Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Southern Gothic - Das Grauen wohnt nebenan

I really enjoyed this book for what it was BUT I found the title and cover to be fairly misleading. I picked this up and expected more of a tongue-in-cheek, dark humour & horror, plus more of a 'we're slaying Vampires under the guise of a Book Club' storyline, but it really wasn't this (I just want to disclaim this by saying I did read the blurb prior to buying so I should have known it wasn't quite what I was expecting!)

Feeling slightly misled aside, I did like the story and I thought it was a pretty unique take on vampires/monsters. The writing seemed a tad all over the place though, and I found myself checking I hadn't somehow missed a page as the timing seemed off in places - jumping larger periods of time in-between paragraphs, for example, especially in the earlier chapters. I assume this was a stylistic choice to portray the monotony of the main characters life as a housewife in the late 80s/early 90s in Southern America.

The horror element was great! Like I said, I found it to be unique and the horror of the actual 'monster' wasn't actually as bad as the horror you feel following Patricia's plight to be believed by anyone in her life. It was pretty horrifying to believe women were/are expected to maintain such a boring, unfulfilling life and to be so subservient without much power to do anything else! I really disliked the male characters in this, whether that was intentional or not, I don't know.

For me, the conclusion to the book happens far too quickly and all at once. I'd have loved a bit less of the earlier chapters and a bit more of a build up to the ending.

I'd be intrigued to read other books by the author to see whether they've got a certain style or not. I'm not sure I'd read this book again, but I do still recommend it to anyone into horror. It's not super gory or over the top scary, but it still hits the mark.

Overall, a good book but not what I expected.

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theraindiary's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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spikytortoise's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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muffycantread's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

I enjoyed this book a little until about halfway through the book. Not the vampire slasher you want. Reading this made me feel like I was slowly drowning and not in a suspenseful, enduring way. Most of the "thrills" are pretty predictable anyway. Would rate 1 star if I wasn't truly enjoying the first 200 or so pages. It had so much potential... I will not be reading another Grady Hendrix and I think he'll be fine. >:(

the amount of graphic sexual assault and domestic abuse of women and children ultimately seemed completely unnecessary for telling the story!

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