The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady HendrixMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the vampire novel I didn't know I needed.
It's just so much fun! I mean, don't get me wrong - there is a lot of blood and disturbing things, but it's kind of hilarious at the same time. What do you expect from a book with this in the author's note:
I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom.
It begins with Southern charm and a handful of housewives who get their thrills from books about murder mysteries. When a stranger moves to the neighbourhood and unusual things begin to happen, Patricia faces facts with practicality, determined to do whatever is necessary to protect the children of the town.
From the beginning, I loved how no-nonsense Patricia is about everything. She has that maternal instinct that means as much as she might not want to do things, if it means keeping her kids safe she'll knuckle down and get it done. Her husband, Carter, is a bit of a jerk who quite clearly takes her for granted, so I was really happy that she wasn't beaten down and cowardly. She stands up for herself and for those she believes to be in danger, and it makes her such a likeable protagonist. She is a fierce woman.
Being set in the South in the 90s, there are also some interesting observations on racism, and while it's not a focus of the novel it does well to raise sympathy and provoke the reader to consider the unfairness of it through cleverly not really talking about it at all:
At the end of the day, some rich white people lost their money. Some poor black people lost their homes. That's just how it goes.
There is also obviously a lot on the lives of housewives, and sexism is rampant among these husbands who think their 'silly' wives should be cleaning more and reading about murder less.
Most of all, it's just a fantastic, horrifying story about a group of book club ladies taking on the town monster and it is a lot of chaotic fun. The action comes fast and it easily becomes addictive, yet there's time to get to know and love (or loathe) the characters, too. The classic ideas about vampires are completely twisted, too, so it makes the story highly unpredictable. No garlic here, folks.
It's written brilliantly and intelligently, and I had so much fun reading it. It was also extra fun doing it as a buddy read over at Horror Aficionados because it's been great fun to discuss all the bits and pieces along the way!
Highly recommend this for horror lovers and for fans of dark humour. If you're into vampire stories, read this one for a fresh twist. And if you're just after an intelligent, creepy, slightly gruesome - yet humourous - novel to pass the time quickly with, this one is a must.
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