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 …
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 twenty 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?
If you want a low-key horror Spooky Season read like “Valley of the Dolls”-vibe with Dracula in it, that’s your book ^ ^ CW for a lot of misogyny, (domestic) abuse, r*ape, blood & gore. & a dead dog.
If you want a low-key horror Spooky Season read like “Valley of the Dolls”-vibe with Dracula in it, that’s your book ^ ^
CW for a lot of misogyny, (domestic) abuse, r*ape, blood & gore. & a dead dog.
Started off great, but maybe too white Southern for me
Keine Bewertung
I found the first few chapters highly entertaining, slightly in the vein of Big Little Lies (or Little Big Lies?), but it threw me off when a "black woman" was introduced. Wait, was I supposed to assume everyone else is white?
I found the first few chapters highly entertaining, slightly in the vein of Big Little Lies (or Little Big Lies?), but it threw me off when a "black woman" was introduced. Wait, was I supposed to assume everyone else is white?
Various thoughts while reading the book (there may be spoilers):
A few dozen pages in, this book is about 50% pretty good, 20% really good, and 30% cute.
Neat vampire concept. According to his podcast, Super Scare Haunted Homeschool, he spent a ridiculous amount of time studying vampire lore history, and it shows. He took a very unique approach to the vampire, while at the same time, keeping it very obviously a recognizable vampire.
Overtly sexual without being sexy. The transfer of fluids in a very specific bodily location increases the rape-yness that vampirism already exemplifies.
About 2/3 of the way through, the book is 60% pretty good, 30% really good, and still 10% cute.
All the husbands in this book suck. Not a single one is a redeemable character.
Time jump! Finding it hard to believe in the 3-year gap, maybe it …
Various thoughts while reading the book (there may be spoilers):
A few dozen pages in, this book is about 50% pretty good, 20% really good, and 30% cute.
Neat vampire concept. According to his podcast, Super Scare Haunted Homeschool, he spent a ridiculous amount of time studying vampire lore history, and it shows. He took a very unique approach to the vampire, while at the same time, keeping it very obviously a recognizable vampire.
Overtly sexual without being sexy. The transfer of fluids in a very specific bodily location increases the rape-yness that vampirism already exemplifies.
About 2/3 of the way through, the book is 60% pretty good, 30% really good, and still 10% cute.
All the husbands in this book suck. Not a single one is a redeemable character.
Time jump! Finding it hard to believe in the 3-year gap, maybe it will pay off in some way.
COCKROACH IN THE EAR BURN IT WITH FIRE
Oof, turning the kids’ situations into what could easily be viewed nowadays as “grooming” makes it even creepier.
There is no way Grace would have come through in the end, based on how she acted the rest of the time. Probably the only part of the book where I had a legit problem w/ where Hendrix took the plot.
3-year gap not really paid off, would have probably made more sense with one year.
Book’s over. I go back to the original statement – 50% pretty good, 20% really good, 30% cute.
Not bad over all. I would give it it 6-out-of-10 Cockroaches wriggling their way into your ear. You’re welcome for the image.
