Final Girls: A Novel

Tina Stone is the secondary protagonist of Final Girls. While following her own emotional arc to exonerate Joe Hannen, she functions as a catalyst for Quincy’s journey, forcing her to confront the difficult emotions of her trauma at Pine Cottage. Sager allows Tina to fulfill this role by characterizing Tina as the counterpoint to Quincy. While Quincy enjoys the relative privilege of her fame to carry her through her survivorship, Tina is forced to fend for herself, rejected by her mother and left without a support system apart from Joe Hannen. This makes Tina characteristically cynical. She harnesses her anger against the world, vindicating herself by fighting male abusers and committing small crimes like shoplifting.

Tina is characterized as a survivor of sexual abuse. She kills her abuser, which echoes the trope that the Final Girl defeats her overpowering antagonist by killing him. Unlike most Final Girls, however, Tina is placed in Blackthorn Psychiatric Hospital, where she experiences more sexual abuse from an orderly named Matt Cromley. This is also where she meets Joe Hannen, who empathizes with her and helps her to begin resolving her trauma. Joe’s death ironically results in Tina’s release from Blackthorn, forcing the institute to shut down. When Tina encounters her second abuser at the bar where she works, she continues her vindictive behavior by humiliating and exposing Cromley. She tries to impart the emotional impact of her behavior on Quincy, teaching her to fight back against men who are harassing women in Central Park. This underlines the theme of Women Reclaiming Agency in the Wake of Violence.

Tina puts on the guise of Samantha Boyd to infiltrate Quincy’s inner circle and gain information that will exonerate Joe. She relies heavily on her resemblance to Sam, as well as Sam’s reclusiveness, to sell the disguise. Before coming to Quincy, she tests her infiltration skills on Lisa, successfully gaining her trust for a week before Lisa sees through her façade.

One of Tina’s defining character traits is a tattoo she has on her wrist, which spells out the word “survivor.” This tattoo appeals to Quincy, encouraging herself to identify as a survivor while she continues to reject the Final Girl label. At the end of the novel, Quincy gets the same tattoo, signifying Solidarity in Survivorship.

Franklin “Coop” Cooper is ultimately revealed to be the primary antagonist of Final Girls. His true role in the narrative is not apparent until the end of the novel. He is initially presented as a sidekick to Quincy, standing as one of the pillars of her support system. His support is characterized by his frequent affirmations of Quincy’s survivorship, as well as his vigilance over her safety. These actions manifest Coop’s apparent love for Quincy, though these feelings are also a result of his skewed perspective.

Coop is introduced as an enigmatic police officer. He refuses to share details of his life with Quincy, which hints at his suspicion. It isn’t until he meets Tina that he begins to open up, revealing that he is a military veteran who served in Afghanistan. Further flashbacks reveal that Coop’s service was meant to purge himself of the shameful emotions he felt after having sex with a sexually active friend. Rather than help him, Coop’s service ultimately exacerbated his desire to inflict violence on others. Coop reveals that he lives alone in a large house, which puts emotional pressure on him to sustain his relationship with Quincy. He started killing to satisfy his urges, which are ultimately triggered when he sees Quincy running through the woods around Pine Cottage with a knife.

Coop is a master of deception and manipulation. He is revealed to have sent a threatening letter to Quincy. His intention was to make her reaffirm her relationship to him. Coop is also responsible for the death of Lisa Milner, having visited her under the pretense of sharing information about Pine Cottage. Though Coop has sexual relations with Lisa, he kills her once she suspects his true role in the Pine Cottage murders. He continues to manipulate Quincy by declaring his love for her, leveraging her unspoken feelings for him to lure her into having sex.