Patricia Campbell is just an average housewife with two kids, living with her family in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Taken for granted by her psychiatrist husband, and her children, she does the usual rotation of car pools, soccer games, endless house cleaning, meal preparation, and laundry. The one saving grace is her book club, a group of other housewives like Patricia, who insist on reading true crime books and pouring over the details of serial killers. Added to her wifely duties, her aged mother-in-law, Mother Mary needs more help and moves into their garage, converted as a bedroom. When James Harris moves to town to care for his great-aunt, Ann Savage, living down the road, no one gives it much thought, except Mother Mary. She recognizes James as the man who befriended her father and his friends, Hoyt Pickens, leading to the disappearance of several children, the killing of a black man and the loss of everyone’s money, before he disappeared from town. But that was so long ago, and James is much younger, so Mary must be suffering from dementia, she must be confused.

First, Patricia is attacked by Ann Savage, who bites part of her ear off. Then children start getting sick, then killing themselves in the poor black neighborhood of Six Mile. Then the rat attack in Patricia’s own home, leading to her mother-in-law’s death. Then the disappearance of cleaning woman Francine Chapman. When Patricia fears for her children and tries to uncover James Harris as a drug dealer harming children, the husbands of her book club friends confront her, siding with Harris, and humiliate her. She retreats for three years, allowing Harris to become thoroughly enmeshed in their lives, trusted by all their families, and the center of a land development plan to make them all wealthy. Patricia never forgets what she saw one night at Six Mile, however. When it becomes clear that the children of her friends, and her own children are at risk, she has finally had enough, and seeks allies among her friends to rid James Harris from their lives, while they still can. How do you actually take down a vampire?

I don’t read much horror, but this is an excellent, entertaining novel I could not put down. Never underestimate housewives, especially mothers whose children are at risk. Never underestimate southern women, who have had to plot and plan to get through every day with husbands and children who will not comply with the plan. They are resourceful, and have each other’s backs. This book is filled with dry humor, and not a little spine-tingling excitement. Highly recommended.