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.

Whoah!! I’m a fan of Hendrix’s books (I’ve read every one of them) but this one quickly rose to the top as a favorite. Toted as Dracula meets Steel Magnolias or Fried Green Tomatoes, it really is the most unique of vampire tales. Hendrix took his time building up the characters, allowing readers to get a fake sense of security about this southern book club. Additionally, it pays homage to the 80s and 90s and some of the traditional vampire lore, but quickly takes off to create a truly captivating and genuinely well-developed story-line.

Those who have read Hendrix before are familiar with his satire; though it’s not as prolific in this title it certainly comes to light several times throughout. This, too, is perhaps a touch higher on the horror and gore scale (I’m not complain) so perhaps this is why I tend to favor it more than the others.

Hendrix excels and proving what I’ve been saying for years: book clubs kick ass!

All in all, a completely captivating read. Highly, highly recommended!

I absolutely loved this book. I have been a fan of Hendrix's writing from the first book of his that I read and this might actually be my new favorite.
First of all, I really connected with the setting. As someone who has spent a lot of time in Charleston, I was instantly transported back there by his descriptions. Not to mention he just nailed southern culture.
As far as the story, I loved it. I thought the pacing was great, and there were multiple points while reading where I exclaimed because of the gross out factor or just of the feeling of dread that he was able to build. I also loved his twist on vampires here. Recognizable, but still something a little different. Excellent book, 100% recommend for horror fans and fans of the vampire genre.

Everywhere I look, people are commenting about this new horror novel from Grady Hendrix. I had never read a Hendrix novel, but I head heard that they were full of terrors. With this one focusing on a Southern book club and dealing with vampires, I knew I had to check this one out.

This novel tells the story of Patricia and her friends as they form a new book club in their small South Carolina neighborhood in the early 1990s. They focus their reading on stories their husbands may not approve of, particularly true crime fiction. When a mysterious stranger moves to town and odd things begin happening, Patricia becomes suspicious of the stranger and his motives behind moving into their peaceful existence. When Patricia's suspicions fall on deaf ears, she will stop at nothing to save her friends, her family and her neighborhood from the terror that the stranger has inflicted upon them.

Ok, let me be clear- I liked this book. That said, however- this book was NOT scary. I keep seeing reviews of people saying this is the scariest book they've read in a long time. I guess its because I have read Stephen King, Thomas Harris and the like, but this book did not scare me in the least. It was a horror novel in that it had scenes of horror and focused around a chilling vampiric character. So yes, there are horror elements to the novel, but I would not necessarily classify it as a horror novel. Hendrix does a good job of developing his characters; I felt like I was a part of the book club and the ladies in it my neighbors and friends. He also did a very good job of keeping the audience in suspense, wondering whether Patricia was correct in her assumptions or whether she was losing her mind. The characters were all very likable and relatable, and Hendrix's "Southernisms" really played well throughout the story- being from the South I could relate well to these small and subtle hints.

Overall, the book was enjoyable. It did not always hold my attention- it took me several days to complete this book. However, it was a fun read and one I would recommend. Although not scary (to me), others may find this an enjoyable horror story.

This book had a Steel Magnolias vibe, which I enjoyed. Housewives who get together for a book club drew in my attention then add vampires. There were moments where I said, yuck or ew, but I enjoyed the book and found it very entertaining.

Not once has a Grady Hendrix novel disappointed me. This author manages to interweave the Deep Issues with a keen grasp of psychology and human relationships, strumming in Paranormal elements while suspending disbelief in readers [who proceed to gleefully gobble it all up]. As I recall from HORRORSTOR and MY BEST FRIEND'S EXORCISM, Mr. Hendrix is also a Past [and Present] Master at bringing the A-Game when it comes to Setting--and Setting. Another DON'T MISS!

HERE'S THE SUMMARY: Patricia and her friends are a little bored with their lives as housewives and mothers, so they start a book club to discuss true crime novels. Is it their overactive imaginations that cause them to suspect their new, handsome neighbor - or is he a serial killer preying on the children of their town?

HERE'S THE REVIEW: This book is set in the same world as My Best Friend's Exorcism but in the 1990s. Similar to Best Friends, the pace of the story is slower, but author Grady Hendrix knows when to throw in an extra piece of gore to keep you hooked.

And once again, Hendrix shows us that most of the time, it's not the monsters we need to be afraid of. It's really people who are the bigger problem. I actually had to set this book aside at one point because I was so angry at the characters. Literally had to step away.

So, this book was not particularly scary but there are some moments of really great gruesomeness. The themes of racism, class-ism and misogyny are thoroughly explored here and it will probably make your blood boil with righteous anger. ENJOY! (Really. Go buy it.)

This may be my new favorite Grady Hendrix (I’ve read them all). The book follows a housewife book club as they confront the forces of evil in the form of a neighborhood vampire. Great characters, and it was so nice to see a sympathetic rendering of housewives. Grady Hendrix is so great at writing lighthearted, likable horror that’s also creepy af. Loved this book so much. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy (even though I also bought my own).

Grady Hendrix. Need I say more? Wait….Grady Hendrix and Vampires. Need I say more? Wait…….Grady Hendrix, Vampires, and a Southern Book Club. You needn’t say more after Grady Hendrix but HELL Yeah all the same! Vampires aren’t even cool right now and Grady Hendrix has a crap ton of readers Fan Girlin’ and Guyin’ all over the damn place. Sadly and gladly, I am not exempt!

First of all, this was one of the most unique takes on vampires that I’ve ever read. Granit I’m not a huge vampire enthusiast. But in my experience, there aren’t many novels where they don’t get into the dynamics of the vampire. We don’t learn much about creation, light sensitivity, how old, does it glitter or nothing. The whole vampire situation really takes a backseat.

Second of all, I am literally in a Southern Book Club. Hendrix describes a meeting down to the T. I was reading this book cracking up because the details were eerily accurate. He includes these perfect little southernisms like the woman who was leaving crumbs from cheese straws. Also, he gets the whole Yankee perception quite like he’s stolen it from my personal experiences being a yank myself. I really loved the way he brought the true south to the story. Hendrix really nailed this portion of the novel.

The story itself is so immensely interesting. Hendrix really describes scenes and happenings well enough to disgust you to the core. There is one scene where he describes the water from Miss May’s water. It was so very vivid, I could have been the one who witnessed it then described it to him. I just think that Hendrix has many talents and creeping the reading to the core is one of his finest skills. Additionally, I love how he twists his tails. I won’t go into details as I demand you figure out for yourself exactly what I mean.

As I briefly mentioned, I don’t really get into the whole vampire thing too often. When an author can make me excited about a subject matter that genuinely makes me stick my reader nose in the air that shit says something. I think this is going to be a big release for 2020. It is an incredibly fun ride with a little of everything for everyone the morbid included.

Thank you NetGalley and Quirk Books for approving my request!

While this was well written, I think it's just personally not a good fit for me.

Content warnings without being too spoilery but a heads up if they are triggers: attempted suicide, rape, squickiness with children.

His concept of this vampire is definitely awesome it was just a difficult read for me because of those issues.

*Digital review copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher.

This was easily one of the best horror novels I've read in years. Grady Hendrix has long been a horror writer to watch and with his fifth book <i>The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires</i> he's hit it out of the park. Much of the framing of this book will be familiar to horror fans. The rich white suburban setting in the 80s and 90s. The slow creeping invasion of a monster in an idyllic neighborhood's midst. The lone individual who sees through the lies and unmasks the evil. While the bones of this book are classic tropes and common themes, Hendrix ingeniously picks his protagonist to be a Southern housewife - a person who is easy to dismiss but who is built of steel underneath.

Patricia Cornwell is happily married to a successful doctor of psychiatry with two beautiful children. They live in the idyllic Old Village neighborhood, the sort of place where neighbors look out for each other and you don't have to worry about your kids while they're outside playing all day. Safe. Happy. A woman living the kind of life where her biggest worry seems to be finding the time to finish this month's book club book. Never mind that her husband's rarely home, that her elderly Mother-in-law is doing poorly and had to move in with them, that she's growing worse every day and scaring the kids. That's the sort of thing you deal with as a housewife. The real trouble doesn't start until Patricia is attacked on her front lawn by an elderly neighbor who bites off her earlobe and shorty after passes away in the hospital. It doesn't even really start then. It starts when Patricia takes a casserole over the her (now former) neighbor's house to check in on the nephew who was taking care of her and give her condolences. She doesn't know about that then though.

So often, horror set in these kind of places is about the teenagers or children. We've all be taught to expect that only a slightly outsider view of a child could expose the monsters hiding in our midst. By making the center of the story an adult and a housewife, Hendrix flips the script. The horrors you expect are still there but somehow grow more monstrous. This isn't a person who shouldn't have any control. This is an efficient, effective woman who manages her home and her husband and her kids. This is the mom who kept you safe and shielded you from knowing there were even hard decisions being made.

Set in an era where women were still often expected to only be homemakers and where a man's word would often be accepted over that of his wife simply because she was his wife, the solid ground we expect Patricia to be standing on proves itself to be quicksand. Over and over she's made to doubt herself. Put in impossible positions by the situation and the people around her, Patricia is forced into impossible positions. Everything Patricia thinks she is and should be is tested. For a woman expected to take care her husband and home before anything else, what happens when listening to your husband puts you at odds with protecting your children? How far do you go? When do you let it go and pretend what you clearly saw simply didn't happen?

As sumptuous, creepy, and highly entertaining as anything I have come to expect from Grady Hendrix! I couldn't put it down; I was hooked from page one.

This was a 5 star creepshow blast!

*I was given a copy of this book from the publisher via Net Galley I return for an honest review*

Wow wow wow. This book was excellent! I had no idea what kind of book I was getting into when I started, and I will admit that I asked for it simply because of the title and brilliant cover. Boy am I glad I did.

The book begins with an unsuccessful attempt at a book club, where the women attempt to read the “great books of history”. But no one enjoys it and very few actually read the books. Several of the women break off and form their own book club, filled with books of murder, secrets, and true crime.

At the same time, a mysterious new resident arrives in town... his great aunt is sick and he’s there “taking care of her” but he is never seen during the day, is a little odd, and soon strange things begin happening in town. He makes his way into these women’s lives, with terrible results. To say more would be to run the surprise.

After the first 3rd of the book, which runs like a mystery with some horror elements, the book goes full-on horror and never lets go. There are some more disgusting and gruesome moments in the books that made me retch, and it is certainly explained in detail, which adds to the horror. But beware if you have a easily upset stomach.

You will fly through this book and hopefully enjoy the satisfying conclusion. What. A. Book. I look forward to re-reading it in its final form.

No one writes in the voice that Grady Hendrix does. It's not often you come across that-an author you recognize by reading a little of the story. Stephen King has that. Grady Hendrix does, too. He writes characters who are rounded and quirky, yet real, and puts them in situations that are definitely not real...or quirky. There's a wit and a sarcasm underneath the writing that takes a situation and makes it more than other authors would have done. You hear the southern in the characters' voices and in their relationships.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires starts with a group of women in a book club, of course. When Patricia's life makes her unable to read that month's book she is outed by the strict leader of their little group. When it turns out that no one was interested in reading what they have been commanded to leave, 5 women split off to form their own group, Over the years, they read true crime and fictional crime almost exclusively. They become best friends and confidants.

When Patricia is attacked by an elderly neighbor and gets involved with her mysterious, and possibly dangerous, nephew, the groups is tested. Do they trust each other? Is Patricia just going crazy because of all she has been through?

The best part about this book was how it took you to extremes. At times it was hold-your-breath tense. And then, everyone's lives just went back to normal. The reader could almost get bored while everyone pretended what just happen didn't just happen, sometimes for years. But underneath it all was still the tension of waiting. When will the next crazy things happen?

This was such a fun book! It dripped with nostalgia and I was reminded of all of the vampire horror flicks from my past. It was as if the ladies from Steel Magnolias got dropped into Salem's Lot with plenty of gore in the mix. I was also reminded of the Lost Boys and Stranger Things. I love that the book used this nostalgic horror to comment on class, race, and misogyny.

Patricia is a housewife with two kids, married to an ambitious psychiatrist that is never home. She becomes a member of a book club that is all about true crime. Patricia spends her days focused on the many tasks required to run a household and spends very little time on herself. When she suspects that a vampire might be harming the children of the poor (and largely black) part of the community, she watches her friends turn a blind eye.

Grady Hendrix truly nails the mansplain in this book. The housewives are consistently devalued, and treated like little more than children. Their husbands are condescending and their children show no respect, despite these women being the only ones that seems to know how to get anything done. Patricia's very real concerns are dismissed without consideration despite presenting fact-based evidence. It's just a silly woman talking!

This book was not afraid to shy away from some serious flaws in the group of women at the center of the novel. These housewives are oppressed, they are often treated like simpletons that are only present to cook things for the menfolk and make sure their children have the right shoes. At the same time, when people from the poor community need their help, they choose their relatively comfortable lives with their oppressors over the more difficult and moral choice. They side with someone that they thought may be harming poor black children because they didn't want to make people uncomfortable. They didn't want to lose their husbands or their wealth. The cynical part of me knows that we plague our working poor with monetary vampirism every day - the rich feeding off of the poor, draining them slowly of money and labor and effort, leaving them with just enough that they can continue feeding. We will let monsters loose to prey upon marginalized people and we only care if that monster comes knocking on our doorstep. These women just let a real vampire do the same work.

I both liked and disliked the book club women. They did a lot of shitty things, then they confronted their failure and apologized for how much they sucked. I appreciate redemption, we all need it. It wasn't sugar coated and their actions were never nullified. Mrs. Greene is the best character in the entire book and I would love to hear the narrative from her perspective!

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix is a perfect combination of humor, horror, and the human spirit. First of all let me preface this review by saying that I am a native South Carolinian who grew up during the time period of this novel, so I admittedly am a bit biased. This book has so many very true South Carolina moments and vividly brought back memories of my childhood. So of course I loved the setting and found a lot of the characters to be similar to people I encountered when mingling with proper southern ladies.
Patricia Campbell is a proper southern lady living in a beautiful wealthier community in Charleston. She is a housewife who is a bit bored and dissatisfied with her life. She and a group of ladies form a book club which read paperback true crime novels. One evening, while rolling her trash to the curb, Patricia is violently attacked by a neighbor who later passes away. Patricia meets her attacker’s nephew, the handsome James Harris.
On the other side of town, neighborhood children start to go missing and Patricia decides to do some amateur sleuthing.
This is a horror novel and there were a few moments that were cringeworthy. But this is so much more than horror. It is a story of belonging, friendship, and ultimately finding oneself amongst the horror.