Final Girls: A Novel

Sager’s novel has a similar premise to the 2021 novel, The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix. Differentiate Sager and Hendrix’s approaches to the final girl as a concept. How do these approaches speak to their thematic interests as authors?

Looking into the history of the final girl trope in slasher films, which final girls are likely to have inspired the character of Quincy Carpenter? Discuss their character development across multiple films to prove your claim.

Jeff, Coop, Tina, and Lisa offer different approaches to survivor support. Which of these characters offered the most effective approach, regardless of Quincy’s response to it? Discuss by citing examples of the support they extended and how that approach might help others.

Coop subverts the traditional slasher trope by hiding his true identity until the very end of the novel. In what ways can you compare him to popular slasher villains like Freddy Kreuger, Michael Myers, or Jason Voorhees? (Do not limit yourself to the characters listed above.)

While Joe Hannen is ultimately exonerated for the Pine Cottage killings, the novel relied on damaging stereotypes about mental health and psychosis to offer him as the initial suspect for the murders. Discuss whether you feel this portrayal was necessary in the context of a thriller novel.

Putting yourself in Quincy’s shoes, how might you utilize your platform as a baking blogger to push forward an advocacy for survivor support and healing?

Discuss Quincy and Tina’s argument against Jeff’s work as a public defender. Are they justified in claiming that people like Joe Hannen, Calvin Whitmer, Stephen Leibman, and Franklin Cooper should not be entitled to an attorney?

Horror films usually rely on transgression to achieve their intended effect. Compare Quincy’s return to Pine Cottage to the experience of watching horror films. How might horror films support someone’s healing from intense or similarly transgressive experiences?