Sabrina Campbell wakes up in a pool of someone’s else’s blood. She’s in the Hensley house, a disgusting, ramshackle building. She knows its horrific past but has no memory of hers, and now the doors are sealed and the windows barricaded, the gloomy halls whispering with the echoes of a decades old massacre.
As Sabrina searches for her missing friends and the medication keeping her heart beating, she discovers she is not alone. A ghoulish, masked figure stalks her from the shadows and pushes her to the edge of her physical limits. She must stay calm, think fast, and evade a killer who wants the past remembered–one victim at a time.
Not everything from the past should be remembered, but the house–the house remembers everything.
I Woke Up a Final Girl, by bestseller John Durgin, is a pulse-pounding survival horror that subverts every trope in the book. Perfect for fans of classic slashers with a high-stakes, medical twist.
If you haven’t read any of John Durgin’s books before, like me, this is a fantastic place to start. This book has some classic ‘80s/‘90s slasher horror vibes, including a strong-willed Final Girl female lead, a masked killer, slasher gore, and a creepy haunted house with no escape—PHEW!! If you love these elements, this book will check all the boxes for you! I went in completely blind, and I wasn’t expecting the story to be as unpredictable, twisty, or relentlessly paced as it was—it’s a wild ride, and there literally wasn’t a moment for me to catch my breath!
The story is told from a third-person POV, mostly following Sabrina, and alternates between two timelines (November 1 and Halloween night) that work well together to keep you constantly unsettled and guessing. On November 1, after waking up disoriented inside Hensley House with no memory of how she got there, Sabrina experiences one horror after another, and in key scenes, memories resurface from the night before, revealing how she, her best friend Lydia, Lydia’s boyfriend Duncan, and another couple, Nick and Robin, entered the abandoned house on a dare and everything that followed. Doesn’t that sound like a great setup??
I love how Sabrina’s heart condition is woven into the story to heighten the stakes and make you feel even more invested in her survival. She misplaces her medication early on and relies on it every few hours to stay alive—and you can literally feel her escalating paranoia and panic as she’s not only trying to escape a masked killer but is constantly in a race against time before her own body fails her—so expect some very nerve-wracking moments! I also loved how, in the November 1 timeline, Sabrina becomes an amateur sleuth, deciphering clues from a journal and other items in the house, determined to find a way out. As she navigates room after room, there’s an impending sense of doom in the way the scenes are written—and believe me, it’s all warranted. Dead friends, gory scenes, and sudden encounters with the masked killer, including one of the most intense cat-and-mouse chase scenes you’ll ever read, will have your heart pounding and leave you unable to put the book down!
With a small cast of characters and the story also being a closed-circle whodunnit, you’ll find yourself suspicious of everyone at different points. Add in the chilling legend of Gauze Face, the deranged son who murdered his family inside Hensley House in 1972, and the fact that the masked killer looks eerily similar to him, along with no cell service, maze-like corridors, hidden passageways, and a terrifying basement filled with horrors, and you have a slasher straight out of a classic 1980s horror film!!
The short, punchy chapters, many ending on cliffhangers, make this the perfect binge read. But with lots of gore and vividly described, graphic kill scenes (some of which are very stomach-churning), I wouldn’t recommend picking this one up right before bed. And just like in many slasher films, Sabrina and her friends make some VERY frustrating decisions, wasting valuable time or assuming the killer is dead or unconscious, only to regret it moments later—and I was literally screaming at them at times. So you need to suspend your disbelief in several scenes, but that’s all part of the fun! And in exchange, you get a wildly entertaining, heart-pounding ride with nonstop thrills. When the killer is finally revealed, there’s a major twist, but there are clues sprinkled throughout that do help you predict pieces of it. The ending has some very satisfying moments that had me wanting to pump my fist in the air, but just like every great horror movie, there’s a final scene (in the epilogue) that will have you needing more answers!
If you love Final Girl slasher stories, masked killers, haunted houses, survival horror, or books that keep you on edge the entire time, you need to add this book to your TBR!
Narrator Performance
I Woke Up a Final Girl is read by award-winning narrator Andrea Emmes. At the beginning of the story, when Sabrina wakes up disoriented and injured, unable to remember how she ended up in Hensley House, Emmes gives her a vulnerable, unsettled voice that perfectly conveys her confusion and panic. There’s also an underlying tone of resilience and determination that lets you know that she’s going to put up a fight until the very end!
Emmes narrates Sabrina’s inner monologues with dynamic expression. When she’s desperately trying to piece together her missing memories or worrying about finding her heart medication, you can literally feel the mounting paranoia in her voice. The scenes where she discovers friends mutilated, dead, or in danger, or has to suddenly hide, are all vividly narrated. As Sabrina pulls out all the stops to survive and help her friends, Emmes’ delivery brings out every emotion—fear, panic, frustration, exhaustion, and also grit and determination that make you REALLY root for her!
The Halloween night memory flashbacks are a major highlight. Emmes gives each member of the friend group a distinct voice and personality. Sabrina’s best friend, Lydia, is given a confident, sarcastic voice, and the delivery makes it clear how she downplays the danger, making you sense that she could be an easy target. During the car ride and when the group first get settled in Hensley House, Emmes does a great job conveying their banter, teenage angst, and underlying tension between the friends that quickly made me suspicious of everyone!
Once the intense cat-and-mouse chase begins, Emmes’ performance really shines. Sabrina narrowly escaping capture and literally fighting off the killer is voiced with a level of urgency and terror that had me completely on edge. After the killer is revealed and the stakes become higher, Emmes elevates her performance even more. Her portrayal of Sabrina becomes fiercer and more determined, capturing someone willing to do anything to survive. The final chapters are the most intense, and I was holding my breath. The epilogue has a sudden shift in tone that feels like a breath of fresh air, but the final lines are delivered with an intensity that will leave you unsettled—the perfect ending to a wild ride that Emmes’ performance delivers!
If you’re looking for an intense thriller, love Final Girl stories, and creepy houses, I can’t recommend this audiobook enough! It’s wildly entertaining and true horror fans won’t soon forget it!
Narrator Performance
I Woke Up a Final Girl is read by award-winning narrator Andrea Emmes. At the beginning of the story, when Sabrina wakes up disoriented and injured, unable to remember how she ended up in Hensley House, Emmes gives her a vulnerable, unsettled voice that perfectly conveys her confusion and panic. There’s also an underlying tone of resilience and determination that lets you know that she’s going to put up a fight until the very end!
Emmes narrates Sabrina’s inner monologues with dynamic expression. When she’s desperately trying to piece together her missing memories or worrying about finding her heart medication, you can literally feel the mounting paranoia in her voice. The scenes where she discovers friends mutilated, dead, or in danger, or has to suddenly hide, are all vividly narrated. As Sabrina pulls out all the stops to survive and help her friends, Emmes’ delivery brings out every emotion—fear, panic, frustration, exhaustion, and also grit and determination that make you REALLY root for her!
The Halloween night memory flashbacks are a major highlight. Emmes gives each member of the friend group a distinct voice and personality. Sabrina’s best friend, Lydia, is given a confident, sarcastic voice, and the delivery makes it clear how she downplays the danger, making you sense that she could be an easy target. During the car ride and when the group first get settled in Hensley House, Emmes does a great job conveying their banter, teenage angst, and underlying tension between the friends that quickly made me suspicious of everyone!
Once the intense cat-and-mouse chase begins, Emmes’ performance really shines. Sabrina narrowly escaping capture and literally fighting off the killer is voiced with a level of urgency and terror that had me completely on edge. After the killer is revealed and the stakes become higher, Emmes elevates her performance even more. Her portrayal of Sabrina becomes fiercer and more determined, capturing someone willing to do anything to survive. The final chapters are the most intense, and I was holding my breath. The epilogue has a sudden shift in tone that feels like a breath of fresh air, but the final lines are delivered with an intensity that will leave you unsettled—the perfect ending to a wild ride that Emmes’ performance delivers!
If you’re looking for an intense thriller, love Final Girl stories, and creepy houses, I can’t recommend this audiobook enough! It’s wildly entertaining and true horror fans won’t soon forget it!
I Woke Up a Final Girl is read by award-winning narrator Andrea Emmes. At the beginning of the story, when Sabrina wakes up disoriented and injured, unable to remember how she ended up in Hensley House, Emmes gives her a vulnerable, unsettled voice that perfectly conveys her confusion and panic. There’s also an underlying tone of resilience and determination that lets you know that she’s going to put up a fight until the very end!
Emmes narrates Sabrina’s inner monologues with dynamic expression. When she’s desperately trying to piece together her missing memories or worrying about finding her heart medication, you can literally feel the mounting paranoia in her voice. The scenes where she discovers friends mutilated, dead, or in danger, or has to suddenly hide, are all vividly narrated. As Sabrina pulls out all the stops to survive and help her friends, Emmes’ delivery brings out every emotion—fear, panic, frustration, exhaustion, and also grit and determination that make you REALLY root for her!
The Halloween night memory flashbacks are a major highlight. Emmes gives each member of the friend group a distinct voice and personality. Sabrina’s best friend, Lydia, is given a confident, sarcastic voice, and the delivery makes it clear how she downplays the danger, making you sense that she could be an easy target. During the car ride and when the group first get settled in Hensley House, Emmes does a great job conveying their banter, teenage angst, and underlying tension between the friends that quickly made me suspicious of everyone!
Once the intense cat-and-mouse chase begins, Emmes’ performance really shines. Sabrina narrowly escaping capture and literally fighting off the killer is voiced with a level of urgency and terror that had me completely on edge. After the killer is revealed and the stakes become higher, Emmes elevates her performance even more. Her portrayal of Sabrina becomes fiercer and more determined, capturing someone willing to do anything to survive. The final chapters are the most intense, and I was holding my breath. The epilogue has a sudden shift in tone that feels like a breath of fresh air, but the final lines are delivered with an intensity that will leave you unsettled—the perfect ending to a wild ride that Emmes’ performance delivers!
If you’re looking for an intense thriller, love Final Girl stories, and creepy houses, I can’t recommend this audiobook enough! It’s wildly entertaining and true horror fans won’t soon forget it!
