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A review by ojtheviking
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
3.0
I have previously read two other novels by Grady Hendrix, and I was left with a mostly good impression, yet I felt slightly conflicted. I first read My Best Friend's Exorcism and enjoyed it thoroughly. Then I read The Final Girl Support Group, and I'd say I overall enjoyed it but had some issues with it. Now that I've read a third title of Hendrix's, have I been swayed more one way or another, positively or negatively? Kind of both.
Admittedly, I did enjoy The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires more than I did ...Support Group. It felt more like a spiritual follow-up to ...Exorcism, which is fitting because while it's not a direct sequel per se, the story exists within the same universe as ...Exorcism – specifically in the same neighborhood; it's almost as if this neighborhood has its own anthology-esque set of stories, I suppose.
The way the story unfolds is good. There's some scares, some gore, and some nice touches of humor along the way. It's not a spoiler to say the following given how the book title itself gives away what we're dealing with here, but I think he put an interesting spin on the vampire myth. You won't find a charming, upper-class Victorian Gothic-era vampire here, but more of a seedy, creepy predator who operates similarly to real-life creeps, only with a supernatural element. Hendrix himself explains in the author's note that he wanted to approach the vampires as if they were serial killers. So you get more of a Bundy vibe than Dracula, and the “serial killer with supernatural abilities” element in this particular story reminds me of something you'd see on The X-Files; one very specific episode comes to mind.
Hendrix's writing is unquestionably decent in many ways. As a somewhat macabre positive point, he describes disturbing moments and violations in ways that successfully make you uncomfortable and provoked. And he's generally good with describing action sequences and building suspense here and there.
It's just that some things are starting to become a very clear pattern with him which takes away from the sense of originality from one story to another.
For example, one thing I also mentioned when I reviewed ...Support Group, is that he is very fond of banking on people's nostalgia, as these stories are set in the 1980s and 1990s. It's one thing to establish an era by referring to things we recognize as being from that era, but the way Hendrix approaches it, makes it come across as him just spilling a bunch of pop references onto the page, as if to say: “Oh, remember that movie? Dude, remember that song? Dang, remember that TV show?” It's a borderline tacky way to spark an emotional response in readers who lived and/or grew up in that era.
Another unfortunate pattern is that in all three books I've read so far, he's used the plot device of the main character being alienated by nobody believing them, thinking they're sick or crazy, and so forth. It's a very common element of conflict that many writers use, sure, but with Hendrix, it's almost to the point that he's used the same story arc in each of these books just with different character names and circumstances. It gets a little bit repetitive, basically.
A minor additional gripe is that I found parts of this story a bit predictable. If you've seen movies like The Lost Boys or Fright Night, you'll be familiar with the concept of “something is wrong with my neighbor/my mom's date” and “they are up to no good, and I have to prove it to my friends, but they're all rejecting my claims.” Again, though, this is just a minor gripe. I feel like it's a case where Hendrix is paying tribute to these 1980s movies, and it gets just a tad too familiar.
So, three books in, and I kinda sorta like Grady Hendrix as an author, but there's this feeling of wishing I could like him even more, with the critiques mentioned above holding me back a little bit. But, for what it's worth, ...Slaying Vampires is ultimately a more decent read than not. I certainly don't regret having spent the time to finish it.
Admittedly, I did enjoy The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires more than I did ...Support Group. It felt more like a spiritual follow-up to ...Exorcism, which is fitting because while it's not a direct sequel per se, the story exists within the same universe as ...Exorcism – specifically in the same neighborhood; it's almost as if this neighborhood has its own anthology-esque set of stories, I suppose.
The way the story unfolds is good. There's some scares, some gore, and some nice touches of humor along the way. It's not a spoiler to say the following given how the book title itself gives away what we're dealing with here, but I think he put an interesting spin on the vampire myth. You won't find a charming, upper-class Victorian Gothic-era vampire here, but more of a seedy, creepy predator who operates similarly to real-life creeps, only with a supernatural element. Hendrix himself explains in the author's note that he wanted to approach the vampires as if they were serial killers. So you get more of a Bundy vibe than Dracula, and the “serial killer with supernatural abilities” element in this particular story reminds me of something you'd see on The X-Files; one very specific episode comes to mind.
Hendrix's writing is unquestionably decent in many ways. As a somewhat macabre positive point, he describes disturbing moments and violations in ways that successfully make you uncomfortable and provoked. And he's generally good with describing action sequences and building suspense here and there.
It's just that some things are starting to become a very clear pattern with him which takes away from the sense of originality from one story to another.
For example, one thing I also mentioned when I reviewed ...Support Group, is that he is very fond of banking on people's nostalgia, as these stories are set in the 1980s and 1990s. It's one thing to establish an era by referring to things we recognize as being from that era, but the way Hendrix approaches it, makes it come across as him just spilling a bunch of pop references onto the page, as if to say: “Oh, remember that movie? Dude, remember that song? Dang, remember that TV show?” It's a borderline tacky way to spark an emotional response in readers who lived and/or grew up in that era.
Another unfortunate pattern is that in all three books I've read so far, he's used the plot device of the main character being alienated by nobody believing them, thinking they're sick or crazy, and so forth. It's a very common element of conflict that many writers use, sure, but with Hendrix, it's almost to the point that he's used the same story arc in each of these books just with different character names and circumstances. It gets a little bit repetitive, basically.
A minor additional gripe is that I found parts of this story a bit predictable. If you've seen movies like The Lost Boys or Fright Night, you'll be familiar with the concept of “something is wrong with my neighbor/my mom's date” and “they are up to no good, and I have to prove it to my friends, but they're all rejecting my claims.” Again, though, this is just a minor gripe. I feel like it's a case where Hendrix is paying tribute to these 1980s movies, and it gets just a tad too familiar.
So, three books in, and I kinda sorta like Grady Hendrix as an author, but there's this feeling of wishing I could like him even more, with the critiques mentioned above holding me back a little bit. But, for what it's worth, ...Slaying Vampires is ultimately a more decent read than not. I certainly don't regret having spent the time to finish it.