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

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

2.75

The story follows Patrica Cambell as she struggles as a stay at home mom with the bustle of life. A interesting take on the vampire trope. However in a lot of ways the boom felt over hyped, and the story felt lackluster at a lot of parts. In more ways it was a story of the unfulfilled life of Patrica less of the vampire story and of a traditionalist male dominated relationship hilt on toxicity.
James Harris a egomaniac stranger moves to her Charleston neighborhood. After a series of crosstown disappearances of children, Patrica links it to him and witness him feasting. However by this time her husband and the book clubs husband are all enamored with him.eventually with the husbands lead by Carter Cambell belittling the women. At various  stages it’s shown most of the women are mistreated in some way. Carter was in more honesty a villain do to his neglected family and wife and that lead to the dissolution of his family with Patricia attempting suicide.
the book lacked depth, Mrs.Greene a African American woman, her plot was simplified. The author tried conveying a sense  of  how crimes and harm coming to Black communities get overlooked compared to white, but in this it fell short. Most of the elements of the story are there to keep you reading. But it’s not a true horror story it’s more that with elements of horror. It’s really the journey of Patrica rediscovering her voice and meaning in life.
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