The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Part 8Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 8: “In Cold Blood”

Chapter 42 Summary

Patricia visits Slick’s grave. After James Harris disappeared, everyone involved with Gracious Cay lost their money, so they assumed that he skipped town to avoid answering for his financial machinations. Patricia started her new life after Grace gave her enough cash to get on her feet.

Patricia is grateful for her group of friends. They solved the mystery together; none of them is alone. Her experiences, good and bad, have made her stronger. She walks through the cemetery back to her car. She has to get to book club.

Part 8 Analysis

Patricia has changed, and she is okay with that change. After her ordeal, she has emerged stronger, more thoughtful, and, most importantly, no longer doubting herself. She knows that “what had been destroyed made what remained that much more precious” (404).

The novel leaves several threads of loss, trauma, and psychological impact hanging. We never learn what happened to Wanda Taylor—a minor characters whose experiences at the hands of James Harris provide a mirror to Patricia’s own. Unlike Patricia, who could rely on her wealth, whiteness, and town connections to spirit Korey away to a treatment facility when there is a hint of drug use in the teen’s life, Wanda suffered the destruction of her family when the police came to similar conclusions about Destiny.