Patricia has seemingly the perfect life; a successful husband, two beautiful children, a cheery dog, and a nice home in Charleston, South Carolina. But she lacks friends so she joins a local book club. They read boring, unaspiring books and Patricia wonders about quitting, until several other women break away and form their own non-book club, where they read true crime books and attempt to solve murders themselves. Fast forward a couple of years and Patricia considers Grace, Slick, Kitty, and Maryellen her best friends, who she can go to with anything.

And she’ll need them more than ever.

After a frightening encounter with her neighbor, a mysterious man named James Harris moves into the neighborhood and disrupts Patricia’s normal life. While initially befriending the stranger, Patricia begins to suspect something is not right when a string of children begin to disappear. As Patricia investigates the disappearances, and questions her own sanity, she’ll turn to her book club friends to solve the case.

They better bring their stacks.

Grady Hendrix is a horror author that has grown in popularity over the last couple of years with his fun, campy horror novels. The Southern Book Club is his most famous book and does encompass many of the traits he is known for; friendship, vivid horror scenes, and humor. he book has a lot of strong qualities to it, particularly the character development. When we meet Patricia, she is a stereotypical Southern belle who puts her husband and children first. Her book club is her escape but when someone poses a threat to her happy existence, Patricia learns to push back her introverted personality and take risks to protect her friends and family. Her fellow book club members also have good character development although the character of Grace could have received a little bit more focus as she is seemingly the only one of the group who doesn’t grow much by the end of the book.

The horror elements of this book are also very good. I’m not a huge horror reader and appreciate that while Mr. Hendrix does have some scary scenes in the book, they weren’t so terrifying that I couldn’t sleep. He knows how to mix horror and comedy well, providing a book that can be read by multiple people and not just by humor fans. The other real strength of this book is Mr. Hendrix’s ability to get the reader to sympathize for Patricia. Halfway through the book, Patricia begins to experience some bad luck and as the reader I wanted to scream at the supporting characters for not having her back or listening to her. It was frustrating to read but a sign that the author has done a good job of making you care for the character.

While there were many good parts of this book, I did find a few areas that could have been improved. From the summary of the book I was under the impression that the story would be told from multiple perspectives, or at the very least we would get more scenes that focused on other members of the book club. In reality, the story really follows Patricia and while we get her insights and thoughts, we rarely see how the other ladies feel or what they are going through. This is a shame because Patricia does say some revelations about the other ladies, particularly Grace, that I think would have been interesting to follow. It felt like a missed opportunity. Additionally, the ending of the book felt rushed. We are building up to the women doing something about the vampire, but when the conclusion occurs, it felt a bit empty and rushed.

Overall this is a fun book that is perfect for the autumn season. It is also a great pick for a book club and one you’ll want to discuss with friends, asking the question, how would you slay a vampire?

4 out of 5 stars