Reviews with content warning for Vomit - The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

I was really excited to read this book, especially given the hype I've seen around it for so long. I was pretty disappointed in it, and I just don't think it was my kind of book. This is the first bloody horror book I've read, and it didn't mind that so much as the gaslighting, misogyny, and explicit descriptions of sexual violence. I think a book can be really good without all of that. I'm glad I gave it a shot, and I did read it pretty quickly (mainly because I was hoping it would turn around at the next chapter...).
Plot summary:

Set in this utopia-like southern town near Charleston, SC, weird occurrences start to happen when someone new moves in. Patricia, the main character, sees a man in need and with her southern hospitality helps him out. He immediately ingrains himself into the community, despite Patricia feeling weird about him and trying to make him leave. All of the men, including her terrible husband, gaslight the group of women friends into thinking it's just one of their true crime books affecting them. Turns out Patricia is right, and James Harris is a vampire and has lived for 400 years, and Mrs. Greene (the only person of color and of course the cleaner for the community) is the only one who believes her and wants to help. Gaslighting and misogyny continue, Patricia tries to kill herself because no one will listen. Several years go by and Patricia finds out her now teenage daughter is serving as a "food source" for James Harris, and her son is obsessed with him as well. James Harris attacks one of their friends, and they decide to kill him. Patricia serves as a sacrifice while the others knock him out, dismember him, and burn him/drop him down a pit where ashes are stored (I'm not super clear on if he's ashes or if the several bags that are his body are just down a big hole). Their friend dies and decides to be cremated so the "thing" that James Harris impregnated her with also dies. Things seem to go back to better situations, despite the community now being poor. Patricia thankfully wanted a divorce and the kids decide to live with her. I am glad it had a happier ending. I was waiting the entire time for the other shoe to drop, saying that James Harris found a way to continue living and that he'd be back for Patricia's kids or grandkids or something. But it didn't!! And I liked the little additional notes and letters at the end, I thought they were clever and a nice touch to the book.

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wheelyautistic's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I actually really enjoyed this book. The amount of times I had to put the book down because of how tense it showed just how good the writing is.

I'm afraid I have to disagree with most of the negative reviews regarding the 3-year skip, where the main character is complacent. Many reviewers viewed it us difficult and unrealistic or annoying however they fail to realise that this book whilst it does have a vampire and the supernatural elements is far more about a serial killer and a murderer then a high energy vampire slashing book. It feels realistic that no one would believe her or that she would become complacent and subdued because in reality any outburst could land her straight into an institute given the timing. The race aspects were necessary to indicate and portray a very real and common thing seen in real-life killers: that those deemed as less than are usually the ones killed and often their murders are overlooked. I think this book perfectly paralleled the real lids true crime books the characters read with a hind of supernatural influence to increase the severity and difficulty of the situation.

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wickedgrumpy's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book made me so uncomfortable at points because the writing is very visceral. The fact that there is a time jump made everything so much worse.

I’m glad that I read it because I was interested in reading a few books by this author but I don’t think they will be for me after all.

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melodyseestrees's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This is a book full of tediously bland and aggravating characters. All members of the book club turn on each other the second someone perceived better disagrees with them. Especially if it is the husbands. The only reason the book club experiences any success against the vampire is because of Mrs. Greene who embodies the 'magical negro' trope. She is also the only person of color who is a part of the story. You see a few younger people, embodying a gang type behavior in Mrs. Greene's home community. You see a mother of one of the victims immediately lose her child- because she is a Person of Color and her daughter has what turns out to be a telltale mark on her inner thigh. Other POC characters are all victims that died via suicide, save for the one that was presumably murdered due to an interrupted feeding.
Patricia's son spends the majority of the book unhealthily attached to WW2 and Nazism. All he talks about prior to

his mother's suicide attempt

is Hitler and Nietzsche.
There are 2 notably gory scenes. One involves rats and features dog vs rats violence and also rats snapping at the two people involved like a stereotypical school of piranha. I was not at all pleased to read about the snapping of necks and chunks taken out. The other gory scene is at the end of the book and I won't spoil it. If you can handle the rat scene you will be able to handle this scene too. It is slightly more 'meat processing' than medical. One other scene that is a bit intense is

Slick

recounting her SA by way of the antagonist.
I did not appreciate how the majority of the victims were children, especially at the reveal that the bite creates a sexual euphoria that leads to addiction. This is described in detail for two characters, one who is an adult and the other who is in their late teens or early twenties.
Just about all the male characters embodied stereotypes and were as present in the story as they were in their kids' lives. They either drank, beat their wives, had an abusive amount of control over their wives, or gaslit the ever-loving joy out of their wives.
The book club are all fair-weather friends. The husbands band together to gaslight and call Patricia crazy and despite the proof they had in their hands at the time, all of the rest of the book club agree. Then at the end while four are struggling in the fight against evil one of the others shows up like she is the saving grace, despite doing next to nothing to help for the entire book. By the end all the surviving book club members seem to still be meeting up as if all were normal. There was small implication that something is going on with the dog, Patricia, and her daughter but it may have been meant as a 'some wounds never heal' kind of thing.

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