The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Patricia Campbell's life in a quiet 1990s suburb of Charleston, South Carolina, has narrowed to carpools, casseroles, and caring for her difficult mother-in-law. Her one real pleasure is a book club of sharp-tongued Southern women who skip the literary titles in favor of lurid true crime. Then a charming, mysterious newcomer named James Harris moves into the neighborhood, and Patricia — starved for something of her own — finds herself drawn to him.

But children on the wrong side of town are dying, adults are behaving strangely, and the more Patricia learns about James, the more certain she becomes that something is deeply, monstrously wrong. The problem is that no one will believe her: not her doctor husband, not the police, not the neighbors she's spent her life pleasing. And she has already invited him in.

Grady Hendrix's The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is a genuinely frightening horror novel wrapped around a sly satire of Southern gentility, class, and the way society dismisses middle-aged women. Bloody, funny, and surprisingly moving, it is ultimately a story about ordinary housewives who decide to fight back.