A supernatural thriller set in South Carolina in the '90s about a women's bookclub that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious stranger who turns out to be a real monster.
Grady Hendrix published The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires in 2020 and it immediately became a New York Times bestseller. Hendrix is also a screenwriter living in New York City and his past novels have won and been nominated for several awards including the Bram Stoker Award.
His newest novel published last year takes place in his hometown of Charleston in the early 1990s where a group of women have formed a true crime book club. Patricia Campbell, the main character, has this club as her one escape. She has a mother in law with Alzheimer’s Disease that she is taking care of, a workaholic husband, and two teenage children who are absorbed in their own lives.
Soon a man by the name of James Harris enters her life and he seems perfect in every way. He is well-traveled, knowledgeable and is very good with investments. He ingratiates himself with her family and her friends. Suddenly, children are discovered missing throughout the town and Patricia eventually begins to suspect that her new friend is actually a vampire and responsible for the disappearances. She enlists her friends in the book club for help and the hunt begins to solve this strange mystery.
The author Hendrix infuses the first half of his novel with a great deal of southern humor, 90’s nostalgia, and introduces the novel’s many diverse characters. The second part of the book takes a complete turn and becomes a violent and gory horror novel. There is one scene involving a cockroach that is particularly disturbing. Despite the uneven pacing of the novel and some lackluster character development, the novel will definitely keep the reader absorbed. The plight of the main character with everyday problems thrust into this unbelievable world of vampirism and supernatural happenings is definitely well worth reading.
Availability: Book; eBook & eAudiobook in cloudLibrary Rating: **** Stars (I really liked it) Reviewer: Van, Reference Librarian
ARE YOU AND THIS BOOK A GOOD MATCH? DISCOVER MORE WITH NOVELIST APPEALS! The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
AWARDS: LibraryReads Favorites: 2020
GENRE: Horror; Southern Fiction THEME: Suburban Malaise (Characters feeling alienated, bored, or otherwise disenchanted with life struggle to understand what went wrong in their quest for the American Dream.); Vampire Menace (Garlic-challenged bloodsuckers feature prominently in these horror stories.)
STORYLINE: Intricately Plotted WRITING STYLE: Compelling CHARACTER: Large Cast of Characters
TONE: Atmospheric; Creepy; Gruesome; Menacing
LOCATION: South Carolina TIME PERIOD: 1990s
SUBJECT: Book Clubs; Good and Evil; Homemakers; Married Women; Mothers; Protectiveness in Women; Racism; Sexism; Strangers; Suburban Life; Vampires
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