Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

No Spoiler Book RevieW

Apparently, my book club and I need to up our game! We’ve been meeting for over six months and we haven’t slain one vampire. We’re a disappointment!

I requested this book, based on nothing more than the cover and the title. I knew that I just couldn’t go wrong. This book could have been tongue-in-cheek or seriously scary and I would have been happy.

As it turns out the “Guide” is traditional horror. There were parts that were disgustingly graphic and cringe worthy. I was constantly pulling up the blankets in a subconscious attempt to hide from this book. I kept telling myself I wasn’t scared and then I kept having nightmares, so one of us was wrong. 

The “Book Club” is set in the ‘90s and features a small group of stay-at-home-moms. They are all looking for a break and a chance to connect to other women in their town. So when it comes to selecting novels they opt for paperback true-crimes with lots of pictures. They may not be traditional book club selections, but they keep the Book Club turning pages and talking about books! 

When children start dying and disappearing, one of the book club members suspects her new neighbor. He certainly fits the bill of the murderers in the books they read. As the situation deteriorates, you start to question if the real villain is the vampire or the condescending and contemptuous husbands. They all dismiss and demean their wives, blaming book club for their “overactive imaginations”. Meanwhile, the Vampire gains trust by showering the families with opportunities, endearing himself to the husbands. This book is full of disturbing domestic and supernatural horror.

Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is a good choice for most fans of vampire fiction. The only vamp fans that won’t like this are readers that stick to vampire romance. To be clear, there is nothing romantic about this book. The story is dark and disturbing and would be a great option for readers of horror and paranormal mystery. If you like Stephen King you will like Grady Hendrix.    

If you need me, I’ll be reading a romance and trying to re-convince myself that vampires are sparkling gentlemanly creatures.

You may also like this list of Scientifically Proven Absolute Best Novels by Stephen King.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers of this book for allowing me advance access in exchange for this honest review.

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Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires Mood Board

Goodreads Summary

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.

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