Review: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Author: Grady Hendrix
Publisher: Quirk Books
Publication Date: April 2020

Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a blood-sucking fiend.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia's life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they're more likely to discuss the FBI's recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club's meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he's a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she--and her book club--are the only people standing between the monster they've invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is the third book that I have read by this author.  So far, it's the one I have liked the most.  The story takes place over about a 10 year period in the late 80s to 90s.  It's almost like a satire on suburban America in the 80s and 90s with housewives who are into true crime books and the husbands who take them for granted.  Throw in a vampire and you have one hell of a ride.

I'll start by saying this is very much and adult novel.  For anyone who liked My Best Friend's Exorcism, don't expect YA here.  There are very adult scenes in the book.  The beginning was a little slow, but necessary to build the relationship between the ladies of the book club.  The story follows Patricia and her discovery that a new neighbor isn't all he seems to be. I did like the characters and the overall story.  There were a few frustrating moments when Patricia's friends seem to turn their backs on her, despite all of her evidence.  And, I did spend a fair amount of the book wanting all of the women to just walk out on their husbands.  But the horror parts of the book more than made up for those aspects.

This is one of those books that is hard to talk about without giving anything away.  I will point out a couple of things to be aware of.  If you are in any way squeamish about bugs, there is a scene in here that will send you running for the hills.  I was SO itchy listening to it.  I should also give a couple of trigger warnings for rape and sexual assault of minors.  This IS a horror book and the author doesn't pull any punches.  I will recommend this one with the above warnings.