by Grady Hendrix

A Mystery/Thriller, 2021 by Berkley, 352 Pages 

What I Didn’t Like:

• The audiobook narrator speaks slower even than I’m used to. Not a negative, really, and absolutely won’t affect my rating. But get ready to up that audio speed for this one. 
• This is going to sound strange but the cadence of the sentence structure for this book reminds me of a children’s book. It’s a lot of simple declarative sentences back to back. I went back and looked at the Grady Hendrix books I’ve read in the past and noted the same thing. This is a weird pattern.
• For someone who pays attention to everything and is always on alert, this MC misses a lot and isn’t too bright. I felt like she was five steps behind me all the time and I was just waiting for her to catch up. 
• The reveal and ending, once the main character figured it out, moved a bit too fast. It was like she spent so long figuring it out that it was practically over before she got there. That made the pacing feel strange.

What I Did Like:

• The secrets the MC is hiding from you do their job. They keep you interested in what could be hiding and making guesses. You aren’t completely convinced you can trust this main character and that gives the whole thing a good vibe.
• The chase of this one is good. You have your own list of suspects and you mentally keep crossing them off your list as you go. 
• The nods to classic horror franchises were well placed. Obviously the author knew their audience, if you read this book you probably love slashers. So they leaned into that. 
• The ending was satisfying. You got enough answers to know what happened and I like that. 

Who Should Read This One:

• Fans of the slasher genre who always wondered what happens next for Final Girls might like this take.

My Rating: 3 Stars