The tone is wildly inconsistent. Speaking of satire... The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires tries to be funny. None of it felt funny to me. Delightful read that reads like Dracula set in the ’90s American South….Perfect for fans of horror and real-life crime alike.”— Good Housekeeping Cleverly, different sections of the book are titled after real-life True Crime books. These are based upon what the Club is reading during the period of time we are following in the novel.

When local children go missing, Patricia has reason to believe that James may be more Bundy than Beatnik. But once she and the book club members investigate further, the true monster emerges—and he’s far more terrifying than any serial killer they’ve ever read about. Because vampires are the original serial killers, stripped of everything that makes us human-they have no friends, no family, no roots, no children. All they have is hunger. They eat and eat but they’re never full. With this book, I wanted to pit a man freed by all responsibilities but his appetites against women whose lives are shaped by their endless responsibilities. I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom.

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Several of these women have a little book club where they alternate real life true crime (the higher the body count the better) and thriller fiction that can only hope to match the real life crime stories. So when Patricia begins to suspect something very wrong about a handsome newcomer to their community, her husband, his friends and even her book club members think that it's her imagination running wild, after all the real and fictional crimes she has been reading about with the book club. But, Patricia is really on to something with her suspicions about this newcomer. He IS a thing of fiction, come to life, and he is consuming and preying on the young and old of the area, with no one but Patricia thinking he is anything but a financial savior for their little community.

I struggled with the rating of this book between three and four stars (so 3.5). I loved the opening, the voice of the character. The story was light and engaging. The characters are unique and the repartee real and enjoyable. I knew the premise of this book going in. I have always said that I will read anything-any genre as long as it is written well. Having said that I am not a big fan of vampire stories (although I truly loved The Passage and that was a vampire book of sorts). This author is great at his wordsmith and has solid writing craft.About halfway through, I had to put the book down because I was SO stressed by it. Also - that ending. Perfection. Sheer perfection! This was my first Hendrix and I LOVED it! Its a fun, energetic horror that is not my usual genre but was so engrossing to read. There are moments that make you laugh, make you cringe, gory images that turn your stomach and a couple of serious incidents. So light hearted is definitely not the word but it's definitely not your serious horror either. It throws all sort of stereotypes out there and I know that's one thing Grady has been criticized over. But for me it forms an important part of the time and small town culture of the book - it's uncomfortable truths that aren't meant to be altogether pleasing. I loved the women of the book club and the strange James Harris, and couldn't help imagining how our local book club would deal with the same crazy situation 😂This was one of the funnest audio books I have listened to! I had a physical copy gifted to me after I started but I just wanted to keep going with the audio as the narration was so brilliant. The strong southern accent and different character voices brings the small town community feel to life