“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.” – 3.5/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: true-crime novels, casseroles, book clubs, old photographs, driver’s licenses, ears, rats, blood, license plate numbers, suicides and southern housewives.

Patricia Campbell had always planned for a big life, but after giving up her career as a nurse to marry an ambitious doctor and become a mother, Patricia’s life has never felt smaller. The days are long, her kids are ungrateful, her husband is distant, and her to-do list is never really done. The one thing she has to look forward to is her book club, a group of Charleston mothers united only by their love for true-crime and suspenseful fiction. In these meetings, they’re more likely to discuss the FBI’s recent siege of Waco as much as the ups and downs of marriage and motherhood.

But when an artistic and sensitive stranger moves into the neighborhood, the book club’s meetings turn into speculation about the newcomer. Patricia is initially attracted to him, but when some local children go missing, she starts to suspect the newcomer is involved. She begins her own investigation, assuming that he’s a Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy. What she uncovers is far more terrifying, and soon she–and her book club–are the only people standing between the monster they’ve invited into their homes and their unsuspecting community.

I have to admit, this book was more disturbing than I thought it would be. There were so many twisted and disturbing scenes here! Even though it’s a fantasy book about vampires, I was surprised it still felt realistic to some extent.

I think one of my favorite things about this book was the atmosphere! I think the 90’s are very well represented and I loved how the southern aspect was incorporated. I also really liked Patricia and the other housewives! They were all very sweet and they took take of their families like the good housewives they were. The only characters I couldn’t stand were the husbands. They were terrible! Carter (Patricia’s husband) was very manipulative, abusive and he constantly made her feel small – I really disliked him! The kids were disrespectful too, but not as bad as the husbands in my opinion.

Which brings me to my next point: I loved how empowering this book was. At first I felt sad because one valued their mothers/wives. Everyone took them for granted and they expected them to cook and clean and take care of the houses. And it was sad because the women believed they could never achieve anything great – their husbands already do that every day, right? But in this book, they discovered their true power and they fought for their families together. It was a beautiful and inspiring thing to see.

I think my main down point for this book was the pacing. Sometimes I felt like nothing was happening and the story got a bit too slow for my taste. But it was not constant throughout the book.

There are some tough things here that I think it’s important to address. Be aware of triggers for rape –  I really wasn’t expecting that – and gore. Not only that, but you’ll witness sexism and racism here and there.

I wanted to read this for a while and it wasn’t as mind-blowing as I thought it would be, but it was still entertaining. Other than that, if you like horror books or “realistic” vampire books, you should check this one out!

xoxo,