A review by zutsie
The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

4.0

Oh man, I really enjoyed this. I fell in love with the cover when it came out and always said I was going to read it because seriously, that cover is perfection. But life happens and it always lingered on the fringe of my mind and finally I ordered it in at the library and no regrets. I didn’t read anything about it (I love going in blind) and it was fabulous.

I love the way this book was written. It’s sharp, witty, very funny, gets the horror bits and decent creep in it, and the pacing is so tight, you fly through this story. The opening few pages of Patricia preparing for her death because of book club tickled me, and it only just got better.

I was so hooked from the first page and didn’t want to put the book down. Chapter 21 enraged me like something else, dear Lord.

Okay, so, SPOILER. because this stupid app doesn’t hide this anymore unless on a browser apparently.
Carter. Oh. My. God. My blood boiled. That he made Patricia less than a woman, mother, wife infuriated me. He ground her to nothing and treated her like a throwaway. He stripped her of all her authority and passed that to his children. He made her a ghost, and had the gall to blame her for every little thing that happened with the kids. Like. What? You stripped her of all respect and power, are off banging the rest of the world, flouncing about and putting money and cheap thrills before your family, thinking the answer is medication and shifting the blame to your wife… I can’t even right now, just thinking of it gets me all worked up again.
END OF SPOILER.

The book also has a surprising amount of heart, and manages to balance the humour, seriousness, gore, horror, and heart really well. This book also highlights some uncomfortable truths. Some people are not gonna love this, but I really enjoyed this, it was great fun and will definitely be getting my hands of more of Hendrix’s work. I can’t recommend this book enough if you’re looking for a fun, horror comedy read.