The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Starred review from January 6, 2020
When Patricia Campbell, a bored, housewife in 1990s Charleston, S.C., sighs, “Don’t you wish that something exciting would happen around here?” she all but invites the chilling horrors that soon enmesh her and her friends in this clever, addictive vampire thriller from Hendrix (We Sold Our Souls). Patricia is one of a clutch of local women who assuage their ennui by forming a book club to discuss pulpy true crime chronicles. Their lives are upended by the arrival of James Harris, an outsider who easily ingratiates himself into their community, bringing an influx of money and good fortune to the town. Patricia alone finds Harris’s lack of traditional identification and sensitivity to daylight peculiar. When people begin to disappear, she struggles to convince her friends that Harris is more sinister than he appears. Hendrix draws shrewd parallels between the serial killers documented in the book club’s picks and Harris’s apparent vampire persona, loading his gruesome story with perfectly-pitched allusions to classic horror novels and true crime accounts. This powerful, eclectic novel both pays homage to the literary vampire canon and stands singularly within it. Agent: Joshua Bilmes, JABberwocky Literary.

Starred review from February 15, 2020
Set in the same world as My Best Friend's Exorcism (2016), Hendrix's latest blend of humor and horror is his most personal yet, told from the points of view of Patricia and her friends, the unappreciated housewives of suburban Charleston. To spice up their lives, they start a true crime book club, the titles and ensuing discussions of which then frame the entire novel and add a satisfying layer of satire to the proceedings. Then James, a stranger with an aversion to daylight, moves into the neighborhood, and children start to go missing. Hendrix has masterfully blended the disaffected housewife trope with a terrifying vampire tale, and the anxiety and tension are palpable as these women battle societal stereotypes and demeaning husbands?not to mention intense evil?to save their children. Who would you pick in a fight between your mom's book club and a centuries-old vampire? Whether they are horror fans or not, a wide swath of readers will enjoy how this premise plays out. The perfect mix of American Housewife, by Helen Ellis (2016); Ann Rule's true crime classic, The Stranger Beside Me (1980); and Dacre Stoker and J. D. Barker's Dracul (2018)?and a cheeky, spot-on pick for book clubs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

Starred review from February 1, 2020
Things are about to get bloody for a group of Charleston housewives. In 1988, the scariest thing in former nurse Patricia Campbell's life is showing up to book club, since she hasn't read the book. It's hard to get any reading done between raising two kids, Blue and Korey, picking up after her husband, Carter, a psychiatrist, and taking care of her live-in mother-in-law, Miss Mary, who seems to have dementia. It doesn't help that the books chosen by the Literary Guild of Mt. Pleasant are just plain boring. But when fellow book-club member Kitty gives Patricia a gloriously trashy true-crime novel, Patricia is instantly hooked, and soon she's attending a very different kind of book club with Kitty and her friends Grace, Slick, and Maryellen. She has a full plate at home, but Patricia values her new friendships and still longs for a bit of excitement. When James Harris moves in down the street, the women are intrigued. Who is this handsome night owl, and why does Miss Mary insist that she knows him? A series of horrific events stretches Patricia's nerves and her Southern civility to the breaking point. (A skin-crawling scene involving a horde of rats is a standout.) She just knows James is up to no good, but getting anyone to believe her is a Sisyphean feat. After all, she's just a housewife. Hendrix juxtaposes the hypnotic mundanity of suburbia (which has a few dark underpinnings of its own) against an insidious evil that has taken root in Patricia's insular neighborhood. It's gratifying to see her grow from someone who apologizes for apologizing to a fiercely brave woman determined to do the right thing--hopefully with the help of her friends. Hendrix (We Sold Our Souls, 2018, etc.) cleverly sprinkles in nods to well-established vampire lore, and the fact that he's a master at conjuring heady 1990s nostalgia is just the icing on what is his best book yet. Fans of smart horror will sink their teeth into this one.

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