The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is a dark read to distract from these dark times – PGH City Paper

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Grady Hendrix

Grady Hendrix's newest novel, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, is a fast-paced and gory tale that centers around Patricia Campbell and her circle of Southern housewife friends joined by their love of risqu books. Each month, their book club alternates between true crime stories such as Helter Skelter and The Stranger Beside Me and steamy romance novels like The Bridges of Madison County. The chosen book topicsaren't something the women's husbands approve of, and when book club member Patricia feels something is amiss after being attacked by an elderly neighbor, the R-rated content is the root of the blame.The real change in their small South Carolina town, however, is the appearance of James Harris, the elderly neighbor's nephew who is allergic to the sun, handsome and charismatic, anddoesn't seem to have any ties to anyone or anything except his aunt who passes away shortly after he comes to town.

In 2016, Hendrix released another horror novel, My Best Friend's Exorcism about two teenage girls living in Charleston, South Carolina during 1988. It's the height of the Satanic Panic and is written from the teenagers' point-of-view as they become convinced that one of them is possessed by Satan. Set around the same time, Hendrix says that The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is not a sequel to My Best Friend's Exorcism but a similar version of the story from a parent's point-of-view, taking place in the same neighborhood.

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampiresis one you will read and wont soon forget.

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The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is a dark read to distract from these dark times - PGH City Paper

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero