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

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

by Grady Hendrix

“This funny and fresh take on a classic tale manages to comment on gender roles, racial disparities, and white privilege all while creeping me all the way out. So good.”—Zakiya Dalila Harris, author of The Other Black Girl

Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this New York Times best-selling horror novel about a women's book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town.

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.

Reviewed by Bianca on

4 of 5 stars

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We’re a book club. What are we supposed to do? Read him to death? Use strong language?

A gory satirical horror about a women’s book club fighting against a secret vampire who has their entire town at the palm of his hand. This was mostly horror stuff, but I also really liked its underlying commentary on sexism, classism and racism. How the vampire targets the poor and black while the privileged white don’t care... how the women don’t get to make decisions for their lives and are controlled by their husbands... it’s a horror book involving a vampire but also involving the real horrors in our society.

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Reading updates

  • 9 March, 2021: Started reading
  • 15 March, 2021: Finished reading
  • 15 March, 2021: Reviewed