I love to read about the South, so I did enjoy this book. However, it did have a few social justice elements that took me out of the book and into a political sphere. This is my first Gray Hendrix book and I'm not a vampire person (I selected the book because of the Southern element) but I still found it interesting even though I'm a bit squeamish.

"The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires" was another interesting book from author Grady Hendrix. Not sure I enjoyed it as much as his previous other novels, but it wasn't bad--a 1980s southern version of Dracula.

Grady Hendrix does it once again, continuing his streak of outstanding novels. Each one is better than the last, and Hendrix hits a truly high mark here.

The story takes us through the late 80s and 90s as we follow the adventures of a small book club of housewives and mothers as they are forced to deal with not only their patronizing husbands, but an incredibly mysterious stranger in their town who may just be an undead monster.

Hendrix has an unnerving way with words. He's one of a very few authors whose writing can evoke a physical response in me. Generally that's disgust, evidenced brilliantly here in a scene involving bugs that had my skin crawling. This time around it also happened to be tears as a late chapter broke my damn heart. It clearly shows how his writing gets continuously better over time.

Also captured perfectly here are the relationships between friends and family, with all the dirty secrets of life laid bare. The things we may not even want to admit to ourselves are on display in this novel.

Of course Hendrix is able to twist things we think we may know about monsters into something entirely new. He never fails to surprise me. It's no different here. If you've read any Hendrix novel before, this is an easy one to pick up. You'll be getting another fantastic story, so do yourself a favor and grab this one as soon as possible.

The premise of this book completely sold me. A ladies book club taking on vampires? Yes. Sign me up. But there was more to it than I expected, and I’d like to go back and read more of this author’s books now.

The story begins by introducing us to Patricia, who we can’t help but immediately like. She didn’t read the classic novel assigned for book club, and she is found out and shamed by the club’s uptight leader. Several members, tired of pretending to read boring classics decide to defect and start their own book club dedicated to reading true crime and mysteries. This small group of ladies spend hours discussing gruesome murders and serial killers, and perhaps this is why they are perfectly suited to be on the frontline when a monster takes up residence in their posh Charleston neighborhood.

There were some gruesome moments that I wasn’t quite expecting, but I had trouble putting this book down.

Grady Hendrix is becoming the king of quirky horror novels that both amuse and terrify. Just look at his titles! The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is his latest novel, delving into the world of vampires, and it does not disappoint.

For one, Mr. Hendrix does not stick to the tried-and-true vampiric myth. His vampires are a cross between Dracula and The Strain. However, he does add his own special twist to make things even more complicated for our hapless heroines.

Described as Steel Magnolias meets Dracula, you expect strong female characters. What I found surprising was that the story has a surprising amount of anti-sexist, anti-racist elements to it. Half of Patricia's battle against the vampire invading her neighborhood is fighting against the innate racism that existed (still exists) in Charleston in the 1980s. If crimes don't occur in wealthy, white neighborhoods, no one cares.

While tackling that social justice issue, Patricia must also deal with the sexism that is every husband in the novel. Be warned, ladies. The things they say and do are enough to make your blood boil. Patricia and her friends face everything from being told that they do not do anything when they stay at home all day to having to listen to their husbands because "they know what is best for you" to heavily hinted spousal abuse. Whatever they face, though, you know that Mr. Hendrix does not believe in what he wrote but rather created these husbands to show how wrong they are.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is not just another vampire book. It is an homage to mothers, particularly stay-at-home mothers, for they are the ones that get shit done. The book is an acknowledgment of everything mothers do for their families, no matter how hidden the actions might be. The story shows his appreciation for the lengths to which mothers will go to protect their loved ones, and it is great. Well-imagined and well-executed, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is a great read that confirms that mothers, and book clubs, rule.

Oh my god I've been waiting for such a long time to get butterflies over a book again. I'm in the biggest reading slum of my life, and although I've been making an effort to keep reading, I'm not really enjoying any of my books. The fact that I have to make AN EFFORT to read in itself is simply unbelievable. I just want to wake up, remember the amazing story I'm in the middle of and feel my body buzz with inpatient excitement to continue where I left off.

I'm so incredibly happy to say The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires brought that feeling back - it's been a few days since I've finished it and I'm still mourning the loss of pages left to tear through!! I knew Grady Hendrix was something special after reading Horrostor and My Best Friend's Exorcism a few years ago, but after this third home-run he's definitely cemented himself as one of my favourite authors.

I honestly haven't rooted for anyone as much as I was rooting for Patricia in ages, what a badass, driven, smart heroine. Think Sarah Connor but bakes cute pies and will carpool your kid to soccer practice. She was honestly such a fun person to follow around, I've loved her on every page no matter what she was doing!

Then there's the writing. Always a pleasure to sink into one of Hendrix's stories because his words just flow so smoothly - suddenly it's 2am and you haven't had any food or water in 12 hours. I'm an impatient reader who finds long build-ups tedious and need the action to keep happening or I'll lose interest (especially nowadays). The author's writing style is absolutely perfect for someone like me, he gets going and simply doesn't stop. Strap yourselves in!!

But the cherry on top is that I was scared. Like, really scared. I slept with the lights on and kept feeling like things were crawling all over me. Then I was laughing at some of the jokes before immediately getting up to make sure my window was closed again...

I was so in love with this book, I physically cannot wait to go back to work and recommend it to everyone!! Thank you so much for approving me <3

This book does not easily fit into any genre. It most easily skews to women’s fiction. While I enjoyed the book, it kept me up till midnight finishing it, I felt that the female characters in it were its weakest link. Too bad that the author did not invest more into developing their characters. Three really well developed scenes were 1) The rats, 2) The attic 3) The showdown. I received an arc copy from net galley for my honest review.

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

As soon as I read the title for Hendrix’s new book, I was hooked. Who doesn’t love the idea of a book club slaying vampires? When I started this book, I soon discovered that it was so much more than just a horror novel, depth running through every character making me love this book even more.
Patricia is a normal, everyday housewife who takes care of her children and supports her husband through his new endeavors. But that seems to be the only thing Patricia does, and raising two kids on her own is wearing her down. At least life is relatively safe in the Old Village where they live. So safe, however, that Patricia is starting to yearn for something more exciting to happen in her life. The only excitement she ever gets now is from her small book club where they regularly read books about serial killers.
Patricia’s wish for excitement gets out of hand when her elderly neighbor attacks her in her own yard. This happens about the same time the neighbor’s nephew, James Harris, moves in. Patricia wants to be friends with James Harris, but several kids have disappeared in places around the Old Village since he moved in. No one believes Patricia that he has something to do with the disappearances, but when danger comes too close to home, and to her own children, she realizes she will do anything to stop this threat, even if it means losing the trust of her book club.
The twists in this book continually shocked me. I found myself going through an array of emotions; angry that no one believed Patricia and stunned at what James Harris does. For any adult who seeks a terrific horror starring a good mother, I recommend “The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires.”

Reviewed by Bailey Day, author of “The Amazing Imagination Machine” by Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine.

Patricia Campbell has always wanted a big life, but ended up giving up her nursing career in order to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother. She now finds herself living a life that feels small. The days seem to stretch on, her children are ungrateful, she’s taking care of her ailing mother-in-law, and her husband has grown distant. Patricia’s saving grace is her book club, a group of Charleston stay-home-moms who share a mutual love for true crime and suspenseful reads. When things in their neighborhood start to get weird after the appearance of a stranger and several missing local children, the book club decides to investigate. What they find is a terrifying truth.

I absolutely adored Grady Hendrix’s book MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM and when I saw he had a new book hitting shelves, I knew I needed to get my hands on a copy as quickly as possible!

THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB’S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES is a realistic horror story made plausible through the use of an amazing cast of characters! Leading the charge of this story is Patricia Campbell, who represents the average housewife stereotype from the 1990’s. You can feel the expectations placed on Patricia by her husband, her children, and the Southern culture of Charleston, South Carolina. The day to day tensions of life in the Campbell house help to drive the plot along with Patricia’s phenomenal book club! Someone sign me up to hang out with this cast of characters!

Hendrix continually uses secondary characters to round out his stories. Without Patricia’s book club friends this story just wouldn’t have worked. There are tense and heartwarming moments between the entire cast of characters that truly work to make the story well-rounded. This book isn’t just about the creepy moments, but also about those individuals experiencing the terrors of the story. For me as a reader this type of character development and connection is truly what makes books work for me. I need to be able to relate and form bonds with those I’m reading about and that’s exactly what Hendrix provides in this book.

But what about the scares? Oh they’re there! Hendrix has quite the knack for some creepy moments in his stories and this book is nothing different in that regard. There are a lot of cringe worthy scenes, but Hendrix withholds from making anything feel over-the-top or using gore for the sake of gore. I love that there is also a mixture of comedy throughout this story that offsets the horror in a perfectly complementary manner.

If you’re looking for a mixture of dark and humor, this book needs to be on your TBR!

A huge thank you to Quirk Books for my free copy!

Fans of the supernatural and Steel Magnolias alike will love this story about a genteel group of southern ladies who come together to rid their community of the danger of a new resident in town. Really well written and I whipped right through it because I didn’t want to put it down.

This was a bit of a let down tbh. I definitely enjoyed parts of it, but other felt contrived and forced. I would have liked more of James’s story, even if it was just a prologue. I wish the women had been written as more empowered, I found myself incredibly frustrated at times at the way the women were portrayed as meek and disloyal to each other. Even though they came together in the end, I almost didn’t find that out because I was so close to throwing it on the DNF pile. I wish I could better put my finger on what was so dissatisfying about this read, but I think it’s mostly because it was a dude writing the perspective of women, I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters, that being said I think I am still going to check out his previous work as I do enjoy the late 80s, early 90s settings.

This book has been on a lot of lists so today seemed like a good day to give it a shot. I started out hating it - really hating it. The premise is a vampire moves in and the women in a local book club take him on. The women seemed vapid, crushed in spirit by their overbearing husbands and the vampire was of course preying on kids from the wrong end of town- so who cares. Ugh. Then I got it. This is no Buffy the Vampire Slayer but scathing social commentary. Turned into a scary ,fun ,slightly gruesome read that I definitely would recommend.

This is now in my top 5 books of all time, I think. And that’s saying something. I was intrigued by the premise, a suburban housewife bookclub that must defend themselves against a vampire? I mean, that’s too good to pass up. But Hendrix takes this premise to a new level, inviting us into a world of rats that destroy homes, old mother-in-laws that recognize someone from their childhood, and a good dose of gaslighting. After all, vampires don’t really exist, and come on Patricia, don’t forget to take your pills!

Honestly, many of the most chilling parts for me weren’t necessarily the classic “horror” parts. The rats coming in droves and pissing and shitting everywhere while nipping at the feet and ankles of Miss Mary and Mrs. Greene was scary. Patricia hiding in old, musty clothes in the attic, trying to stay calm as a cockroach was crawling into her ear was scary. A man on the roof in the middle of the night is scary. But her psychiatrist husband and other housewives telling her that what she knows must be a fact–because nothing else is possible and nothing else makes sense–is in fact, at best a figment of her demented imagination or at worst a lousy lie…that’s horrifying. To realize just how easily your loved ones and your community can betray you, and how you can betray them in return. Terrifying!

That being said, I would easily consider this to be a feminist horror book. Which is, again, a lot coming from me considering that a man wrote it. But how different all the women are in this book–how they combat gaslighting, racism, sexism, classism, domestic violence, hospitalization, rape, violence, threats–it’s just stunning. And, of course, the line, “Why is it always bitches?” after being called such a name is just plain gold.

Throughout all the horror that comes from having a vampire next door and having to deal with the mundane realities of nobody realizing just how much one does for their family, are well-placed nuggets of humor, especially as Patricia is raising two teenagers who want nothing more than to be independent and to not be yelled at.

I could rave about this book all day. It’s a testament to modern-day gothic, to modern horror, and to modern fiction. It’s all woven together terrifically and in a way that I think would make even Stephen King jealous. High, high praises for this one.

It was the title of this latest release from Grady Hendrix that caught my eye, and having enjoyed Horrorstör (published in 2014) I was willing to give The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires a chance.

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is set during the late 1980’s to mid 1990’s in an affluent, traditional suburb of Charleston where Patricia Campbell lives with her doctor husband, two children, and ailing mother-in-law. Her only respite from her role as a dutiful ‘southern’ wife, mother, and caregiver is her attendance at the not-really-but-kind-of monthly book club with a small group of local housewives who all defected from the Mt. Pleasant Library Guild. Instead of stuffy classics, Patricia and her friends -Grace, Slick, Kitty and Maryellen- rebel by reading a mix of true crime and popular novels, adding a frisson of excitement to their lives.

Thrills are in short supply for these five women, whom Hendrix presents as southern housewife stereotypes with good-ole-boy husbands of one type of another, so when Patricia begins to suspect a new neighbour, James Harris, is not who he seems, the book club members tentatively investigate, but James always seems to be one step ahead, and they have no idea what a monster he really is.

Accurately described as Steel Magnolias meets Dracula, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is an ambitious mashup of suspense, social commentary, horror, and satire that presents as ‘women’s fiction’.

At face value, there is so much wrong with this book, from the plethora of sexist stereotypes to the marginalisation of the PoC characters but keep in mind that it’s intentional, and it all makes a strange kind of sense. As the story develops Hendrix subtly highlights, undermines and challenges the status quo, and his female characters slowly exceed expectations.

Schlocky, subversive, clever, and dark I actually think The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires would make a fun cult movie a la The Witches of Eastwick. It’s not a bad read either.

Check me out, being all brave. I’m glad I mustered up some courage because this book ended up being surprisingly readable and at no point did I feel inclined to shove it in the freezer where it couldn’t hurt me. Think Big Little Lies meets True Blood with just a dash of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

A group of Southern housewives find distraction, friendship and a shared love of true crime in their weekly book club until one evening, Patricia Campbell is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbour, bringing the neighbour’s handsome neighbour into their lives. 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 than he seems.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and mostly compelling read that gets rather let down by, among other things, a very slow, gaslighting focused chunk in the middle that both drags and infuriates. Hendrix has taken the very popular ‘trouble in white suburbia’ trope and spiced things up not only with a horrifying predator (and some genuinely quite scary scenes) but also surprised me by touching on issues of gender, race and gentrification. Unfortunately, in some ways these weren’t handled as well as they could have been. Hendrix does engage with the problematic nature of ‘the white saviour’ but doesn’t subvert it as successfully as I think he intended, something that really isn’t helped by his treatment of POC characters in general who exclusively fill the roles of either ‘help’ or ‘victim’ and possess very little agency throughout. Unsurprisingly, from what I can gather from people brave enough to read horror regularly, there’s also a disproportionate focus on ‘the female form’ so if you like boob and pube descriptions, you’ve definitely got a whole bunch of them to choose from.

Entertaining enough that I destroyed it within a few hours but not without its issues.

Trigger warnings for both sexual assault and domestic abuse.

I was expecting this to be a campy and over the top vampire novel. What I got was a surprisingly thoughtful, nuanced and quiet vampire novel, which I really enjoyed. It tells the story of Patricia, a suburban housewife in the early 90s, trying to navigate teenage children, a workaholic husband and a neighbourhood vampire.

The Positives: The characters here are just wonderful. The ladies are so well drawn, believable and raw and the way their relationships grow and change is beautifully done. Grady Hendrix has already demonstrated his ability to nail suburban, middle class, white America in previous books, and here, he takes it to a whole new level. There is a real depth to these women and a desperation that lurks beneath the perfect exterior that is truly heartbreaking at times. I also thought that there was great commentary about the class divide in America that didn't pull any punches. Plus, you know, a vampire! There was plenty of blood on show here and some truly horrifying scenes with a cockroach that I can't ever un-see!

The Negatives: While I did love the characters, I thought that the beginning of the book was a little bit slow. When the plot really got going, this was a hugely compelling read, but it did take a beat to get there.

Overall, this was not at all what I was expecting, but I thoroughly enjoyed its depth and nuance.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I received an ARC through NetGalley from Quirk Books. As usual Grady Hendrix writes a unique and alluring horror story. I’ve read most of Grady’s books and he always lures me in to a world brimming with nostalgia. This is like Fried Green Tomatoes meets Fright Night. Patricia is a 90’s housewife in a safe suburban community who joins a book club and is looking for a little excitement in her life. Then the new neighbor starts to be interwoven into some mysterious deaths of children and Patricia wants to convince her book club that he is at fault. Maybe all her reading has made her delusional and maybe all the weird things happening are all related?

Grady is great at building worlds, tension, and especially atmosphere. This is also very much a book about relationships: family, friends, and neighbors: parents and children, husbands and wives, men and women. What the book lacks is a like-able or memorable main character. I don’t root for Patricia, but I had to keep flipping the pages to find out what happens. Some of the secondary characters are much more memorable. Still, I think this is my favorite of Grady’s books. It definitely gave me chills.

Wow, this is the best horror I've read in a long time. I wasn't sure how the two elements named in the title would come together, but they absolutely did and it was both delightful and terrifying. Hendrix did a fabulous job crafting the group of women at the center of the novel, very different people who initially come together over a shared enjoyment of true crime books but come to be a support system for one another. This book had humor, truly scary moments, commentary about gender, race, and class, and believable, multifaceted characters. I couldn't put it down.

I received a free ARC of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A true crime loving Southern book club faces off against a vampire—but is it really a vampire, or just a conglomeration of their fears and boredom?

Holy shit this was terrifying.

And I'm not talking about the vampire.

"You'd rather get stabbed forty-one times than ruin the curb appeal of your home?"


This quote should honestly be the book's subtitle, because it's oh, so true.

This book perfectly encapsulated the horrors of that interesting Southern blend of White suburbia, speculative land development and systematic racism. Of course, neither of these things exist purely in the American Southeast, but they are their their most exposed there.

Really, the vampire was the least terrifying thing about the book—ok, no not really. The creepy parts with Ann Savage and the man on the roof scene (that hand!) and the rats were horrific. But when it came to the ingratiating mundanity of a con-man in the middle of a con, the real enemy was revealed to be White men (and their wives) and the various ways they exerted power.

The vampire just exploited the system to his benefit. He preyed openly on the Black, impoverished and marginalized community that lived on the outskirts of the Old Village. First he came for their children, then he came for their homes. He literally erased their history and community and made them the scapegoats for his never-ending hunger.

And of course, the vampire used White folks' innate ability to deny everything that happened to Black people (or instead of denying, blame the victims for their fates or shrug and say, "well, what can I do about it?) until it happens to them.

Anywho, in addition to being an indictment against systematic prejudice, this is a smash against the patriarchy.

Because honestly, the husbands in this book are fucking awful.

And Patricia's husband is the worst. He's the kind of man who scrambled up from poverty, and has been in a position of power for so long that he's used to wielding it like it's nothing. He's been the smartest man in the room, and he uses his intelligence and degree in psychology to manipulate everyone around him into giving him whatever the hell he wants—and then blaming them when things go wrong.

The rest of the men are no better. The vampire reveals each of their innermost sins—lust, wrath, pride, envy, gluttony, and greed...so much greed—as he offers them everything they could ever desire and then some.

In the end, the arrogance of men will be their downfall. #spoilernotspoiler

And of course, the book reveals who the true heroes are: the Black women who reveal the danger, who do what they can to fight the power, who survive. And then who have to deal with the mess because the White women are in shambles when shit goes down.

And also because they know how to get blood out of a carpet.

Anywho, despite all these serious themes that I'm probably taking waaaaaaay out of context, this was a fantastic book. It's fucking funny (something that I don't think my review captures AT ALL), and an insightful peek into the banality and surprising rigor of the lives of Southern housewives.

I'll be honest though: I still never really figured out what Patricia did with herself all day.

I received this ARC from NetGalley for an honest review

Grady Hendrix is known for creating great works of horror, and he does it again with this one. Patricia has struggled with her family's life and social obligations for a while, but she's a good southern woman so she grins and bears it. Until she gets together with a group of ladies to start a not-a-book-club book club and reading all the true crime she can get. Suddenly she wants a little more excitement, it's not like she wants a murderer next door, but something other than wake up, get the kids together, clean the house, and wait until her husband decides he's coming home. Enter Jim Harris. Patricia meets Jim after being viciously attacked by his sick great-aunt, who passes away after biting off and eating part of Patricia's ear. Things start to become strange around the Old Village, and then when Patricia goes out to speak with Mrs. Greene her mother-in-law's caretaker after her mother is brutally attacked by marsh rats, Patricia learns that things are strange out at Six Mile also. She tries to convince her not-a-book-group friends that something is going on with Jim Harris, who all agree, until they are bend to their southern husbands' will. Patricia is the only one not willing to give up on the idea, even though she tries to do all the right things. What follows is dark, twisted, and a little disturbing. The fact that Hendrix has the evil creature go after small children, who then also do terrible things to themselves, does cause a little bit of a hesitant factor to finish the novel, but the details are quick and not extensively discussed. I didn't enjoy the Halloween night scene, and felt that it wasn't really needed for the novel, but I understood why he put it there. The ending was full of the horror, both mental and physical, that is come to be expected from Hendrix, and was an enjoyable finish to a uniquely messed up novel.

Copy provided by NetGalley.