The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

3.5 Stars

I had heard of this one on several BookTubes. Found it at a used bookstore and picked it up. It was a decent book, not as good as the hype I heard though.

This book was slow moving but somehow still a page turner. Nothing like a normal vampire book although I kind of like the eccentricity of it. I'd rather read a “monster” vampire book instead of a “Twilight” vampire book and this is like a serial killer typer vampire book. Worth the read but more than likely has no reread potential.

From the title I thought it was going to be a quirky story about housewives banding together to kill off a vampire (or something like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) but honestly this was straight up a horror book.

Giving it a 4/5 because although it made my skin crawl and I never want to read it again, it wasn't poorly written and if you're a horror fan you might enjoy it (definitely not me!!)

The book just seems like another book club group get together but about 25 percent in it changes into a supernatural book. Really loved the world building in this. The “vampire” is a bit different from what you would expect.
Pamela is a southern woman just looking to connect with other book lovers only she really hates the books that are being picked by their group leader. She and some other members branch off and make their own bookclub which is very successful. This is set in the early 1990's but it seems much earlier than that to me. more like the '70s.
I really did enjoy this book very much.

My favourite book in this spooky season. It has eeeverything for achieving perfection: an awesome housewife true crime book club, a bunch of badass mothers and a develish vampire.

OH MY GOD THIS BOOK WAS INTENSE! Yes, I loved this book. If you're in a reading slump, read this. But beware, this is only for those who enjoy a good horror tale. So, in chapter one, I took it as a good sign that I laughed aloud at least once. By the end of chapter two I was digging the main character, Patricia, a housewife in a small town in South Carolina. The story is set in the early 90s, which means no cell phones. The story moves along so fast and the tension can be such that you need to book the book down every now and then just to think to yourself, Oh God, No, this is bad! What are you doing, Patricia?! And it can suddenly get both super scary and super gruesome. Bloody finish too. Excellent vampire story.

2.5 stars

3.5

Men are just the absolute worst.

It took a bit to get into but in the end I enjoyed it.
I liked how it showed the struggles of maintaining suburban societal standards and the often overlooked struggles of housewives. Plus I always appreciate books that live up to ‘boys are dumb and men are trash'

This was FUCKED. Really. Especially fucked when the whole setting and everything about it is so damn normal.

Patricia is a normal housewife in the South, right? She does normal things, takes care of her mother-in-law with dementia, has two kids. Her husband is a doctor, so they are a bit of a big-ish deal and life works out fine.
Of course she needs some fun and that comes in the shape of a book club with a bunch of other, very different women, from tough farmer wife to super Christian do-gooder. The five of them are united by their love of true crime books, which is a bit naughty, but hey, let them have fun.
Then a new man movies into the neighbourhood and shit gets weird. Is Patricia going crazy and imagining that James is a vampire or did things go weird completely?

That is the most interesting thing about this; it plays out through a number of years and it's a slow thing to go from a new guy moving in to... dealing with the vampire. I knew for a fact this is about a vampire, it's in the damn title of the thing and I still got this weird feeling that I just want things to go back to normal.

The mystery wan't the fact if the guy is a vampire, it was more like a gradual building of pressure that eventually became just obvious facts.
I also expected the characters' relationships to be rock solid from the get go and it was refreshing to see something else. It took them effort to reach that point and that was good.

Overall, this was a good read. Messed up, but I'm still interested in reading more from this authot. Which is nice?

This was a wild ride! The story at times made me cringe, hold my breath, laugh out loud, picture people I know, and clench my jaw in anger, but it was a great book to get lost in! In addition to be a very readable book, there are so many things to discuss that it would make a great book club choice.

some scenes in this were VERY difficult to read, and wow i could not stand some of the characters sometimes, but i think that's pretty accurate to real life, and that was the point lol. super satisfying ending!

This is a very unique, disturbing story.
This society is racist, misogynist and obnoxious. The society quick acceptance of a stranger white rich dude speaks for itself.
The writing was captivating and I was intrigued by the plot. It had its slow moments but overall I enjoyed the progression of the plot. It was hard to read at some points because these characters were so freaking annoying.
If you're looking for a inclusive, well balanced society and likable characters, this isn't the book for that.
I think it was interesting and disturbing how the author chose to portray the society's racial and social class dual standards.
It's gory and creepy and it made my skin crawl. There are a lot of trigger warnings.
TW:racism, rape, sexual abuse, murder, misogyny, suicide, domestic violence, gaslighting

I liked parts of this book, but overall it disappointed me. The little flairs to remind you the book is set in the 90s are pretty cute. Some of the scares really worked for me (there is a scene where the main character is trying to escape a location without being seen that is both so tense and SO gross, and I'm not usually squeamish), and the idea of a vampire that is hunger personified (he just always wants more no matter what) was interesting. When the book club finally gets together for the plan I had been waiting for the entire book, it's great. The intro mentioned that the book is kind of a tribute to the author's mom and I could really feel it in those moments.

I appreciate what the author was trying to do with the Mrs. Greene character and the vampire going after children he thinks won't be missed but the execution didn't really work for me. Mrs. Greene had to take charge of everything all the time and it basically circled around from her being part of the team to her having to coddle and take care of all the white characters. The women in the book club were thinly drawn and not very interesting. I only finished the book a couple of hours ago and I can only remember that Slick is religious, one is named Kitty, one wears whimsical sweaters and Grace is the biggest jerk. Patricia is a huge doormat and the husbands are universally terrible. It was weird to me that the parents weren't more concerned with their son's nazi obsession, aside from it being mildly embarrassing in public.

My biggest negative though is the use of rape in this book. It really feels like it's just there for the shock scenes, and the way the women's (and girls') bodies are described during those scenes is really voyeuristic and weird. The worst of the rape scenes takes place off-screen and the author STILL manages to describe the victim's breasts and the state of her pubic hair. What happens to the character afterward is also weird and felt pointless.

Southern housewives in the 90s form a book club to read true crime novels and end up fighting a vampire in their neighborhood. What a fun ride!

Patricia is a housewife consumed by taking care of her husband and children. To bring some entertainment and friendship into her life, she joins a book club with other housewives and reads books about serial killers. When a stranger comes to town and bad things begin to happen to children, Patricia becomes convinced this stranger is evil and must be stopped. So she sets out on a mission to discover the truth and convince her friends that this man must be stopped no matter the cost.

The characters in this book are representations of the stereotype of the southern housewife. As such, they are quite entertaining, especially if you are from the south and can relate to some of their eccentricities. However, they do feel a bit more like housewives from the 50s than from the 90s. They are very dependent on their husbands and quite obedient, which is frustrating to read as an independent woman in current times. They do grow as the story progresses, though, and learn to stand up a bit more for themselves.

The plot of this story is the highlight. It's a bit like Buffy the Vampire Slayer but with southern manners and housewives instead of angsty teenagers. There are hints and clues throughout the beginning of the book that there is a vampire in town, and as a reader you are just itching for the women to put the clues together and take action. There are both humorous and gruesome events in the plot allowing the reader some time to relax between the tenser sections of the book.

Overall, reading this book was a fun, wild ride. I enjoyed every minute of it. Yes, it has some stereotypes that are a bit frustrating and it does not do a great job with black representation. That's why it's a 4 star read for me. I would recommend this book to fans of Southern Gothic writing and anyone just looking for a good time reading a vampire hunting story.

1 stars.

It was bad. I thought it was supposed to be a horror book. Not very horrifying. Aside rom the “eating” aspect which is just an atrocity. I don't really understand how it was nominated for Good Reads choice horror? This is my first “horror” book, so I'd love some recs down below if you have any.

The characters were OK. Patricia was mousy and finally grew a spine by the end of the book but even then not really, because her friends cleaned up her mess. The whole description of how Jim “ate” his victims was just bizarre.

Overall gonna be a fuck no from me.

Entertaining and fast read with many disturbing, chilling and creepy moments. There were some good aspects and bad aspects of this book but it actually got better as it went along.

It was also surprisingly funny with quirky bits of dialogue:

“I am not sure what the appropriate gesture is to make toward the family of the woman who bit off your ear, but if you felt absolutely compelled, I certainly wouldn't take food.”

The title to me implied that a book club would be working together to fight vampires. That's not what happened. Instead, most of the book is about gaslighting Patricia. Patricia is a character to empathize with and root for in her struggle to free her family and town of their evil neighbor. Her fellow book-clubbers unfortunately put their fears of their husbands, fears for their personal security, and fear of public opinion in front of protecting the children of their town. Things went bad for Patricia, but it kept me reading, hoping she was going to be vindicated.

Now the not so good things.

The Messages about the wrongs of Racism, Sexism, and Classism from the book were far from subtle. Hendrix doesn't trust the reader to be smart enough to come to any conclusions on their own. There is evil in putting your own financial and social standing above all else, while allowing disadvantaged people to be exploited and destroyed. Unfortunately, it's not left for the reader to think about these evils in the character's actions. Instead, it is overtly said, words stating the obvious put right into the characters mouths:

“Then again, I moved here because you people are all so stupid,” he said. “You'll take anyone at face value as long as he's white and has money.”

I also thought the stupidity and egotism of the Husbands Who Don't Listen was weak. The worst of them cheat and abuse their wives either physically or emotionally and the best of them are shallow and clueless. Not one book club member is in a good marriage, and to me it feels like a device used to make the men jackasses in order to elevate the women. Hendrix is yet another writer who doesn't trust that a female character can be written as resourceful, brave, and layered without also diminishing the men.

This book was fun and exciting but could have been so much more if Hendrix had faith in the intelligence of his audience.

This book was the choice for a book club that I am in on Facebook. I was immediately intrigued by the cover, and colors of the book. It's eye-catching. This is my first Grady Hendrix book and I adore the authors writing style. There is no lack of detail and the story sunk me in. It was a quick read and I enjoyed every part of it except the ending. The ending came up a bit dry for me but in defense of the author, I'm picky with endings. I enjoyed the book so much I went out and bought a copy for my shelves.

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.

Dear GOD, I am so glad that this book is FINALLY over. What an absolute waste of a good story and excellent characters!! I am so disappointed in this book. First, I gave it 2 stars: 1 for the awesome beginning (I listened to this book and I believe that it was 13 hours, so the first 3-4 hours were great). Another star was for the ending, because it wasn't awful (it could be because that meant the book was finally over and I didn't have to listen to it anymore, but we will give the benefit of the doubt.) The good ending was about 1-2 hours. That leaves 7-9 hours of absolute GARBAGE. I felt like I was listening to the same chapter over and over and over again. I don't know if it just me and my feminist disposition, or not having grown up in the south, but these women were SO afraid of their husbands and their husbands controlled their lives!! Like they had no opinion?? Like they didn't matter but were just baby machines who also conveniently cleaned the house and cooked and let them do whatever they wanted while they cheated and gave them STDs and didn't care?? SO INFURIATING. I hate this. I feel so bad for the women of this part of the country. That seems like actual hell. Anyways, I guess there was a dude who was a vampire but he was really just a sexual satist and rapist so what's worse? Id say the rape. Anyways. this was so bad. I was gonna read her other book but I'm not going to bother now. Game over dude. RIP.

Read via audiobook

Perfect.

“‘We're a book club,' Maryellen said. ‘What are we supposed to do? Read him to death? Use strong language?'”

It's a return to the neighborhood of My Best Friend's Exorcism, and I want even more, thank you, Grady.

This book was super entertaining and engulfing, and did a fantastic job making social commentary that was empathetic and not heavy-handed. I thought it did a great job painting a picture of the ways white women both experience oppression and enact it upon Black people. The plot was enthralling and it was a great supernatural thriller on top of the work delving into privilege and injustice.

As a note, from the title and cover I expected it to be a lot lighter than it was - there were many heavy and devastating scenes and issues. It's not just a quick and easy, cheeky thriller. It's about whiteness and racial oppression, as well as gaslighting and controlling spouses. CN for rape and domestic abuse.

This is the the first Grady Hendrix book that I've read, and I loved it.
This follows a group of suburban housewives in a book club. Their lives seem pretty scheduled and routine, until a stranger moves into their quiet neighborhood.
James Harris is handsome, smart, and charming. He's also a monster.

This is very different from what I usually read so I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it, but it was a nice surprise. I didn't want to put it down. I listened to most of it, and Bahni Turpin is one of my favorite narrators. I loved the characters. I also loved how the women finally took control after obeying their husbands for far too long. I'm excited to read more from this author.