This book is literally what it sounds like:"Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this '90s-set horror novel about a women's book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town, perfect for murderinos and fans of Stephen King."

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is Grady Hendrix's newest horror novel follows Patricia Campbell, whose claims to fame consist of being a wife, mother, and one of the five founding members of her neighborhood housewife book-club that takes interest in true crime. When a mysterious stranger moves in down the street, Patricia and her family (out of good southern hospitality) befriend him and invite him into their home. Yet when children start to go missing, Patrica has reason to suspect that their mysterious friend is behind the killings and attacks, but no one, not her book club, not her husband, believe her. Patricia is gas-lighted literally by everyone into believing she is crazy! But when Patricia realizes she has put not only her book club but her family in danger, and she can prove it, she must convince the aimless book club’s hodgepodge of housewives and mothers to sacrifice their unwavering devotions to their roles assigned to them and believe the evidence laid before them. The question is: can they stop this mysterious vampiric stranger before he strikes again?

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is full of thrills, chills, and relevant examples of sociopolitical injustice (the mothers in the book club are all white and really only start caring about Patricia's pleas when it's white children and members of their own community who are being attacked). It's also full of its fair share of blood and guts as well as cockroaches, rats, and spiders. This is a book not for the faint of heart. And while there where plenty of gross out moments the real horror of this story is the fact that all the men in Patricia's life gaslighted her every single chance they had (seriously, all the men in this book where almost just as evil as the vampire- they were all manipulative bastards) and that nobody really cared about the children missing in the black community. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires , I think, is a magnificent tribute to strength of women (their compassion, intelligence, etc.) and the power that a love of mother possesses when it comes to protecting those dearest to her. Another excellent novel by Grady Hendrix. ( )

I really enjoyed this one. The villain was terrifying, and I really felt for all of the communities who were affected by his predatory activities. But this book wasn't exactly about vampirism as a form of feeding, or supernatural creatures. It was about gaslighting, both on an individual level, and on the level of whole communities. The main character is gaslit by all the men around her into believing that the man who moved to their neighborhood is a friend, not a foe. She starts to question herself and all of her experiences and feels that she is lessened by this doubt. No one listens to her until she convinces her friends with irrefutable evidence. Communities of color are gaslit by the authorities into believing that all of the missing children are due to drugs or that they've run away, even when the communities have evidence to the contrary. No one listens to them, so they have to take action on their own. I was mad at the villain in this book, for who he manipulated, hurt, and killed , but I was also mad at the family members, friends, authorities, and community members who gaslit our MC.

I thought the pacing was a little weird though. After the first climax, there is a large gap in time, and while I understand why it was done, I felt it could have been handled a little more elegantly. But other than that, I thought it was really well done. ( )

Oh, man... I have such mixed feelings about this book. It started out wonderfully. I adore the premise: suburban moms against vampires? Yes, please! The first half of the book had me on the edge of my seat. I loved the small-town feel and how Hendrix captured the difficult emotions inherent in motherhood. And those super creepy scenes at the beginning - the raccoon and the rats - were captivating.

But then, about halfway through, the book took a turn. It became less about vampires and the horror of their natures than about domestic abuse, really. The way the women's home lives were described... their subservience to their husbands and the way everyone who claimed to love them treated them like garbage... well, it made my stomach turn way more than the blood and gore in the previous scenes.

I had difficulty finishing this book because of it, but I persevered. And while there were no significant revelations as the book raced toward its inevitable conclusion, I was relieved to turn the last page. I can't say I'm happy to have read this, but I sure am glad to be done with it. ( )

The writing is really good and easy to read. The pacing while slow is well-balanced as well.
But I just couldn't enjoy the story itself.
The goal of the book as far as I can tell is a realistic take on a vampire plot in a rural setting.
And yes, maybe small-town life would really look like this. But I just don't see the appeal of reading about people being stupid and narrow-minded. I don't need to read a book for that. I just have to leave the house, or heck, browse Reddit.
The entire plot is only interesting because everyone involved constantly makes the worst possible decision in crucial moments.
I just got tired of it.
I guess some people find it funny but I couldn't find any humor in it. I am honestly not even sure if it was supposed to be humor. If it wasn't that's even worse because it means that everyone is genuinely braindead.
Either way, I never got this strange but popular mix of horror and comedy so I expect that is the problem.
This utter stupidity lead to a weird feeling of unreality that grew stronger the further I read because of this mix of realistic and total ridiculousness. ( )

I borrowed this from my local library for a book club read.

I'm going to put on my writer-hat to review this one. I can't help it.

I found this book fascinating on a technical level. The description sounds like an urban fantasy--a South Carolina book club makes a stand against a vampire--but the execution (no pun intended), from the very-average protagonist to the broad time frame, don't fit the urban fantasy framework at all. I can see why this is classified as horror on the literary/commercial side of the market, but the horror itself is a slow build, mostly psychological except for a few graphic blips, and then the ends hits, and whoa. It leaves no question that yep, it's horror.

I can't help but wonder how the agent went about marketing this since it breaks so many conventions.

Excellent writing, but definitely darker than I prefer. ( )