Welcome to Freakin Fridays, where I share my reviews of books that scare you, thrill you, and get those endorphins pumping.
I’ve got some thrillers to share today. Final Girls and ZOO.
Both of these were more like 3 1/2 stars but, since I don’t do half stars, I bumped them up.
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Final Girls
by Riley Sager
Genre: Mystery / Thriller
My Review
I’m always on the lookout for a new thriller and this has been making the rounds. I won a copy and dove right in.
I was pulled in by the beginning. Not so much by any action, as by the idea of this book. There’s three girls who’ve all lived through different homicidal massacres, each years apart. They are all lone survivors. All three are Final Girls.
From here, it’s predictable but still interesting. The first Final Girl dies a suspicious death and the other two girls band together for safety in numbers. Seems like a good idea. Or maybe not. One girl can’t remember her experience and the other seems to know more about it than she does. Okay, that sets up the suspense.
I’ve read a lot of thrillers. Seen a bunch of movies in the genre. So I kind of knew the formula. Even with some gruesome scenes and a twsit or two, I just wasn’t all that thrilled. Maybe it was my mood. Or perhaps I’ve been reading too many books in this genre.
I did like this book. Just never found that extra oomph to make me love it. I’d still recommend it.
4 Stars
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Synopsis
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.
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ZOO
by James Patterson
with Michael Ledwidge
Genre: Thriller
My Review
I read this back when it was first released. Actually, I won an ARC copy with three alternative covers. Pretty cool.
After reading so many books by this author I was really psyched to read Zoo. Something is affecting the animals. All of them. They rise up and turn their deadly attention on mankind. Sounds like fun to me.
And it was. I devoured it in a couple of hours.The only thing that slowed me down was pausing to savor each attack as it occurred. The character’s were okay. Liked some more than others.
I have to admit, the main reason I wanted to read this was for the horror aspect. My imagination ran wild. How and why would it happen? How many ways could humans die and from what kinds of critters. I got my answers and had some fun. What kept it from being a killer story, I’m not sure. Perhaps it bogged down in some areas. Too much character information in others. Still well worth the read.
4 Stars
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Synopsis
Once in a lifetime, a writer puts it all together. This is James Patterson’s best book ever.
Total
For 36 years, James Patterson has written unputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book that surpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born to write.
World
All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence to come becomes terrifyingly clear.
Destruction
With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it’s too late. The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will be no place left for humans to hide. With wildly inventive imagination and white-knuckle suspense that rivals Stephen King at his very best, James Patterson’s ZOO is an epic, non-stop thrill-ride from “One of the best of the best.” (TIME)
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