The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires @grady_hendrix @quirkbooks #southernladies #thriller #supernatural #vampires #fictionfriends #duoreviews @JanBelisle @absltmom

Egads did Jan and I step out of our comfort zone with this book! We had a bloody good time and thought the author did a wonderful job with his satire of very strong Southern ladies who went to battle with a very sinister creature of the night. It’s quirky, it’s bizarre, and it was off the wall entertainment for two people looking to escape the ills of a pandemic. Don’t mess with Southern ladies!!

“He thinks we’re what we look like on the outside: nice Southern ladies. Let me tell you something…there’s nothing nice about Southern ladies.”

Jan’s review

“He thinks we’re what we look like on the outside: nice Southern ladies. Let me tell you something…there’s nothing nice about Southern ladies.”

There’s a reason southern woman are called steel magnolias. Their outer gentility belies their inner strength and fortitude. Underestimate them at your peril.

This book has a fun mix of satire, humor, and horror. Patricia Campbell and her friends have a classics book club but it’s stuffy and few enjoy it.  When a friend gives Patricia a copy of a true crime book, a new club of  ‘murderinos’ is formed who read only true crime (if you’re a fan, you will have lots of books to add to the tbr).

When a stranger, James, appears in their quiet little southern town, strange things begin happening. There are violent deaths and the children in town begin disappearing. Patricia has her suspicions about James but she has trouble getting anyone to believe her. However,  Patricia is tenacious and soon she and her friends get to work to rid the town of the threat. These women were a hoot. We all need friends like these.

There are underlying messages about women’s roles, sexism, patriarchy, racism, women’s roles, and domestic abuse. This is delicious satire that highlights the strength of women who won’t tolerate being gaslighted by the men in their lives.  There is violence and gore, this is a vampire book, after all, but the humor makes it easier to swallow. The first chapters had me laughing out loud. 

What a unique book, I’ve never read one quite like it.  It’s quirky and campy and so much fun. I loved seeing how Patricia grew from a mousy genteel southern lady to a bad ass who will do anything to protect her family. 

Marialyce and I took a chance on reading something fun and different and were pleasantly surprised. Because of the underlying themes this would make an excellent book club pick.

Marialyce’s review

Bizarre, beyond a definite comfort zone, but somehow addicting are the words I would use to describe this very peculiar and weird book. I will admit I was glad that I hadn’t eaten anything while reading a few parts of this story as it really made me think, yikes that’s gross!

Book clubs are great especially those that combine a good story with a few glasses of a healthy libation. However, the ladies of this book club are bored. They are bored with the titles of books that have been suggested in the past and honestly most of them never even opened the book cover no less than read the book. So, in a decision to add some vim and vigor to the club, books that dealt with murder, mayhem, fright, and freakish themes were suggested and adopted. All seemed to be going well and then a very freakish occurrence happened and a man was introduced to the group. Oh, he is handsome, he is charismatic, he is ingratiating, and before long he has immersed himself into the community and the lives of book club members and their husbands.

Patricia Campbell, our main protagonist, is drawn at first to James Harris. He is all the things it seems that her dull life, being mother to two brats, and wife to a husband who has no time for her, needs. As time goes on though things just don’t add up and as Patricia comes to know James, she, and finally the girls of book club come to realize that what James is might be a fiend bent on destroying others. Can the ladies, particularly Patricia, thwart this evil presence in their midst, or will they will become pawns and victims in James’s dreadful and horrifying schemes?

A cautious warning here….be aware there is blood, guts, gore, and rats…lots of rats, so this book although a satire, is not for those who don’t like reading about the aforementioned items. Life and limb is definitely in jeopardy in this “not sure what to call it” story. Although, in retrospect, Count Dracula would certainly be proud of James. Perhaps James might even be a distant relative to Vlad?  Hmm something to think about…..but definitely not at night!!!

and here’s the author:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1080659

https://www.gradyhendrix.com/about