You Read The Final Girl Support Group, Now Find Out What's Next

If you're one of the many who enjoyed July bestseller The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix, you may be screaming for more. The book has been described as an homage to and critique of slasher films like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's a story about six "final girl" survivors who form the titular group. When one of the women disappears, the others begin to realize that someone is coming for them...again. If you can't get enough of Hendrix's winning combination of tenderness and terror, try one of his other books:

• The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
• My Best Friend's Exorcism
• Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction

More Books about Final Girls

What is it about this concept of the lone female survivor that so resonates with audiences? Perhaps it's that final girl is the one who "will never, ever give up." Here are a few more final girl novels to consider:

• Final Girls by Riley Sagar: This thriller shares a lot of the same elements as Hendrix's later novel, except that in this case, the group of "final girls" are not acquainted with one another until one of them turns up dead.
• The Last Final Girl by Stephen Graham Jones: What happens in a suburban Texas high school filled with final girls? This novel has also been described as an homage to 80s slasher films.
• The Bridge by J. S. Breukelaar: For a bit of a paranormal twist, this new novel by an award-winning author centers on a young woman who is trying to reconcile her own survival over that of her twin at the hands of their demonic father.

Favorite Slasher Films

Here are some of the movies that may have inspired The Final Girl Support Group:

• Halloween (2018): Survivalist Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, shares some of the qualities of lead character Lynette Tarkington.
• Black Christmas (1974): Hendrix frequently names this Canadian film starring Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder as one of his favorites.
• Nightmare on Elm Street 3 & 4: Hendrix has praised Alice Johnson, introduced in the fourth film of the franchise, as a standout final girl.
• Friday the 13th, Part 2: Hendrix cites this film as his top choice for a franchise slasher and says the "super-cruel opening" inspired this book!

Literary Influences

When asked about literary influences, Hendrix has listed the following authors and books:

• Shirley Jackson: He described her "quiet, chilly, self-assured voice" as his "true north" and gave a shout out to her memoirs: Life Among the Savages and Raising Demons. (We would be remiss if we didn't mention the newly published book of her letters. So good!)
• True Grit by Charles Portis: Hendrix is not alone in his estimation of this classic as the "Great American Novel, full stop."
• Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd: The 1985 award-winning horror novel is often cited as a formative influence by the author.
• Vernon Lee: Hendrix believes that if more people had read her dark, fantastic ghost stories, like 1890's Hauntings, the innovative author (born Violet Paget) would have displaced her better-known male counterpart, Henry James as the master of the form.

Oh and, by the way, fans of Hendrix's books will be pleased to learn that several of them are slated for television adaptations including The Final Girl Support Group and The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. We can't wait!

Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon