Review: The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really really enjoyed this book. I wasn't quite sure what I was expecting when I began this book, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised. I have been wanting to read it for more than a year, and have had it on hold at the library for several months. I was very excited when I finally got the email that I could start reading it! This is not a light-hearted tongue-in-cheek romp about Southern ladies hunting vampires with wooden stakes and bushels of garlic. But it is a compelling look at how society can marginalize people and sometimes it is up to those very people to take a stand when no one else will.
The book introduces us to Patricia Campbell, a "good Southern housewife" living in 1990s Charleston. She joins a book club with some other women from her suburban neighborhood, and they really enjoy delving into true crime novels. One day, after wishing for a bit more excitement in her life, Patty is viciously attacked by her elderly neighbor, who subsequently dies. Patty--due to her aforementioned Southern upbringing--feels compelled to take her neighbor's family a casserole. At her neighbor's house she meets a strange man who says he is the great nephew of the dead woman. He is mysterious, odd, has no ID, a great deal of cash, ...and Patty somehow feels compelled to help him. But amidst creepy warnings from Patty's dementia-stricken mother-in-law, completely bizarre deaths, and tragic incidents surrounding children, Patty begins to feel like her new neighbor might somehow be involved.
While reading this book I know that I said, "Oh no!" out loud and put my hand over my mouth once. I whispered, "No...she didn't!" a couple of times. At least once I muttered, "Why did he do that?!" I grabbed my husband's arm, squirmed, and groaned, "no...no...no...no!" out loud during one particularly gruesome part. And I am not one to react OUT LOUD to books!
One of the best things about this book that is often lacking in other stories that are intended to be suspenseful is the way the author set up the scenes. Several times we knew our characters were walking into a tense situation, or something terrible was about to happen. The author was able to describe the scenery and setting and create an atmosphere of terrible suspended anticipation without making me want to skip over the set-up and just get to the action. The description made the action that ensued that much richer, instead of feeling like filler.
This book was interesting, intriguing, gory and gruesome in places, and full of gripping characters. I loved the setting and the imagery. I would definitely recommend this book.

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