The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Amazon.com Review An Amazon Best Book of April 2020:Pitching a novel as ‘Steel Magnolias meets Dracula’ is a bold move, but The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires lives up to the comparison. Patricia is a Charleston housewife whose husband Carter spends more time traveling for work than he does at home. Her two teenage kids don’t appreciate her, and much of her time is spent caring for her senile mother-in-law. The only thing giving her life is her book club. So what if their typical picks, likeCry, the Beloved Country are less her speed than the true crime titles they actually discuss? One night after book club, an elderly neighbor attacks Patricia, which brings the woman’s handsome nephew into Patricia’s life, and just like that, her life takes a turn for the more interesting. James is smart, well-read, well-traveled, and attentive. But as time goes on, Patricia realizes that she is not the only one James is interested in; that she, her family, and even her beloved book club are being groomed by a man who may be a monster. The big draw here is a portrayal of the 90s—both hilarious and spot-on accurate—that manages to be both gentle satire and affectionate homage all in one, while touching on social issues like racism, sexism, classism, and feminism. Watching these friends put the steel in steel magnolias may be the funniest horror story you read all year. —Vannessa Cronin, Amazon Book Review