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Premise

Horror fanatic, Noelle Layne, prides herself on knowing the genre inside out, from trivia, to tropes, and most of all, survival tactics. This Halloween, she’s taking her big deal horror movie club, Jump Scares, to the next level, by hosting an exclusive, in-person watch party. She’s invited her prep school’s top twelve influencers, which she hopes will gain her enough followers to launch a podcast that she can leverage into a film internship that will impress NYU. After all, she may come from money, but as a young black woman in America, she has more to prove than her classmates.

In the spirit of Jump Scares, Noelle is pulling out all the stops. She’s got plenty of treats (signature cocktails, giveaways, and a personal video message from the one and only Rhianna). As for the trick… Noelle has hired an It clown impersonator to join the party for a special game of hide and seek. But when Gage the Clown turns out to be more deranged than Pennywise himself, it’s time for Noelle to prove she’s more than a Fangirl; she’s a Final Girl… she hopes.

Full Review (SPOILERS)

The Killer

“Tell me I don’t get to be angry about a bunch of spoiled rich kids getting away with literally everything.”

Gage is a terrifying villain. He’s dressed like a clown, he’s been invited into Noelle’s home and seems to somehow know every nook and cranny of it, and the way he kills his victims is Saw-level meticulous, as each attack is elaborate, inventive, and curated. Which, of course, means this is not a random massacre of convenience; they’ve been targeted. Why? Privilege. But to be more accurate, misuse of privilege.

Admittedly, Gage becomes less scary once he begins explaining his motivation in what becomes an endless slog of a manifesto-style monologue about everything that is wrong in the world. The back and forth between Gage and Noelle offers some thoughtful social commentary about race and class, but does feel a little forced and out of place in the middle of a slasher attack.

By the end, I wanted Noelle to kill him, not just because that’s the happy ending I read Final Girl books for, but because I really, really wanted him to SHUT UP.  

The Terrible Place

My house. Home court advantage.

I liked the choice to set the book at Noelle’s own house, adding a dash of intruder horror to the plot. And being that her house is actually a secluded mansion (a-la-Ready or Not), there is a lot of space and tech to work with when it comes to weapons of convenience… something the slasher genre always relies heavily on. Noelle has an array of escape routes and back up plans, but in true horror nature, we see these fail her time and time again. The fear and isolation is furthered by a storm that essentially traps them all in the house with the killer. Cliched, for sure, but it helped keep the story going.

My one criticism is that every once in a while, Noelle had to either forget the layout or details of her house, to make the plot work. This was frustrating, and is likely the reason slashers are often set at camps and cabins and other weekend getaways.

The Weapons/Shock Value

“What are you going to do to me?” she shrieks.

“Plenty.”

Let me be clear, I don’t come to the genre for the gore, I come for the Final Girl. But I get that gore is part of the package, so if I have to endure it, I at least want it to be creative. So creative, in fact, that I may even laugh because there’s no way THAT could happen in real life (I hope). On that, this book definitely delivers.

Some of it is quite over the top, from phones at the bottom of the tub, filled with piranhas, to a last-minute save by a pet porcupine. But I also found a lot of it was legitimately disturbing (the image of Hailey and the keyboard tiles will stick with me for a while).

That said, I’m not sure how seriously the book is taking itself. Killer clown. Heroic porcupine. It’s almost parody, except when it divulges into deep contemplation on the intersection of privilege and blackness. The tonal shifts are a little jarring.

The Victims

I’ve never stopped to really consider how our professional content can be used against us personally and how being so open online gives loons like Gage unfettered access.

In a word? Ugh. Spoiled rich kids being spoiled rich kids. I can honestly say I connected zero percent with these characters. My feelings about them range from indifference to disgust, which makes them good victims. After all, no one wants to read a book about a group of promising, level-headed, altruists being sliced and diced.

They are also a diverse group. Props to Springer there because it is tough to introduce diversity into the horror genre being that most of them will inevitably be killed, and those politics can be tricky to navigate. How do you avoid harmful tropes like ‘the ”bury your gays’ or ‘the black guy dies first’ in a slasher?! You can’t; not entirely. But you can have a surprise ending where not only is the Final Girl black, but the black guy and non-binary character you thought were dead, aren’t. A happy twist that might annoy some readers, but I liked it.

I also liked that the victims are called out for their crimes of privilege, including Noelle. That’s right. Our Final Girl is by no means perfect. More on that below.

The Final Girl

“I’ve been a Final Girl all along.”

Every horror fan likes to believe they’d survive a slasher scenario. That’s why we yell at the screen or the page, insisting we know better than all the characters and the writer put together. That catharsis, however imaginary, is part of the fun. Noelle is no exception. She boasts that she would survive any horror movie, and she is unwavering in this… until Gage begins his massacre. Then, the reality sets in, and Noelle finds herself making misstep after misstep, her inner monologue brimming with insecurities over whether or not she’s cut out to make it to the credits. It’s the desire to prove herself, though, that keeps her going.

But, yes, she makes a lot of mistakes. I don’t know if this is inconsistent writing, or if Springer just wants to show how overwhelmed Noelle is. But I do know that it’s strange for a horror fanatic with an emergency go-bag stashed in her room to admit she didn’t pay attention in her self-defense class because… nails? Hair? Something silly like that.

Final Thoughts

This was a solid slasher book. Silly here and there. Bloody here and there. Overall, the book had something worth saying, even if I’d prefer it say it with a little more subtlety and nuance. I would definitely pick up another Springer horror, though. And that cover art: LOVE IT.

Note to publishers: More Final Girls of colour, please!

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Read this one? Share your own thoughts in the comments!

And for more bloody good fun, join my Final Girl Bookclub on Fable to read along with me. See you in the threads!