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A review by venuscollective
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
This book was quite the roller coaster. I hated and really liked it for so many reasons.
The book follows Patricia, a boring and bored housewife who joins a book club and starts to spend her days reading murder mysteries and keeping her home in order. Still tired of the monotony of her life, she takes interest in one James Harris, a new mysterious neighbour. The closer James gets to her and her family, the more she realises he is not what he seems. Now she has to get rid of him.
This book has a really interesting plot and even though I had to take multiple breaks, I couldn't bring myself to throw it out completely. It's not very mysterious because they tell you everything as you go. But it did have quite tense scenes.
Patricia is a very bland character. She doesn't have very much personality but that's ignorable once you get into the thick of the story. One thing I can say about her though, is that she sticks to her beliefs for most of the book. Can't say the same for her friends who were pretty damn annoying and don't even get me started on her horrible children and husband.
One thing I hate about the book is the near romantism of violence against women and girl children. Some of the sexual assault scenes almost read like they're supposed to sexy? Horrific definitely but also sexy. Which no. The way the women are spoken to and about ny the men also grated on my nerves so much I had to keep putting the book down. I know it's period-typical but God was it annoying. Maybe it's just me
I can also say with confidence that if you're a white woman you'll probably enjoy this book way more than I did.
P.S: I recommend finding playlists for this book to listen to as you read, if you're into that kind of thing
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6EQoLe7iHdurBEoVjpI8LH?si=WgBsLTt8S7qtnhi7OYqsyw&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6LBIpICOlL54b7tiRzRBIL?si=U8SL7eSeTNKuVqYv7UK9Iw&utm_source=copy-link
The book follows Patricia, a boring and bored housewife who joins a book club and starts to spend her days reading murder mysteries and keeping her home in order. Still tired of the monotony of her life, she takes interest in one James Harris, a new mysterious neighbour. The closer James gets to her and her family, the more she realises he is not what he seems. Now she has to get rid of him.
This book has a really interesting plot and even though I had to take multiple breaks, I couldn't bring myself to throw it out completely. It's not very mysterious because they tell you everything as you go. But it did have quite tense scenes.
Patricia is a very bland character. She doesn't have very much personality but that's ignorable once you get into the thick of the story. One thing I can say about her though, is that she sticks to her beliefs for most of the book. Can't say the same for her friends who were pretty damn annoying and don't even get me started on her horrible children and husband.
One thing I hate about the book is the near romantism of violence against women and girl children. Some of the sexual assault scenes almost read like they're supposed to sexy? Horrific definitely but also sexy. Which no. The way the women are spoken to and about ny the men also grated on my nerves so much I had to keep putting the book down. I know it's period-typical but God was it annoying. Maybe it's just me
I can also say with confidence that if you're a white woman you'll probably enjoy this book way more than I did.
P.S: I recommend finding playlists for this book to listen to as you read, if you're into that kind of thing
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6EQoLe7iHdurBEoVjpI8LH?si=WgBsLTt8S7qtnhi7OYqsyw&utm_source=copy-link
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6LBIpICOlL54b7tiRzRBIL?si=U8SL7eSeTNKuVqYv7UK9Iw&utm_source=copy-link
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child death, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Dementia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt