to her Xanax prescription. She has a caring almost-fiancé, Jeff; a popular baking blog; a beautiful apartment; and a therapeutic presence in Coop, the police officer who saved her life all those years ago. Her memory won’t even allow her to recall the events of that night; the past is in the past.
 
That is, until Lisa, the first Final Girl, is found dead in her bathtub, wrists slit, and Sam, the second, appears on Quincy's doorstep. Blowing through Quincy's life like a whirlwind, Sam seems intent on making Quincy relive the past, with increasingly dire consequences, all of which makes Quincy question why Sam is really seeking her out.

And when new details about Lisa's death come to light, Quincy's life becomes a race against time as she tries to unravel Sam's truths from her lies, evade the police and hungry reporters, and, most crucially, remember what really happened at Pine Cottage, before what was started ten years ago is finished. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
Supposedly, Riley Sager is a pseudonym for an author who has published under another name. But, then again, it might not be a pseudonym at all … but rather her actual name. Riley Sager appears to be the daughter of famed sports announcer Craig Sager, who died in 2016. Riley would be one of his five children, a daughter from from his second marriage. Riley says she is a writer, editor and graphic designer, a native of Pennsylvania who now lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

The question remains: if she is a previously published author, what name has she been writing under. 'Tis a mystery. (Based on our own clever sleuthing via the Google search bar.)

Book Reviews
[An] uneven thriller debut.… Sager does a good job building suspense, but some readers may find the book’s themes of casual male power and female subservience after trauma deeply unsettling.
Publishers Weekly


The tale builds to a fantastic conclusion that will have readers thinking of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and Paula Hawkins's The Girl on the Train. Verdict: Sager (a pseudonym for a published author) is a "new" star in the making. This brilliant horror/psychological thriller will fly off the shelves. —Jason L. Steagall, Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI
Library Journal


(Starred review) An original take on a…[familiar] trope … the young woman who … lives to tell the tale.… [Even] knowing the outcome of this horrible event makes watching it unfold nerve-wracking.… Sager does an excellent job throughout of keeping the audience guessing until the final twist. A fresh voice in psychological suspense.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
(We'll add publisher questions if they're made available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Final Girls … then take off on your own:

1. How would you describe Quincy Carpenter? Do you find her sympathetic as a character? Did you opinion of her change during the course of the novel?

2. (Follow-up to Question 1) It has been 10 years after the Pine Cottage Murders, and Quincy believes she has recovered from the trauma. What suggests differently, and why does she seem unwilling to admit the murders continue to haunt her? Consider what current research suggests about the effects of trauma and survivor guilt, as well as all the ways we humans manage to repress both?

3. What do you think of Samantha Boyd and the effect she has on Quincy? Why is she so insistent that Quincy relive the past? Trace the change in Sam's behavior — the way it becomes increasingly erratic. What does it reveal about Sam?

4. What role does the media play in this story?

5. Then there is the dinner party in which everyone behaves despicably. Care to unpack that one? Consider the red wine spills and the "white fabric turning red."

6. Whom did you suspect at first? Did your suspicions turn toward Quincy herself? Sam? Joe Hannen, perhaps? Were you surprised by identity of the real killer … or see it coming?

7. The author intersperses scenes from the night of the slaughters into the narrative, most of which is told from Quincy's perspective. What effect do those scenes have on your reading of the story? Do they provide more information or heighten the suspense (even though we know the outcome)? If you're a slasher fan, how do the details of these scenes parallel other slasher movies (e.g., an isolated cabin and badly behaved, privileged teens … etc.)?

8. A number of reader and reviewer comments mention the actual writing of Final Girls, some finding it poor, clumsy, even childish. Others have given the book starred reviews, calling it "brilliant" and "well-crafted." Where do you fit into that argument?

GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers

1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?

2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened?

3. Good crime writers embed hidden clues in plain sight, slipping them in casually, almost in passing. Did you pick them out, or were you...clueless? Once you've finished the book, go back to locate the clues hidden in plain sight. How skillful was the author in burying them?

4. Good crime writers also tease us with red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray? Does your author try to throw you off track? If so, were you tripped up?

5. Talk about the twists & turns—those surprising plot developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray.

1. Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense?
2. Are they plausible or implausible?
3. Do they feel forced and gratuitous—inserted merely to extend the story?

6. Does the author ratchet up the suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? A what point does the suspense start to build? Where does it climax...then perhaps start rising again?

7. A good ending is essential in any mystery or crime thriller: it should ease up on tension, answer questions, and tidy up loose ends. Does the ending accomplish those goals?

1. Is the conclusion probable or believable?
2. Is it organic, growing out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 3)?
3. Or does the ending come out of the blue, feeling forced or tacked-on?
4. Perhaps it's too predictable.
5. Can you envision a different or better ending?

8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?

9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?

(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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