The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Hendrix, Grady. The Final Girl Support Group. Berkley, July 13, 2021. Kindle.

In the horror/thriller novel The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix, final girl Lynnette Tarkington is too scared to live after she survived two attacks on herself and her family. The only thing that helps Lynnette hold herself together is a support group composed of other final girls who have survived horrific massacres. When someone begins coming after these final girls, Lynnette’s world starts to collapse. At first, she blames herself for what is happening to her friends. Then, she realizes that she has the power she needs to save her friends.

During a meeting of the final girl support group, the girls bicker about whether or not they should provide snacks. Conditions in the support group have deteriorated so badly that Dr. Carol Elliott, the group's founder and leader, has considered terminating the group. The girls’ bickering comes to an end when they learn that Adrienne Butler has been killed in her home.

After the meeting, Lynnette returns to her apartment where she receives an unexpected visit from Julia Campbell, another final girl, and Russell Thorne, a journalist with whom Lynnette had once considered writing a book. A sniper opens fire on the apartment, killing Russell and injuring Julia.

Lynnette’s panic takes control of her and she runs from her apartment. She discovers the escape car that she had stored in a nearby parking garage has had all of its tires slashed. Her second escape option, a storage locker with a good deal of cash and fake IDs, has also been compromised.

Lynnette is determined that someone is targeting the final girls. Since she has no place else to go, Lynnette calls Carol. Carol convinces Lynnette to stay with her for the night and suggests that she go to the police with her suspicions. Lynnette pays Skye, Carol’s adult son, to take her back to her apartment to retrieve her computer’s hard drive, which she had stored behind a hidden panel so the police could not find it when they searched her apartment. The book Lynnette wrote about the support group is stored on that hard drive. She does not want anyone to find it.

Lynnette has Skye drop her off near the estate of Marilyn Torres, a final girl who married rich. Marilyn is throwing a fundraising party, and she does not want to be disturbed by Lynnette. She has her security guards put Lynnette in her guest house with Heather, another member of the support group who is known for her drug and alcohol addiction.

The halfway house where Heather lived burned to the ground the previous night. Some believed Heather started the fire, but Heather claims to Lynnette that she had been passed out drunk in the nearby woods. The next morning, Lynnette tries to convince Marilyn that none of the final girls are safe. Lynnette insists that they go and check on Michelle, who has been moved to hospice because her wife, Dani, a final girl, was arrested and put in jail.

At the hospice where Michelle is dying of cancer, Heather and Lynnette watch a news broadcast in which Garrett P. Cannon, the sheriff’s officer who investigated the massacres in which Lynnette was involved, announces there is new information in Lynnette’s case and that warrants are out for her arrest.

Meanwhile, Heather and Lynnette decide to take Michelle out of hospice so she can die at home. They convince Marilyn to help them. Once they have Michelle in the car, however, they realize none of them knows where the ranch where Michelle and Dani live is located. Michelle is too weak to tell them. They take Michelle to a park where she is at least outside when she dies.

The police confront Lynnette at the park, and she is arrested. Lynnette realizes that Heather contacted the police and turned her in. At the jail, Lynnette learns that someone turned in the letters that she wrote to Ricky Walker, the man who killed her family. Lynnette was assigned to write letters to Ricky as a school project and the two continued to communicate for years. Among the real letters are some that have been forged. These letters suggest that Lynnette and Ricky had a sexual relationship and that Lynnette asked Ricky to kill her family.

A police officer who was a fan of Lynnette and the final girls tries to kill her, hoping for fame. Garrett uses this attack as an excuse that Lynnette is not safe in the Los Angeles prison and moves her. Garrett, who exploited Lynnette after her attacks, had realized something was not right about the sudden appearance of the letters. He lets Lynnette go free so she can find out who is behind the attacks on the final girls.

Lynnette’s first move is to go to the home of Stephanie Fugate, the most recent final girl. Lynnette believed she would have to kidnap Stephanie, but Stephanie goes with her willingly, even though her parents do not trust Lynnette.

Lynnette next heads the home of Chrissy Mercer, a final girl who has betrayed the other final girls by helping the men who hurt them. Chrissy has put together a museum of items from each of the girls’ attacks. Chrissy makes Lynnette tour the museum before she talks to her about her own suspicions concerning what is happening.

Chrissy has been acting as a middleman between a buyer with the email tag Orchomenus and Billy Walker, Ricky’s brother. The two men included a series of numbers with each of their letters to each other which Chrissy had determined was a book code. The two brokered a deal that Billy would tell the police about the letters Lynnette had written to Ricky.

While Chrissy and Lynnette are talking, Chrissy’s partner, Keith, finds Stephanie wandering the property. She had promised to come to look for Lynnette if she did not return to the car in a set amount of time. Keith wants to keep and torture Stephanie. Chrissy makes it appear she plans to allow Keith to hurt Stephanie. Lynnette runs for her car and drives the car into Chrissy’s house, killing Chrissy and stunning Keith. She and Stephanie are able to escape, but Lynnette is so disturbed by the thought that she killed someone that she swears she will never kill again.

Stephanie and Lynnette drive to Dani’s ranch where Lynnette convinces Dani to help her and Stephanie save the other final girls. They drive to Red Lake Camp, a retreat Adrienne created for female survivors of violence. Near the entrance, Dani leaves Stephanie and Lynnette alone so she can use the bathroom. Stephanie shoots Lynnette in the back of the head and then shoots Dani, badly injuring her.

Because Lynnette has a steel plate in the back of her head from a previous attack, she is not killed by the gunshot. She follows Stephanie, hoping to keep her from hurting the other final girls. On the property of the camp, Lynnette discovers a person dressed in tactical gear with a semi-automatic weapon. She distracts this shooter by running from him and drawing his attention away from the other girls. When Lynnette is face-to-face with the shooter, she realizes the man intent on killing all the final girls is Skye. He befriended Stephanie to help him in his mission. Both Skye and Stephanie are arrested by the police.

As Lynnette, Dani, and the others are beginning to heal from their injuries, they meet with Julia and Marilyn at the prison where Stephanie is incarcerated. Even though Stephanie tried to kill them, Lynnette reasons she is still a final girl because she was manipulated by a man and used to kill other women. Lynnette believes that giving Stephanie a chance to take advantage of their support is the right thing to do.