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

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

3.75

3.75 ⭐ I am not giving this book a full review but notice the content warnings of rape, racism, sexism, and ableism. The author wrote those into the story deliberately, and pretty heavy-handedly, there's no hiding them. We are supposed to be disgusted at the racist, rapist vampire, we are supposed to be disgusted at the rich white people ignoring the blight on the black community and we are supposed to also be disgusted at the rich, white women's husbands being sexist and ableist (and the legitimate gaslighting of Patricia). Each of those things are supposed to bother us, each of those things are supposed to give us complex feelings about the book. And it's totally okay if you don't want to read those things in your fiction! However, it's a totally separate thing to call the author racist/sexist/ableism because his characters are... That's not the same thing at all. 

Further note: this is definitely a different type of vampire story than we are used to: the author essentially took an amalgam of serial killers and made it into a vampire. It's effective but I tend to like a romanticized-but-still-dangerous versions of vampires (ie The Vampire Chronicles).
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