The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

The premise: What do you do when you are a suburban housewife and mom of two, living in a traditional suburban enclave in Charleston in the 80s, and you suspect one of your new neighbours is a vampire? This is the predicament Patricia Campbell, wife of the respected Dr Campbell, faces when a series of strange events, disappearances, and deaths, lead her to conclude the seemingly improbable, and make decisions that lead to wildly unthinkable outcomes.
The battle is never straightforward and the odds are stacked against her, even though she's white, middle-class, and what today we would consider “privileged”. But Patricia is a woman and a housewife, pitted against a suave (male) villain who becomes a rich source of investment for her husband and his friends. Her solace comes from her book club friends but even that is not a guarantee.
This modern vampire tale delivered more than just fun thrills. The housewives in the story do not hold equal power in their marriages, and Patricia's own marriage is a reflection of the inequality. Being a housewife and a mother is regarded as a second-class occupation and the husbands in the story seem to be lightyears away from male enlightenment. If the author intended to increase the ire of his female readers, then he certainly succeeded.
This was also the ‘80s and ‘90s which meant no mobile phones, very little internet, and crazy real estate deals. How the poorer, less white people featured in the story are treated highlights social inequities, but this is not a book about revolutionary change. The changes that do take place within Patricia, her group of friends, and the community they live in are incremental but menacing, and the series of events, many of them unfortunate, some of them gruesome, and a few of them truly gory, makes her re-assess her life and relationships.
Substitute vampire with drug dealer or corrupt official propped by their public facade, community support and popularity, and with levers of power at their disposal, and the premise can be transplanted to the real world, albeit with less fangs and blood.
A hugely entertaining read, providing some unexpected twists to a familiar genre.