A review by mermaidstories
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

This book has so much potential to be great, but there were a lot of misses that I simply could not overlook. For instance, I knew there were some rumblings about the representation of Black people in this story, so I wasn’t surprised by some of the cringey moments I came across. But, then we get to the welfare queen trope…and then having a Black woman refer to herself and her people as coloreds…in the 90s??? That’s where you start to lose me…had the story taken place in the 50s/60s, then i’d understand. between that and having the only other representation of Black people being that they’re waitstaff for the suburbanite parties is egregious. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that Grady was making an attempt to highlight the differences in urgency when it comes to threats towards white children vs Black, but it loses steam when you still uphold harmful tropes. 

Another thing i take issue with is the
sexual assault
. What did it add to the story in any way? The same outcome could have been met. Not to mention the scene with
James Harris “feeding” on Korey—both being naked and she is a minor.


If not for the aforementioned issues, I probably would have rated this story a 3.75. In terms of conveying how thankless it is to be a housewife, i’d say Grady did well with doing so in a realistic way for the most part. Although i do wish there would have been more of a resolution with
confronting Carter with his infidelity, gaslighting, and general mistreatment and lack of appreciation.
. that, along with
Ragtag dying—what was even the point of including that after everything? totally unnecessary.
brought the rating even lower. 

Otherwise, the dynamic between the women of the book club seemed very authentic. They’re moments of anger, betrayal, misunderstandings, but also a strong friendship overall. They cared for and understood each other, flawed as they all were. i feel like he did well with showing the facets of their friendship. so overall, i give it a 2.5.
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