Title: Final Boys

Author: John C. Foster

Release date: November 14th, 2025

*Huge thanks to John for sending me a digital copy of this one!*

When this book was announced, I was super stoked for it, purely because of the cover. Honestly, this is a book I’d have read no matter the description, purely because of what the cover suggests. Snow? I’m in. Skull? I’m in! Disheveled people displayed in ‘survival’ mode? I’M IN! Bloody tracks in said snow? YES, YES, I’M IN!

I have this on my ‘to buy list’ and planned on snagging it here this month in my monthly eBook budget I have. (Hey, if I didn’t have an eBook monthly budget, I’d bankrupt us faster than you could blink!) But John reached out to me to ask if I’d like a review copy and knowing I’d be buying this anyways, I agreed, wanting to get this read ASAP for him.

It’s been a number of years since John and I connected, and I’m a fan of his blend of gritty horror. Everything he writes feels like it’s written by an old private investigator smoking a cigar in a dusty office that happens to have a ghost. And I say that without any hint of suggesting John’s old!

What I liked: A group of long time friends meet up at a remote cabin in the middle of nowhere for a sort of intervention. A mental health intervention if you will. One of the friends recently attempted to take his own life, so the group decides to get together, have some laughs and some drinks, in the hopes that being their for their friend will help him.

Unbeknownst to them, the cabin lies near a small town with a mysterious past. One night, everyone disappeared. Some say madness, others a government conspiracy and others UFO’s.

On top of that, the caretaker of the place, a young woman named Lila, is just breaking free of being a member of an extreme cult called Name of God, or NOG.

Foster sets things up nicely, giving us a little bit about each of the characters – for example, the writer Jackson, who recently lost an eye. The group is rounded out nicely and we feel like we’ve known these guys forever, for better and for worse.

Soon though, things start to stack up. A storm rolls in, the story of the nearby town is revealed and, after two hunters have a run in with the group, things start to unravel.

I found myself zipping through this, even as things grow sinister, and then, after a wounded coyote arrives, the body count begins. The arrival of the coyote is a firm turning point. Up until that moment, there’s the threat of violence. A hint of things to come. And once the animal is there, the match is lit and tossed onto the kindling, a fire bursting to life.

It becomes a case of who will survive – hence the title – and we see each member fight – and often fail – to survive against what it is that’s behind this. The culprit/culprits were a lot of fun and their method of killing and decapitation made for some truly gruesome scenes.

The ending was also a ton of fun. There’s a change of location, which allows for some unique set pieces to be put into play and Foster doesn’t squander any of it.

What I didn’t like: A couple things stuck out for me. The first was that the cult element was fairly unnecessary. If it was removed completely, the story wouldn’t change and I was expecting far more from it. If you had Lila be a woman fleeing an abusive ex and they came after her, the story would play out exactly the same with Yomiel’s role.

Secondly, learning the ‘why’ of our crazy killers was fantastic, but I wished it was a bit earlier on, so that we kind of knew what the characters would be up against. Very minor, but with where it was placed in the book, it almost felt like an afterthought.

And lastly – and this one could 100% just be me missing this – but I felt like there were a few things with our characters that we never learned and that would’ve heightened the story. How did Jackson lose his eye? Why was the one character’s nickname Friar? And why did Raymond attempt to take his own life? Would’ve loved to have these discussed and re-referenced a few times as it would’ve really elevated the friendship/group element.

Why you should buy this: Look, I’m pretty much game for anything that has those check box ticks that I listed above. You have a book set in an isolated cabin in a snowstorm and people need to survive? I’m all in and if you love that stuff as well – this one is PERFECT for you!

And, if you love reading cold-weather thriller/horror novels when the snow hits or December rolls around, then this book will be right up your alley.

Foster’s delivered a high-octane, fast-paced thriller set in an isolated, storm battered world. What more could you possibly want? Oh yeah, how about crazy things that come to kill ’em all! SOLD!

This was fantastic!