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  • The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

  • By: Grady Hendrix
  • Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
  • Length: 13 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (145 ratings)

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The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

By: Grady Hendrix
Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
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Publisher's Summary

Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula in this Southern-flavored supernatural thriller set in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious and handsome stranger who turns out to be a real monster.

Patricia Campbell's life has never felt smaller. Her ambitious husband is too busy to give her a goodbye kiss in the morning, her kids have their own lives, her senile mother-in-law needs constant care, and she's always a step behind on thank-you notes and her endless list of chores. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a close-knit group of Charleston women united by their love of true crime and paperback fiction. At these meetings they're as likely to talk about the Manson family as they are marriage, motherhood, and neighborhood gossip.

This predictable pattern is upended when Patricia meets James Harris, a handsome stranger who moves into the neighborhood to take care of his elderly aunt and ends up joining the book club. James is sensitive and well-read, and he makes Patricia feel things she hasn't felt in 20 years. But there's something off about him. He doesn't have a bank account, he doesn't like going out during the day, and Patricia's mother-in-law insists that she knew him when she was a girl, an impossibility.

When local children go missing, Patricia and the book club members start to suspect James is more of a Bundy than a Beatnik, but no one outside of the book club believes them. Have they read too many true crime books, or have they invited a real monster into their homes?

©2020 Grady Hendrix (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

What listeners say about The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

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Brilliant

Amazing story and narrator. It was suspending the whole way through ! I never knew what was going to happen next

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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amazing!!

incredibly written story and incredible performance. This book had me hooked from the beginning. Highly recommend.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Confusing pace yet enjoyable read

The story was good at the beginning and end, but the middle was rather hard to get through. The story was stagnant and the characters (from my perspective) were unrelatable. It felt like reading a fever dream where you’re naked and screaming for sound and nothing comes out and falling off a cliff in slow motion all at once - just bizarre and surreal. But the first and last third were more believable and had a better pace. Although I suppose that this general feel to the book is extremely reflective of the characters own experience so overall it’s good.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Great voice performance, sad family story.

This story is hard to listen to, every male character is patronising and manipulative, it’s overwhelming what the women in this story life through. I got to the end because of the terrific voice performance, the best I’ve ever heard in an audiobook.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Better than I expected

Despite being so intrigued by the story I was so hesitant due to the negative reviews & a lot of people saying the same things like the women being spoken down to by their husbands. But I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. This is set in the 90s & where women are house wives who are always so polite, put their husbands, house holds & children before even themselves & what they want, even if they are right. This is not how I grew up so was an adjustment to be in that world. So many times I just wanted to scream at Patricia to be more firm. But for this life it made sense. Patty was a persistent character despite all the hurdles & knock downs she took, and thats what I liked about her so much & the spine she had developed by the very end. A great story about the monster next door & to pay attention & not ignore those nagging feelings thats something is not right.

Grady Hendrix always paints such an amazing story & characters the only thing that turns me off his writing is the constant use of the word SAID. There was a time SAID WAS DEAD, not so much any more & I don't think Grady ever got that memo. There should be a limit on how many times an author can use that word. For me it takes away from the feel & emotion of dialogue between characters when so many other words can be used to help convey how a character is feeling or severity of what they are wanting to say. This is the 2nd story of Grady's I have listened to & this was also the only negative I had for that other book.

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4 people found this helpful

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Supernatural menace in the suburbs, loved it!

Absolutely fabulous depiction of women, friendship and the 90’s. The horror of supernatural force combined with mens apathy toward their long term partners made for chilling horror scenes. My new favourite book.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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perfect Spring cleaning soundtrack!

a little slow in the first quarter but builds to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion. A love letter to the strength and the weaknesses of the women who raise us. Also spooky sexual Vampire horror!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

vampire!

great story telling! funny and heartbreak all at once. but a little predictable. would still recommend to fans of Vampire stories.

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Great book and outstanding narration

This book is quite something. It wasn't an easy read, and not just because of the vampire. What struck me the most about this book is its powerful message that the real monsters in the world are the men who push women down and enable evil to lurk due to their stupidity and arrogance. Men are not protectors, they are users. I believe that the vampire isn't the worst character in this book.

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FANG-tastic ... sorry haha

it was grate! I loved it! definitely would recommend this book. the character's where enjoyable and the narrator did a wonderful job

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