Book Review: "The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires" by Grady Hendrix
“The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires”
Synopsis: Patricia Campbell's life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she's always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they're as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families.
One evening after book club, Patricia is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing the neighbor's handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn't felt in years. But when children on the other side of town go missing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. The real problem? James is a monster of a different kind--and Patricia has already invited him in.
Little by little, James will insinuate himself into Patricia's life and try to take everything she took for granted--including the book club--but she won't surrender without a fight in this blood-soaked tale of neighborly kindness gone wrong—Quirk Books
Rating (out of 5): 4.25
Review: Elizabeth lent me this book, thinking I might be the one of us to enjoy this the most: while I don’t love creatures, I love a good horror story, and I truly enjoy being scared. I also have some trepidation about men writing women’s stories (with many notable exceptions), but I found this book to be surprising in so many ways.
For those of us with Southern roots, so many characters in this book are immediately recognizable. The syrupy sweetness and hospitality, behind which hides some serious venom, are absolutely dripping from many of the characters.
The book begins with a violent attack that brings a handsome and mysterious stranger James into our heroine Patricia’s life. When stranger and more supernatural occurings start accruing, Patricia’s suspicion of James is summarily dismissed by her husband and most of her friends. This is where the true genius of the book lies: this is a vampire story about the patriarchy.
This book ends up being political to its core, in an entirely unexpected and delightful way. The gaslighting that the women of the book club endure is endemic and infuriating. The racism and inequality highlighted (a subplot will remind you of the Atlanta Child Murders), is equally enraging.
The book ends up with quiet triumph. For all its handling of deeply politically charged social issues, the book is also a lot of rolicking fun, very funny, and extremely suspenseful. It was not at all what I expected, and I mean that in the best possible way.
TL;DR: A read you will speed through that will charm, scare, enrage, and delight you.
If you liked this; try:
“Horrorstor” by Grady Hendrix (Bookshop | Kindle)
“Jesus Saves” by Darcey Steinke (Bookshop | Kindle)
“The Shining” by Stephen King (Bookshop | Kindle)
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