The Suicide Motor Club

Starred review from May 2, 2016
Buehlman (The Lesser Dead) confirms his talent with this ambitiously structured rendering of the havoc and mayhem wrought by a sadistic pack of muscle car–obsessed vampires as they cut a homicidal path across 1960s America’s highways. When they snatch latent psychic Judith Lamb’s son from the backseat of the family vehicle and then cause an accident that kills her husband, they set her on a quest that’s destined to end in grisly destruction. Armed and educated by a cagey group of vampire hunters and prophetic dreams of failure, Judith hunts down the gang and seeks vengeance for her murdered family. With an entire section devoted to introducing the Suicide Motor Club and the inclusion of an older, progressive vampire repulsed by the gang’s wanton sadism, Buehlman successfully and unromantically portrays the brutal viciousness of their violence, yet gives them enough character and nuance to carry the reader’s morbid interest. Buehlman’s latest is gripping the whole way through, with a perfectly poignant ending.

June 15, 2016

A mother's nightmare comes true when Judith Lamb and her family meet a band of vampires who hunt on the highways of 1960s America. Her son is dragged from their car, and the undead force her off the road into a crash that kills her husband. Lost in grief, Jude turns to the Catholic Church, intending to become a nun. But there are others who have had run-ins with the same monsters and they seek Jude's help in tracking them down and killing them. Buehlman (The Lesser Dead) knows how to create a scary creature, and his beings here were horrible humans before they turned, making them truly awful now. To add nuance, the author introduces Clayton Birch, a vampire who tries to help Jude. Muscle car enthusiasts will enjoy the car talk, but while the period autos add to the historical color, it sometimes comes across as Buehlman's personal interest given an excessively long leash. VERDICT An entertaining read for vampire aficionados.--MM

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2016
Judith Lamb, her husband, and their young son, Glendon, are driving home after a vacation west. When another car attempts to pass them, they think nothing of it until Glendon screams. A man in the other car pulls Glendon from their car and forces the Lambs' car off the road. Judith survives, but her husband does not. When Judith describes Glendon's kidnappers as men with shining eyes, she is dismissed by the authorities. When a mysterious man tracks her down, she learns that the men with the shining eyes were vampires. The vampires that killed Judith's family are part of a group that travels the highways looking for prey. Led by a dirt-track racer-turned-vampire, this group is aggressive, cruel, and hungry. Joining with the Bereaved, a group of people who have also lost family to the vampires, Judith begins an epic journey to avenge her family. Buehlman takes the standard myths of vampires and the usual tropes of road novels and combines them into an original and exciting tale. In the midst of all the mayhem and violence, he creates characters that are complex and three-dimensional. This is a highly recommended horror novel with cross-genre appeal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)