I will admit that I pick up books based on their blurbs without really paying attention to the author. That is how I chose this one! I liked the idea of Moms in a book club fighting off a vampire. So often you read books with a younger cast of characters, but moms? That really caught my attention, but I should have looked at who the author was because that might have made me steer clear. This author really needs trigger warnings on his books. This is not the first book of his that he used rape and sexual assault as a plot device. That is something I cannot stand. The book was going pretty strong until he decided to throw that into the mix. But I am getting ahead of myself, so let me start with what I liked.
As I said before, I liked that the book was about mothers in the 90s. The main characters name is Patricia and she was far from being a perfect mother and I loved it. She was trying her best and was trying to fit in but failing a bit. She then becomes friends with an offbeat group of women and they started a book club that read true crime stories! These characters seemed so fun and realistic, I was really enjoying their interactions and friendship. It was really easy to connect with these characters, but when weird things started happening in the town they began to act a bit differently. They started to ignore the signs out there…everyone except Patricia. But you would think that such good friends would stick together and listen to each other. At first they did but once their husbands got involved things went south! There was one scene that felt like it belonged in the 1940s NOT the 90s. That scene in that book really rubbed me the wrong way. Then after the husbands get involved POOF the concern about a villain in their midst was done. Sure there were kids going missing and weird stuff happening, but it was only the black kids in the bad neighborhoods so who cares? And yes that was the attitude in the book.
But Patricia never lost her uneasiness with their little groups savior. She knew she saw him hurting a child and had her suspicions, but even she ignored it for years. It wasn’t until the bad guy starting to try and take her own children, that she tried to stand up to him again. Then she found the proof she needed to convince her group to help her…but even that was not enough. That is until one of them became his victim…and yes this was the Trigger warning…..rape. This was all they needed to come up with a plan to take him out! That part was incredibly satisfying.
Overall, aside from the triggering moments in the book, I did enjoy it for the most part. I loved how the vampire was able to manipulate everyone in the town. The pacing of the book was enjoyable but frustrating all at the same time. I really just wanted the women to stop the vampire before he hurt other children but that just wasn’t in the cards. And then when the women finally got together to fight the vampire! Chef’s kiss! They were a force to be reckoned with. The book was actually very interesting and I found myself wanting to devour it so that I could see the vampire face off with the book club. I just really wish that the rape never happened because it added nothing to the book. It could have been replaced with him biting one of the women or any other vampire like thing but no Hendrix had to resort to using rape. He did the same thing in My best friends exorcism and it really just took me out of the book. Rape should never be used to help a story along or give a book shock value. But if something like that doesn’t bother you, I do recommend the book.
The Owl's Book Nest 