By Grady Hendrix
Quirk Books, 2020. 404 pages. Horror
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.
Grady Hendrix juxtaposes the mundane status quo of southern housewives with horror. The prologue promises with the first line that the story ends in blood, unsettling the reader from the get go even as you are plunged into the ordinary, albeit chaotic, life and concerns of our main character and housewife Patricia Campbell. This is not a romantic vampire telling and expect to feel unease with the predator as they infiltrate the seemingly idyllic small community as well as frustration with the book’s characters and their decisions even as you come to understand their individual motivations. Themes in the book outside of horror include racism and sexism. Those looking for a fast-paced horror/thriller will not be satisfied with this plot, but if you are up for a slow building horror story with some surprisingly gory scenes mixed in then this one is for you.
If you like The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, you might also like:
By Grady Hendrix
Berkley, 2021. 342 pages. Horror Fiction.
Lynnette Tarkington is a real-life final girl who survived a massacre. For more than a decade, she's been meeting with five other final girls and their therapist in a support group for those who survived the unthinkable, working to put their lives back together. Then one woman misses a meeting, and their worst fears are realized--someone knows about the group and is determined to rip their lives apart again, piece by piece.
By Simone St. James
Berkley, 2020. 327 pages. Thriller Fiction
Upstate NY, 1982. Viv Delaney knows something isn't right at the Sun Down motel, where she works as a night clerk, and she's determined find out what. Upstate NY, 2017. Carly Kirk has always been fascinated by her aunt Viv who disappeared from the Sun Down before Carly was born. Using a small inheritance from when her mom dies, Carly leaves college to figure out what happened to her aunt thirty-five years ago. Soon, Carly is mirroring her aunt's life, working as the night clerk at the motel, where a haunting presence still lingers and a possible serial killer stalks the night desk.
By Ann Rule
Pocket Books, 2009. 625 pages. True Crime
From the perspective of the former policewoman, crime writer, and unknowing personal friend, tells the story of Ted Bundy, a brilliant law student executed for killing three women, who confessed to killing thirty-five others.
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