Grady Hendrix

"A supernatural thriller set in South Carolina in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious stranger who turns out to be a real monster"--

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

The New York Times Best Seller A Barnes & Noble Best Fiction Book of 2020 A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this '90s-set horror novel about a women's book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town, perfect for murderinos and fans of Stephen King. Bonus features: • Reading group guide for book clubs • Hand-drawn map of Mt. Pleasant • Annotated true-crime reading list by Grady Hendrix • And more! Patricia Campbell’s life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she’s always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they’re as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families. One evening after book club, Patricia is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing the neighbor's handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn’t felt in years. But when children on the other side of town go missing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. The real problem? James is a monster of a different kind—and Patricia has already invited him in. Little by little, James will insinuate himself into Patricia’s life and try to take everything she took for granted—including the book club—but she won’t surrender without a fight in this blood-soaked tale of neighborly kindness gone wrong.

A Novel

Summerlyn Grainger

Jillian Roberts

"I’ve had three children... and some man who's never felt baby crown is stronger than me? Is tougher than me? He thinks he's safe... because he thinks like you… He looks at Patricia and thinks we're all a bunch of Sunshine Suzies… He thinks we're what we look like on the outside: nice Southern ladies. Let me tell you something... there's nothing nice about Southern ladies."

Amelia Macy

"Why do you pretend what we do is nothing?" she asked. "Every day, all the chaos and messiness of life happens and every day we clean it all up. Without us, they would just wallow in filth and disorder and nothing of any consequence would ever get done.

Jing Yi

She threw the book across the room and found her copy of Helter Skelter. She turned to the back section about the trials, and read about Charles Manson getting sentenced to death over and over again as if it were a bedtime story. She needed to reassure herself that not all men got away with it, not every time. She read about Charles Manson's sentencing until her eyes got grainy and she fell asleep.

his past was probably one long blur and he existed in an eternal present

This tawdry soap opera you've imagined between yourself and James Harris," Grace said. "I’d almost suspect you were...sexually frustrated."

"Why do you pretend what we do is nothing?" she asked. "Every day, all the chaos and messiness of life happens and every day we clean it all up. Without us, they would just wallow in flth and disorder and nothing of any consequence would ever get done. Who taught you to sneer at that? Ill tell you who. Someone who took their mother for granted."

"Some people use literature to understand their lives," James Harris said, continuing to stare at Korey, who squirmed beneath the intensity of his gaze. "What are you reading?"

Would they argue over who got stuck with her? If Carter died, would they sell the house, her books, her furniture, and split up the proceeds between themselves and she'd have nothing left of her own?

darby

“A reader lives many lives,” James Harris said. “The person who doesn’t read lives but one.”

Megan BV

Think of us what you will, she thought, we made mistakes, and probably scarred our children for life, and we froze sandwiches, and forgot car pool, and got divorced. But when the time came, we went the distance.

“If you really think this man is up to no good,” Grace said, “you need more than this before we go to Ed. We don’t want to go off half-cocked.” 

“Don’t worry, Grace,” Patricia said. “When we go off, we’ll be fully cocked.”

“Mom,” Blue said from the living room door. “What’s for supper?”

 “Food,” Patricia said from the sofa. 

“Is chicken food?” Patricia replied, not looking up from her book. 

“We had chicken last night,” Blue said. “And the night before. And the night before that.” 

“Maybe tonight will be different,” Patricia said.

My kindle version doesn’t have page numbers for some reason. This is at 35%. All the housewife/ mother moments in this book hit hard. 

“Why do you pretend what we do is nothing?” she asked. “Every day, all the chaos and messiness of life happens and every day we clean it all up. Without us, they would just wallow in filth and disorder and nothing of any consequence would ever get done. Who taught you to sneer at that? I’ll tell you who. Someone who took their mother for granted.”

“We’re not schoolgirls, Patricia. I blame the book for the quality of the evening. Good night.”

“A reader lives many lives,” James Harris said. “The person who doesn’t read lives but one. But if you’re happy just doing what you’re told and reading what other people think you should read, then don’t let me stop you. I just find it sad.”

Absolutely obsessed with this book so far!

Jemima Scott

"We're not a lynch mob, we're a book club,"

Jesse Presgraves

"And so, in conclusion," Maryellen said, bringing her case against the author of The Stranger Beside Me to a close, "Ann Rule is a world-class dope. She knew Ted Bundy, she worked next to Ted Bundy, she knew the police were looking for a good-looking young man named Ted who drove a VW Bug, and she knew that her good-looking young friend Ted Bundy drove a VW Bug, but even when her buddy is arrested she says she'll 'suspend judgment.' I mean, what does she need? For him to ring her doorbell and say 'Ann, I'm a serial killer"?"

"A reader lives many lives," James said. "The person who doesn't read lives but one. But if you're happy just doing what you're told and reading what other people think you should, don't let me stop you. I just find it sad." 

"I think," Grace said, and they sat up straighter, "that it shows a remarkable lack of planning on Betty's part. If you're going to murder your best friend with an axe, you should make sure you know what you're doing." 

Veronica Zarate

The New York Times Best Seller A Barnes & Noble Best Fiction Book of 2020 A Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist Now in paperback, Steel Magnolias meets Dracula in this '90s-set horror novel about a women's book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small Southern town, perfect for murderinos and fans of Stephen King. Bonus features: - Reading group guide for book clubs - Hand-drawn map of Mt. Pleasant - Annotated true-crime reading list by Grady Hendrix - And more! Patricia Campbell's life has never felt smaller. Her husband is a workaholic, her teenage kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she's always a step behind on her endless to-do list. The only thing keeping her sane is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime. At these meetings they're as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are about their own families. One evening after book club, Patricia is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor, bringing the neighbor's handsome nephew, James Harris, into her life. James is well traveled and well read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn't felt in years. But when children on the other side of town go missing, their deaths written off by local police, Patricia has reason to believe James Harris is more of a Bundy than a Brad Pitt. The real problem? James is a monster of a different kind--and Patricia has already invited him in. Little by little, James will insinuate himself into Patricia's life and try to take everything she took for granted--including the book club--but she won't surrender without a fight in this blood-soaked tale of neighborly kindness gone wrong.

It was a good listen, and I thought James Harris made for a compelling villain. However, so much of the book focused on Patricia being gaslit by her friends and family that it got frustrating nearly to the point of me wanting to stop listening.

Lexi M

Could’ve done with more vampirism but overall a good, quick read. 

chelsea

Initially, I didn’t like this book. There were moments early on that I thought “WTF am I reading” (Ms. Mary and the rats). I think if you just read this book and take it at face value it’s just OK. If you look at the symbolism and really consider all the parts of it, it’s a good book. The book gave me a lot of mixed feelings.

I was SO disappointed in the end that the author did not take the opportunity that was right in front of his face, to give Patricia all of James’s money!!! Early on in the book Patricia helped James establish the bank account with all of that money. She cosigned on the bank account with him so technically that was her account too. She went through all of that shit, her entire family was torn apart, she was gaslit constantly, she’ll forever live with pain because he fed on her, all of those women endured all of that trauma,  got cheated on by all of their POS husbands, poor Slick got rapped and died!! And after ALLLL of that this author couldn’t bring it full circle and give Patricia the money. Such a typical man! That was infuriating! Like what a MENemy! Whether this was an oversight or deliberate, he could have tied it together so much better! He should’ve given Patricia the money to be empowered and free and set for life and give this huge middle finger to Carter and it really would’ve ended on such a high note to give the reader more closure, but instead Grady Hendrix failed us! 😤😭

Jessy Tatum

Initially, I didn’t like this book. There were moments early on that I thought “WTF am I reading” (Ms. Mary and the rats). I think if you just read this book and take it at face value it’s just OK. If you look at the symbolism and really consider all the parts of it, it’s a good book. The book gave me a lot of mixed feelings.

*Spoiler:

I was SO disappointed in the end that the author did not take the opportunity that was right in front of his face, to give Patricia all of James’s money!!! Early on in the book Patricia helped James establish the bank account with all of that money. She cosigned on the bank account with him so technically that was her account too. She went through all of that shit, her entire family was torn apart, she was gaslit constantly, she’ll forever live with pain because he fed on her, all of those women endured all of that trauma,  got cheated on by all of their POS husbands, poor Slick got rapped and died!! And after ALLLL of that this author couldn’t bring it full circle and give Patricia the money. Such a typical man! That was infuriating! Like what a MENemy! Whether this was an oversight or deliberate, he could have tied it together so much better! He should’ve given Patricia the money to be empowered and free and set for life and give this huge middle finger to Carter and it really would’ve ended on such a high note to give the reader more closure, but instead Grady Hendrix failed us! 😤😭

Amira BEN

Eva Ströberg

Is it just me or Grady Henrix is a master in authoring a pageturner book??

I have read some of his works, while Horrorstor is not exactly that scary, but My Best Friend's exorcism was fantastic (it was one of YA books that I didn't find insufferable to read) and this is some sort of "sequel" to that. There is no relation between this book and the other book apart from the location and time, perhaps. 

I know the title sounds ridiculous, but this is probably the most delightful book I have ever read this year so far.

Ryan Mateyk

grady hendrix is an icon, a legend and the moment and he never fails to give me just what i want <3

Liyah 🤎

I picked up the book b/c I thought the title and cover were sortve campy. This book is NOT campy. It gets rather heavy, has some horror and gore and has triggering content. It has an interesting mystery but I don’t feel it was resolved the most satisfyingly. I really enjoyed Patricia as a main character but a lot of the other characters could get a little insufferable. ESPECIALLY HER HUSBAND. Man Carter did NOT get what was coming to him. Obviously would be a cheeky meta book club read and was alright to read solo. Def not a right before bed book but it was nice to pick up and escape into if I was taking a break during the day. I really enjoyed the world building and I felt the book had a real sense of place. Also loved that it was set in like the 80s and 90s. The time period made an interesting backdrop for certain plot points. It had a fresh take on vampirism but it was a little under developed and could’ve been walked out more. There was a lot I feel like I had to take @ face value. All in all a solid read but probably not a book for everyone.

I enjoyed most of the book it’s mysterious and thrilling but how the author managed some topics irked me in the wrong way

paola !

tori 👻

Megan Christensen

this got me out of my reading slump! i love it when authors choose titles that may not seem the most appealing but fit the plot perfectly. i also appreciated how the story vouched for 1980s housewives and their book clubs (even though the author is male). but i thought that it wasn’t that spooky and james could’ve had more depth as a immortal vampire instead of merely being a rich white man? but ig the point was that that was enough for him to infiltrate this town. i also wasn’t the biggest fan of the three years later development, felt like the climax felt rushed too. i expected patricia’s divorce at the end, but i felt like it was pushing for a happy strong independent woman type of narrative which is alright but could be more justified. i was a bit confused at the newsletter at the end… 

Riley Bell

** spoiler alert **
           The first half of this book, while extremely slow was still quite good. I wished that the whole of the book club had a larger part in the story rather than Patricia being a one woman show for the majority of the story. However, I could have really done without the child grape insinuations and actual grape of one major character. Really two!! What was the need for all of that? This story could have held all of the same dangers and outcomes without that disturbing feature of this particular brand of vampire. I did not like it. I sort of see the reasoning for the three year gap, but the events just before the 3 year gap also made no sense to me. What was the point of trashing Patricia’s relationships with her husband and children? The outcome of her husband I saw coming from the beginning, but no need to do her children like that. Angsty teens will be angsty teens without the trauma they were forced to go through for “the plot.” The grand finale was rushed and made almost no sense. I do not see how these ladies who could not even stick up for each other in most of the book club meetings came together for slaughterhouse fun time. I gave this book 3 stars for the characters, because while quite annoying they were very real and made real human decisions and mistakes, as well as the fact that I read pretty fast to see how the heck all of this was going to come together. I know I had a lot of negative things to say, but it was a pretty decent read until about 70% through.

kayla 

stars ,, 5.0
cawpile ,, 9.14

this book was insane ,, i read 80% in one day which explains a lot.

i'm a sucker for 'housewife horror' so i may seem biased when i say this but ,, the characters were amazingly written. were the ignorant? yes. were they stupid at times? yes. were they selfish? yes! but that's what makes reading about them so interesting, instead of seeing people suddenly rise up to the occasion you see the internal battle of ignoring the problem or fighting against it. also, the atmosphere was phenomenal, the amount of times i actually got freaked out was embarrassing ,, and the amount of times i giggled was unsurprising. i also seem to be a sucker for books that heavily lean into horror stereotypes ,, but are extremely self aware ,, so that's always nice to know!

i'd definitely recommend this but please check the tw's before reading, it's a dark book.

Sonia Grgas

Although this book’s genre is not my usual, I enjoyed it a lot. The rating is an average: some parts were a 5 star joyride the others were just 3 star meh. 

This would be a great discussion book for groups looking for a change of pace - lots to talk about.

Gloria Barrientos

Great 

Absolutely loved it. Fresh take on the vampire trope, and very well written. I can’t wait to read more from this author.

As a woman, this book really touched me. I also appreciate books with this narrative style. Only 4'5⭐ because I enjoyed the gore but I was expecting more of it.

LIMEKI 

Riya

good, engaging,and ingenious writing. this book started off with showing the definition of housewives in Oxford Dictionary in 1971 which was used to be “useless”. And ended up being an antithesis of it so there’s no way I wouldn’t have enjoyed it.
I love the characterisation of women and how fleshed out they were. Although, the male characters like their husbands aren’t as thoroughly focused upon, i still didn’t mind it because there wasn’t any need for it. It’s good that author didn’t give them unnecessary humanisation and they didn’t act beyond than they were supposed to. It’s as if that since their husbands treated them like secondary and invisible beings, the author did the same to them.
I love the friendship between these women. I felt soft and warm while reading their moments together. 
This book is equal parts horrifying, sad and lovely. All the smallest of issues are so subtly woven together but you will still feel the weight and consequences of them regardless.

i LOVED this!!!!! My first read by grady but i am absolutely hooked. WOW! THIS WAS SO FUN. I cannot wait to read more by Grady.

Tatum cain 

Amulya Garimella

a fun horror confection with more gore than i expected! white savior subplot does not land, lol.

paula

2.5 just for the cover 

grady hendrix it’s just not for me, this guy it’s to good at making mysoginistic characters if ykyk what i mean and the poc representations always sucks

الجزء ده أول ما قرأته في نوت المؤلف في أول الكتاب توقعت إنه هيكون أنسب ملخص لأحداث الكتاب لما أخلص ومخيبش ظني الحقيقة. أعتقد الكتاب ده هو أول كتاب أخلصه من فترة طويلة قراءة فعلاً مش استماع وهقفِّل بيه التشالنج باين، ده غير إن كذا مرة الكتابة تنسيني إن المؤلف رجل ودي في حد ذاتها معجزة!

القصة أحداثها ممتعة، وريفريشر وسط زمن من الفامبايرز المترمنسنين في قصص الحب مؤخرًا للي حابب يغير. هنا الفامباير شرير فعلاً كل سنة وانتم طيبين.

مقدرش أقول إن الأحداث سريعة ومش مملة من أوله لآخره، بدايته في حد ذاتها كانت بطيئة بالنسبة ليا وأخدت بتاع 8-9 شباتر على ما ابتديت اتشد فعلاً من كام يوم بس وأنا بادئة الكتاب من أول أكتوبر، وحتى بعد ما اتشديت كان فيه أجزاء بطيئة بطء مالوش لازمة بوصف طويل.. بس ممكن نبرر الوصف الطويل في بعض الأحيان إنه عشان نربط المنظر العام بالأحداث إللي شغالة لأن الكتاب بادئ من نهاية التمانينات وواخد التسعينات.

فـ أي حد ناوي يخوض التجربة هيحتاج يصبر معاه شوية لو حس بزهق.

والصراحة مش عارفة ليه لحد دلوقتي محدش قرر ياخده يعمل بيه فيلم أو مسلسل قصير حتى. معنديش مانع إني أدفع فلوس عشان أشوفه متمثل على الشاشة إطلاقًا. xD

Alice

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 from all responsibilities but his own appetites against women whose lives are shaped by their endless responsibilities.
I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom.
As you'll see, it's not a fair fight.

الجزء ده أول ما قرأته في نوت المؤلف في أول الكتاب توقعت إنه هيكون أنسب ملخص لأحداث الكتاب لما أخلص ومخيبش ظني الحقيقة. أعتقد الكتاب ده هو أول كتاب أخلصه من فترة طويلة قراءة فعلاً مش استماع وهقفِّل بيه التشالنج باين، ده غير إن كذا مرة الكتابة تنسيني إن المؤلف رجل ودي في حد ذاتها معجزة!
القصة أحداثها ممتعة، وريفريشر وسط زمن من الفامبايرز المترمنسنين في قصص الحب مؤخرًا للي حابب يغير. هنا الفامباير شرير فعلاً كل سنة وانتم طيبين.
مقدرش أقول إن الأحداث سريعة ومش مملة من أوله لآخره، بدايته في حد ذاتها كانت بطيئة بالنسبة ليا وأخدت بتاع 8-9 شباتر على ما ابتديت اتشد فعلاً من كام يوم بس وأنا بادئة الكتاب من أول أكتوبر، وحتى بعد ما اتشديت كان فيه أجزاء بطيئة بطء مالوش لازمة بوصف طويل.. بس ممكن نبرر الوصف الطويل في بعض الأحيان إنه عشان نربط المنظر العام بالأحداث إللي شغالة لأن الكتاب بادئ من نهاية التمانينات وواخد التسعينات.
فـ أي حد ناوي يخوض التجربة هيحتاج يصبر معاه شوية لو حس بزهق.
والصراحة مش عارفة ليه لحد دلوقتي محدش قرر ياخده يعمل بيه فيلم أو مسلسل قصير حتى. معنديش مانع إني أدفع فلوس عشان أشوفه متمثل على الشاشة إطلاقًا. xD

Of course, behind every woman there's a man, usually somewhere parking the car or asking why there isn't any rice on the table.

This was an insanely suspenseful read which I COULD NOT put down!! Wild 

Lili

karol tang

thumbs up good book. vampirism can be read as a metaphor for a couple things. some in-ur-face social commentary and more if u squint. ofc thriller/horror is always 10x better in a small quiet southern town

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

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