The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix Published by Quirk Books on April 7, 2020
Genres: Fiction / Horror, Fiction / Southern, Fiction / Thrillers / Supernatural
Pages: 408
Format: eBook
ISBN: 9781683691440Patricia 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.
First off, I have to thank (heavy on the sarcasm) Hendrix for giving me even more of a reason to hate rats. That scene was a lot, and I don’t think I’ll ever recover.
To start off, the story itself was super fascinating, and I do appreciate the note at the beginning as it gave me more grace when reading about Patricia and the other women in the not-Book Club. The beginning was strong with learning about all the people in the Old Village and specifically, Patricia and her family. The middle slowed down a bit for me. In particular, after the men confronted their wives and forced them to drop the issue. The chapters after that just annoyed me with how willing the women were to hide their heads in the sand. Yet, I was also pissed for the women for how they were being treated by their husbands. I know my brother-in-law would never act this way around his wife, but if he did, he’d definitely be sleeping outside the house.
The ending was satisfying for how James was dealt with but also for finally getting to that point. There were multiple points in the book, I kept thinking this was the end but was mistaken.
I do want to give a shout out to Mrs. Greene. My favorite character in the story, especially with the fact that she stood up to these white women and confronted them about how they bailed when the going got tough.
Hendrix does a great job in blending in the social issues of class, race, and gender with this horror, vampire story. In the end, James even says they’ll take anyone at face value as long as he’s white and has money, and if that’s not the story of America, I don’t know what is.
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