The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
A friend and I went up to Madison, Wisconsin to look at houses and enjoy the city. While we were waiting for our favorite restaurant to open, we popped into this amazing indie bookstore, Mystery To Me. They had this book on display and it immediately caught my eye. I read the blurb and knew I couldn’t leave without it.
Patricia is a housewife in Charleston who has grown bored of her life. Her kids don’t want to hang out with her, her husband is always working, and her feisty mother-in-law is slowly succumbing to dementia. But then one night Patricia is attacked by an elderly neighbor who bites part of her ear off. A few days later, she meets her attacker’s nephew, James. There’s something about him that she can’t resist. So, she invites him into her home and her life.
Soon, though, Patricia is noticing odd things happening in her otherwise quiet neighborhood. Kids from a poorer community are dying in strange ways. The streets don’t seem as safe at night. But when Patricia brings her suspicions to her book club, they go nowhere.
But when she finds out what is really terrorizing their neighborhood, Patricia, along with her book club, will stop at nothing to get rid of it.
I liked this book but I didn’t love it. It had some genuine laugh out loud parts and was entirely enjoyable. But there was something about Patricia that just rankled me. Maybe it was that she spends large portions of the book reacting to the events as opposed to taking decisive action. Or maybe it was that it took her soooo long to figure out who the vampire was. (Now, obviously I assumed there was a vampire from the beginning because of the title which gave me an advantage over her, but still.)
Again, I didn’t find this book to be particularly scary at any point. And horror may not be the best descriptor of it. Is there such a thing as Suburban Fantasy?
At the end of the day, I’m giving this 3/5 stars. It was funny and kept me turning pages. But it won’t top my list of favorite books. Probably not a beach read, but potentially a rainy weekend book.
KT Byrde Writes 