What do you think?
Rate this book
The Suicide Motor Club
“Rising horror star”* Christopher Buehlman, author of The Lesser Dead, returns with a chilling and thrilling tale of dark evil lurking on the lonely, open road...
Bram Stoker, quoting the ballad “Lenore,” said, “The dead travel fast.”
Those words have never rung more true...
Remember that car that passed you near midnight on Route 66, doing 105 with its lights off? You wondered where it was going so quickly on that dark, dusty stretch of road, motor roaring, the driver glancing out the window as he blew by.
Did his greedy eyes shine silver like a coyote’s? Did he make you feel like prey?
You can’t remember now.
You just saw the founder of the Suicide Motor Club. Be grateful his brake lights never flashed. Be grateful his car was already full.
They roam America, littering the highways with smashed cars and bled-out bodies, a gruesome reflection of the unsettled sixties. But to anyone unlucky enough to meet them in the lonely hours of the night, they’re just a blurry memory.
That is—to all but one...
Two years ago, they left a witness in the mangled wreck of her family car, her husband dead, her son taken. She remembers their awful faces, despite their tricks and glamours. And she’s coming for them—her thirst for vengeance even more powerful than their hunger for blood.
On the deserted highways of America, the hunters are about to become the hunted...
Bram Stoker, quoting the ballad “Lenore,” said, “The dead travel fast.”
Those words have never rung more true...
Remember that car that passed you near midnight on Route 66, doing 105 with its lights off? You wondered where it was going so quickly on that dark, dusty stretch of road, motor roaring, the driver glancing out the window as he blew by.
Did his greedy eyes shine silver like a coyote’s? Did he make you feel like prey?
You can’t remember now.
You just saw the founder of the Suicide Motor Club. Be grateful his brake lights never flashed. Be grateful his car was already full.
They roam America, littering the highways with smashed cars and bled-out bodies, a gruesome reflection of the unsettled sixties. But to anyone unlucky enough to meet them in the lonely hours of the night, they’re just a blurry memory.
That is—to all but one...
Two years ago, they left a witness in the mangled wreck of her family car, her husband dead, her son taken. She remembers their awful faces, despite their tricks and glamours. And she’s coming for them—her thirst for vengeance even more powerful than their hunger for blood.
On the deserted highways of America, the hunters are about to become the hunted...
370 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 7, 2016
155 people are currently reading
4840 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 370 reviews
May 6, 2025
V8 Mayhem Imbroglio! Vampires vs Nun in Muscle Car Cage Fight! "Yes, we went there. Get the nuns on the front line vs the undead! Its about time they pulled their weight." - Subterranean Sentinel.
Not at all like the movie 'Grease!'
While there's sex, violence and fast cars with big V8s, Danny is a necrophilic vampire wannabee and Sandy is the local vampire hottie who's just stringing Danny along...
One of the best books I've read this year, and the best of Christopher Buehlman that I have read, (i.e. better than The Lesser Dead).
Luther Nixon's gang of vampires are as brutal, vile and sadistic as they come. Delighting in the suffering of others, they dress up one of their many victims (and there are many) as "Lady Liberty" on the 4th of July, before draining her dry in a symbolic "F*** You!" to everything bright and good.
Opposing them is Judith, one of the more interesting and nuanced characters I have ever met in the pages of a book. Devastated by the loss of her family, she is offered the opportunity to strike back, but who is making the offer? What are their secrets? What sacrifices will she have to make to achieve justice for her family and peace for her own soul?
Is there a god and who is their instrument?
Read this book and find out for yourself.
Note: Contains graphic violence and gore.
Strongly Recommended, five 'don't mess with the nun stars.'
P.s. Just for the record, this book does not contain any paranormal romance.
Not at all like the movie 'Grease!'
While there's sex, violence and fast cars with big V8s, Danny is a necrophilic vampire wannabee and Sandy is the local vampire hottie who's just stringing Danny along...
One of the best books I've read this year, and the best of Christopher Buehlman that I have read, (i.e. better than The Lesser Dead).
Luther Nixon's gang of vampires are as brutal, vile and sadistic as they come. Delighting in the suffering of others, they dress up one of their many victims (and there are many) as "Lady Liberty" on the 4th of July, before draining her dry in a symbolic "F*** You!" to everything bright and good.
Opposing them is Judith, one of the more interesting and nuanced characters I have ever met in the pages of a book. Devastated by the loss of her family, she is offered the opportunity to strike back, but who is making the offer? What are their secrets? What sacrifices will she have to make to achieve justice for her family and peace for her own soul?
Is there a god and who is their instrument?
Read this book and find out for yourself.
Note: Contains graphic violence and gore.
Strongly Recommended, five 'don't mess with the nun stars.'
P.s. Just for the record, this book does not contain any paranormal romance.
April 15, 2020
I am going with 3.5 stars for the The Suicide Motor Club!
The Suicide Motor Club starts off with an attack on Judith Lamb, her husband and child one dark night on a lonely road in the middle of the Southwest. Something grabs her child from the moving vehicle and she never sees her little boy again.
But she remembers teeth, glowing eyes and predators that night and will never be the same.
The Suicide Motor Club was a new telling of vampires and evil that's hunts in the middle of the night. The vampires in this book hunt their prey by cars and the faster the car, the better.
Don't plan on reading this book for some romantic vampires. Christopher Buehlman wrote them gritty, evil and mean as hell!
The only issue that I had with this wasn't the characters or plot. It was the writing.
It was a bit disconnected and confusing at times. I had a hard time trying to figure out which vampire was speaking in the chapter along with what was going on. I had to go back multiple times to read a previous paragraph or sentence to understand what was going on in the plot.
I think if the writing had a better flow that I would have rated this higher.
Definitely recommend this to horror and vampire fans! It had a fantastic and epic ending!
The Suicide Motor Club starts off with an attack on Judith Lamb, her husband and child one dark night on a lonely road in the middle of the Southwest. Something grabs her child from the moving vehicle and she never sees her little boy again.
But she remembers teeth, glowing eyes and predators that night and will never be the same.
The Suicide Motor Club was a new telling of vampires and evil that's hunts in the middle of the night. The vampires in this book hunt their prey by cars and the faster the car, the better.
Don't plan on reading this book for some romantic vampires. Christopher Buehlman wrote them gritty, evil and mean as hell!
The only issue that I had with this wasn't the characters or plot. It was the writing.
It was a bit disconnected and confusing at times. I had a hard time trying to figure out which vampire was speaking in the chapter along with what was going on. I had to go back multiple times to read a previous paragraph or sentence to understand what was going on in the plot.
I think if the writing had a better flow that I would have rated this higher.
Definitely recommend this to horror and vampire fans! It had a fantastic and epic ending!
August 7, 2017
4.5/5 stars!
Vampires and American muscle cars. It's like this book was tailored to me personally. And on top of that, it ROCKED!
A family is on a road trip on an American highway one night, with their young son in the back seat. A car with no lights on pulls up next to them, grabs the arm of the boy, (he had his arm out the window), and poof, the boy is gone. Next thing you know, the car is crashed on the side of the road, with both mom and dad badly injured. Where did the boy go? Who took him? Will he ever see his father and mother again? You'll have to read this to find out.
There's no sparkling here and there's no romance, (well, maybe a little, but it's a different type of romance.) Instead, these vamps traveled in a pack during the late 60's. For me, the time period was a perfect, refreshing setting because: 1. the cars were all American,(this was a time before the invasion of imported cars), 2. I'm an American car gal AND I love muscle cars and 3. there were no cell phones or other technologies distracting me from the story.
At this point in my horror-reading life, I'm vampired out. It takes a special book to get me excited about them, and this one was it. I loved the return of vampires with hypnotizing skills, (remember when Dracula did that hypnotizing thing?), ones that can make you do his/her bidding and then forget you ever saw them. I enjoyed the fact that these vampires had other special skills which I'll leave you to discover on your own, (but trust me the skills were COOL). I loved that these monsters were just that: MONSTERS in capital letters. Lastly, I also loved the fact that the protagonist was strong and female, never exactly sure of her strength but pressing on just the same. Jude was one to root for and root I did.
Now I'm sad that I only have one Christopher Buehlman book left to read. If you're out there, sir, I hope you're working on something new!
If you haven't read any of Mr. Buehlman's work as of yet, you should rectify that-and quickly! I doubt you'd be disappointed with any of them, but I highly recommend The Suicide Motor Club! It might just restore your faith in vampire horror stories and give you a new author to read!
You can get your copy here: The Suicide Motor Club
*I obtained my copy through my awesome public library because I'm usually broke. Libraries RULE*
Vampires and American muscle cars. It's like this book was tailored to me personally. And on top of that, it ROCKED!
A family is on a road trip on an American highway one night, with their young son in the back seat. A car with no lights on pulls up next to them, grabs the arm of the boy, (he had his arm out the window), and poof, the boy is gone. Next thing you know, the car is crashed on the side of the road, with both mom and dad badly injured. Where did the boy go? Who took him? Will he ever see his father and mother again? You'll have to read this to find out.
There's no sparkling here and there's no romance, (well, maybe a little, but it's a different type of romance.) Instead, these vamps traveled in a pack during the late 60's. For me, the time period was a perfect, refreshing setting because: 1. the cars were all American,(this was a time before the invasion of imported cars), 2. I'm an American car gal AND I love muscle cars and 3. there were no cell phones or other technologies distracting me from the story.
At this point in my horror-reading life, I'm vampired out. It takes a special book to get me excited about them, and this one was it. I loved the return of vampires with hypnotizing skills, (remember when Dracula did that hypnotizing thing?), ones that can make you do his/her bidding and then forget you ever saw them. I enjoyed the fact that these vampires had other special skills which I'll leave you to discover on your own, (but trust me the skills were COOL). I loved that these monsters were just that: MONSTERS in capital letters. Lastly, I also loved the fact that the protagonist was strong and female, never exactly sure of her strength but pressing on just the same. Jude was one to root for and root I did.
Now I'm sad that I only have one Christopher Buehlman book left to read. If you're out there, sir, I hope you're working on something new!
If you haven't read any of Mr. Buehlman's work as of yet, you should rectify that-and quickly! I doubt you'd be disappointed with any of them, but I highly recommend The Suicide Motor Club! It might just restore your faith in vampire horror stories and give you a new author to read!
You can get your copy here: The Suicide Motor Club
*I obtained my copy through my awesome public library because I'm usually broke. Libraries RULE*
February 13, 2023
1969
See that sleek black Trans-Am coasting down the oil slicked interstate with its lights off and engine growling? You'll wish you hadn't.
It appears that vampires are on the prowl in the good ole' US of A snatching victims in their travels but there is something, or should I say someone, they hadn't considered when they grabbed their latest victim.
Jude.
Jude is a wife and mother who fought these bloodsuckers in an epic game of tug of war with her son but she loses her grip and he's as good as gone. The commotion causes her husband to crash their vehicle, killing him. Jude makes it out alive though she hasn't much reason to live anymore. One thing she'll never forget are their hideous faces and how they destroyed her life. It's time they pay for what they did to her and her family. She's coming for them.
Vampires are frightening enough but a mother hellbent on revenge is a force to be reckoned with and this rag tag group of ghouls is about to find out what a mothers love is capable of. It's time to buckle up and put the pedal to the medal. Vroom! 4 stars!
See that sleek black Trans-Am coasting down the oil slicked interstate with its lights off and engine growling? You'll wish you hadn't.
It appears that vampires are on the prowl in the good ole' US of A snatching victims in their travels but there is something, or should I say someone, they hadn't considered when they grabbed their latest victim.
Jude.
Jude is a wife and mother who fought these bloodsuckers in an epic game of tug of war with her son but she loses her grip and he's as good as gone. The commotion causes her husband to crash their vehicle, killing him. Jude makes it out alive though she hasn't much reason to live anymore. One thing she'll never forget are their hideous faces and how they destroyed her life. It's time they pay for what they did to her and her family. She's coming for them.
Vampires are frightening enough but a mother hellbent on revenge is a force to be reckoned with and this rag tag group of ghouls is about to find out what a mothers love is capable of. It's time to buckle up and put the pedal to the medal. Vroom! 4 stars!
December 3, 2019
Ο Buehlman αποτελεί ένα από τα ευτυχή, βιβλιοφιλικά μου συναπαντήματα. Κινείται με χάρη ανάμεσα στον τρόμο και την περιπέτεια, δίχως να κάνει ουδέποτε εκπτώσεις στις προσωπικές του επιδιώξεις και την καλή γραφή. Και όταν η γραφή κατευθύνει την δημιουργικότητα, και όχι οι προσταγές των συμβάσεων, το αποτέλεσμα είναι καλό. Ωστόσο, σε τέτοιες περιπτώσεις ο αναγνώστης καλό είναι να αποτινάξει τις παρωπίδες των προσδοκιών.
Ήταν καλό το βιβλίο; Ήταν καλό βάσει της ταμπέλας υπό την οποία κυκλοφορεί; Ή, μήπως, ήταν καλό υπό το όνομα; Buehlman;
Αν κάποιος περιμένει αδυσώπητο τρόμο εδώ, μάλλον θα φύγει μουδιασμένος. Το βιβλίο είναι μια περιπέτεια καταδίωξης, μια εντυπωσιακή ανακατασκευή της Αμερικής του '60, των μεγάλων, έρημων εθνικών, των γρήγορων αυτοκινήτων, των άτσαλων, άμπαλων αστυνομικών και σερίφηδων. Πάνω απ΄όλα είναι μια ιστορία μιας ομάδας εγκλήματιών που λυμαίνονται τους δρόμους και τρέφονται με τους άτυχους οδηγούς. Γρήγορα αμάξια, λάστιχα που καίγονται, σμπαραλιασμένες λαμαρίνες, πυροβολισμοί - όλα τούτα, καθώς και μια νέα γυναίκα που θέλει να πάρει εκδίκηση, φεύγει από την μονή που είχε βρει καταφύγιο, και ενδεδυμένη το σχήμα της, καταδιώκει τα εγκληματικά βαμπίρ για τον χαμός του γιου της.
Το βιβλίο ακούγεται σαν μια ονείρωξη σπαγκέτι ουέστερν, ένα πράμα που θα μπορούσε να συλλάβει ο Ταραντίνο. Είναι, όμως, κάτι παραπάνω από αυτό, γιατί είναι βιβλίο, και τα βιβλία είναι πολλά παραπάνω από τις εκκωφαντικές, κινηματογραφικές διηγήσεις. Τα βαμπίρ αποτυπώνονται πιο γλαφυρά από ποτέ, ακολουθούν τις συμβάσεις του βαμπιρισμού, αλλά έχουν το κάτιτις παραπάνω, αλλά με σεβασμό στον μύθο τους.
Ο Buehlman πρέπει να ακουστεί, να διαδοθεί και να διαβαστεί. Είναι μεγάλο ταλέντο.
Ήταν καλό το βιβλίο; Ήταν καλό βάσει της ταμπέλας υπό την οποία κυκλοφορεί; Ή, μήπως, ήταν καλό υπό το όνομα; Buehlman;
Αν κάποιος περιμένει αδυσώπητο τρόμο εδώ, μάλλον θα φύγει μουδιασμένος. Το βιβλίο είναι μια περιπέτεια καταδίωξης, μια εντυπωσιακή ανακατασκευή της Αμερικής του '60, των μεγάλων, έρημων εθνικών, των γρήγορων αυτοκινήτων, των άτσαλων, άμπαλων αστυνομικών και σερίφηδων. Πάνω απ΄όλα είναι μια ιστορία μιας ομάδας εγκλήματιών που λυμαίνονται τους δρόμους και τρέφονται με τους άτυχους οδηγούς. Γρήγορα αμάξια, λάστιχα που καίγονται, σμπαραλιασμένες λαμαρίνες, πυροβολισμοί - όλα τούτα, καθώς και μια νέα γυναίκα που θέλει να πάρει εκδίκηση, φεύγει από την μονή που είχε βρει καταφύγιο, και ενδεδυμένη το σχήμα της, καταδιώκει τα εγκληματικά βαμπίρ για τον χαμός του γιου της.
Το βιβλίο ακούγεται σαν μια ονείρωξη σπαγκέτι ουέστερν, ένα πράμα που θα μπορούσε να συλλάβει ο Ταραντίνο. Είναι, όμως, κάτι παραπάνω από αυτό, γιατί είναι βιβλίο, και τα βιβλία είναι πολλά παραπάνω από τις εκκωφαντικές, κινηματογραφικές διηγήσεις. Τα βαμπίρ αποτυπώνονται πιο γλαφυρά από ποτέ, ακολουθούν τις συμβάσεις του βαμπιρισμού, αλλά έχουν το κάτιτις παραπάνω, αλλά με σεβασμό στον μύθο τους.
Ο Buehlman πρέπει να ακουστεί, να διαδοθεί και να διαβαστεί. Είναι μεγάλο ταλέντο.
June 2, 2016
Review from The Speculative Herald: http://www.speculativeherald.com/2016...
The Suicide Motor Club is a visceral portrayal of the darker side of vampires. As you would expect from Buehlman, these are not the sparkly, hunky types of vampires that teenage girls swoon over. These are the things of your nightmares becoming reality. The pacing and emotions are as relentless as the vampires of the suicide motor club.
The main vampires we meet are part of what is called The Suicide Motor Club. They stalk their prey on the highways (if the word stalking can be used when they are driving over 100 miles per hour. At night, with no lights.) Choosing their victims, causing horrific crashes, and feasting on the survivors. This to me, is just a terrifying scenario. It shows a vulnerability as there is little you can do when driving down the highway if another car decides their purpose is to make you crash. Normal people are not trained or capable of evading this. The fear of crashing is honestly scary enough for me. Especially in the 1960s before there were as many safety features on cars. But then to survive the initial crash, trapped and bleeding as waiting prey for the vampires to feast on and finish the job just takes the scenario from fear to absolutely horrifying. These vampires take a cruel pleasure in the hunting and pain of humans.
But when one of their victims not only survives, but also proves immune to their glamours and mind control abilities, the hunters become the hunted. Judith may not be able to explain what she saw in terms of what other people will be willing to accept, since vampires hide their existence. But she remembers clearly who and what caused her devastating loss on that highway. Judith’s first tactic at recovery really surprised me and yet it makes perfect sense. She is is a strong woman, and when she is given an opportunity she will seize it with all her might.
Buehlman did not just do a great job with Judith’s character, but also with the characters of the vampires. The story was incredibly well balanced with enough back story and information to allow the reader to distinguish and understand each vampire as unique from the others. They all had their own motivations and personalities. There are some interesting scenarios that occur that really test faith and trust. One vampire in particular I found absolutely fascinating.
I really want to know what happens next in the characters that survive to end of this book and yet am completely satisfied with the ending. Honestly, I just thought it was fabulous. Buehlmans ability to craft words to flow so beautifully and yet paint such a terrifying tale is in full force. Pretty much, this is a fantastic story that will force you to the edge of your seat and pitch your emotions from fear to heartache to vengeance. It is a book that can be terrifying and yet will never cross you mind to set it down until the final page has been read.
The Suicide Motor Club is a visceral portrayal of the darker side of vampires. As you would expect from Buehlman, these are not the sparkly, hunky types of vampires that teenage girls swoon over. These are the things of your nightmares becoming reality. The pacing and emotions are as relentless as the vampires of the suicide motor club.
The main vampires we meet are part of what is called The Suicide Motor Club. They stalk their prey on the highways (if the word stalking can be used when they are driving over 100 miles per hour. At night, with no lights.) Choosing their victims, causing horrific crashes, and feasting on the survivors. This to me, is just a terrifying scenario. It shows a vulnerability as there is little you can do when driving down the highway if another car decides their purpose is to make you crash. Normal people are not trained or capable of evading this. The fear of crashing is honestly scary enough for me. Especially in the 1960s before there were as many safety features on cars. But then to survive the initial crash, trapped and bleeding as waiting prey for the vampires to feast on and finish the job just takes the scenario from fear to absolutely horrifying. These vampires take a cruel pleasure in the hunting and pain of humans.
But when one of their victims not only survives, but also proves immune to their glamours and mind control abilities, the hunters become the hunted. Judith may not be able to explain what she saw in terms of what other people will be willing to accept, since vampires hide their existence. But she remembers clearly who and what caused her devastating loss on that highway. Judith’s first tactic at recovery really surprised me and yet it makes perfect sense. She is is a strong woman, and when she is given an opportunity she will seize it with all her might.
Buehlman did not just do a great job with Judith’s character, but also with the characters of the vampires. The story was incredibly well balanced with enough back story and information to allow the reader to distinguish and understand each vampire as unique from the others. They all had their own motivations and personalities. There are some interesting scenarios that occur that really test faith and trust. One vampire in particular I found absolutely fascinating.
I really want to know what happens next in the characters that survive to end of this book and yet am completely satisfied with the ending. Honestly, I just thought it was fabulous. Buehlmans ability to craft words to flow so beautifully and yet paint such a terrifying tale is in full force. Pretty much, this is a fantastic story that will force you to the edge of your seat and pitch your emotions from fear to heartache to vengeance. It is a book that can be terrifying and yet will never cross you mind to set it down until the final page has been read.
May 17, 2016
Wow. Such a gritty and fuel-injected vampire/horror novel and yet so meticulous and beautifully written. How Buehlman juggles all the characters and their stories and the stories of the smaller characters too, all given such respect and proper page time, gives THE SUICIDE MOTOR CLUB the weight of a complex American epic with plenty of emotional wallop, plus thrills galore. Consider me a fan of Mr. Buehlman!
Read
April 25, 2023The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman
Other Books by This Author I Read/Enjoyed: Between Two Fires, The Lesser Dead, Those Across the River
Only available here: https://a.co/d/2hKsfMw
Release Date/This edition: December 2022
General Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Paranormal,
Subgenre/Themes: Kidnapping, vampire hunting, religion, revenge, vigilante justice, car crashes, strong female protagonist, grief & loss
Writing Style: Stephen King(ish), fast pace, character-driven, cinematic
What You Need to Know: This is vampire horror canon.
"a general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged." If you love vampire horror, The Suicide Motorclub is essential. There’s not much you need to know beyond what the synopsis provides other than a few of the characters are very bad people. Ugly on the inside. They’re racist, misogynistic, and just all-around nasty; monsters in the truest sense of the word. It’s important to know that there are racial slurs and other offensive language/actions.
My Reading Experience: This book is just so fun and entertaining. The premise is simple. A gang of vampires has a unique way of acquiring their prey. In Buehlman’s universe, vampires can hypnotize people/“charm” them into doing whatever they want. Typically, they willingly drive their cars into trees or other cars at high speeds causing violent, deadly accidents in which the vampires are the first responders. Some of these graphic scenes are absolutely terrifying.
Judith, a grieving widow whose son was abducted and likely killed by this murderous gang, is our main protagonist. In her grief, she decides to join a convent; become a nun.
“...I just have a big hole where my heart was. Everything’s falling into it.”
It’s here that she is faced with the most exciting and intriguing invitation I have ever seen in a book. It made me feel like rubbing my hands together with a big grin like, “HERE WE GO!” the dialogue between Judith and this character with an invitation will be one of my favorite chapters in horror forever. So good. So cinematic. I saw it very clearly in my mind.
Eventually, as the story speeds toward an epic conclusion, a relationship develops that I loved so much. It is very unexpected, my reader’s heart didn’t see it coming and it’s one of the major aspects of this book that sets Christopher Buehlman apart from his peers. That and his talent for writing how people really talk, intricately plotted storylines, and authentic characters I can invest in wholeheartedly. Oh, and scary scenes. Buehlman always delivers on the horror.
Final Recommendation: Buehlman fans, horror junkies, and vampire lovers, don’t miss this one. It’s lean and mean, brutal and bloody, and will rip your heart right out and step on it.
Comps: Rovers by Richard Lang, In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson, Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin
Other Books by This Author I Read/Enjoyed: Between Two Fires, The Lesser Dead, Those Across the River
Only available here: https://a.co/d/2hKsfMw
Release Date/This edition: December 2022
General Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Paranormal,
Subgenre/Themes: Kidnapping, vampire hunting, religion, revenge, vigilante justice, car crashes, strong female protagonist, grief & loss
Writing Style: Stephen King(ish), fast pace, character-driven, cinematic
What You Need to Know: This is vampire horror canon.
"a general law, rule, principle, or criterion by which something is judged." If you love vampire horror, The Suicide Motorclub is essential. There’s not much you need to know beyond what the synopsis provides other than a few of the characters are very bad people. Ugly on the inside. They’re racist, misogynistic, and just all-around nasty; monsters in the truest sense of the word. It’s important to know that there are racial slurs and other offensive language/actions.
My Reading Experience: This book is just so fun and entertaining. The premise is simple. A gang of vampires has a unique way of acquiring their prey. In Buehlman’s universe, vampires can hypnotize people/“charm” them into doing whatever they want. Typically, they willingly drive their cars into trees or other cars at high speeds causing violent, deadly accidents in which the vampires are the first responders. Some of these graphic scenes are absolutely terrifying.
Judith, a grieving widow whose son was abducted and likely killed by this murderous gang, is our main protagonist. In her grief, she decides to join a convent; become a nun.
“...I just have a big hole where my heart was. Everything’s falling into it.”
It’s here that she is faced with the most exciting and intriguing invitation I have ever seen in a book. It made me feel like rubbing my hands together with a big grin like, “HERE WE GO!” the dialogue between Judith and this character with an invitation will be one of my favorite chapters in horror forever. So good. So cinematic. I saw it very clearly in my mind.
Eventually, as the story speeds toward an epic conclusion, a relationship develops that I loved so much. It is very unexpected, my reader’s heart didn’t see it coming and it’s one of the major aspects of this book that sets Christopher Buehlman apart from his peers. That and his talent for writing how people really talk, intricately plotted storylines, and authentic characters I can invest in wholeheartedly. Oh, and scary scenes. Buehlman always delivers on the horror.
Final Recommendation: Buehlman fans, horror junkies, and vampire lovers, don’t miss this one. It’s lean and mean, brutal and bloody, and will rip your heart right out and step on it.
Comps: Rovers by Richard Lang, In the Valley of the Sun by Andy Davidson, Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin
May 1, 2018
Vampires! Horror! Muscle Cars! Dark ! Gritty! Blood! Gore! aaaand Revenge!
Confession: I am frivolous enough to be lusting
after an attractive book cover. And when there's an intriguing title attached to such a cover, I stand no chance to not indulge in a harmless little tryst with a book.Just making a few things clear there as to why I hooked up with this one.
Revelation: Vampires!
Yup it was much later that I realized that this one has vampires because ahem you as I already mentioned, in lust and all....What did i know?!! I was deliberately ensared! There was no way now that I would not carry on with this little distraction amidst my other reads.
As for the plot, characters, story arc, writing style bla bla bla. I am not even going to talk about all that. For me this book checked all the criterions that I want in a book. It was absolutely perfect.
Oh and extra stars for Buehlman's freaking-ly awesome narration.
P.S: This one gave me all the feels of something that Tarantino would make. Why hasn't this been picked by some film maker already?
P.P.S: this book has a lot elements of death, violence with quite many descriptive gruesome and gory moments. All my friends who do no prefer such triggers, I'd suggest them to stay away from this one.
Confession: I am frivolous enough to be lusting
after an attractive book cover. And when there's an intriguing title attached to such a cover, I stand no chance to not indulge in a harmless little tryst with a book.
Revelation: Vampires!
Yup it was much later that I realized that this one has vampires because ahem you as I already mentioned, in lust and all....What did i know?!! I was deliberately ensared! There was no way now that I would not carry on with this little distraction amidst my other reads.
As for the plot, characters, story arc, writing style bla bla bla. I am not even going to talk about all that. For me this book checked all the criterions that I want in a book. It was absolutely perfect.
Oh and extra stars for Buehlman's freaking-ly awesome narration.
P.S: This one gave me all the feels of something that Tarantino would make. Why hasn't this been picked by some film maker already?
P.P.S: this book has a lot elements of death, violence with quite many descriptive gruesome and gory moments. All my friends who do no prefer such triggers, I'd suggest them to stay away from this one.
January 12, 2018
this is my 2nd read by Christopher B and I think I love him! The villains in this book and mean, mean, mean! The story is very action packed. I think for people who love reading about these types of villains, this story will be a breath of fresh air. (leaving it vague for anyone who wants to be surprised).
December 26, 2016
The nitty-gritty: Mix the dark absurdity of Pulp Fiction with fast cars, set the story in the late 60s, add in a handful of bloodthirsty vampires and a young woman who is set on vengeance, and you have a stellar novel that is a MUST READ for horror fans.
“I don’t believe in vampires,” Sam said. “But I do believe in assholes.”
(That's my favorite quote from the book, by the way.)
Sometimes a book comes along that reminds me why I love reading, and The Suicide Motor Club is one of these rare books. I have to admit I’ve been feeling a little blah about reading and blogging lately, mostly due to an extremely busy schedule in other areas of my life. Writing reviews especially has felt like a chore, and even though I realize that reviews are the reason I started this blog in the first place, sometimes I just don’t feel like writing them. But then I read Buehlman’s latest and I couldn’t wait to sit down and tell you all about it! First of all, you should know this is a vampire story, but these are unlike any vampires I’ve ever come across before. They are familiar in some ways—they drink blood from humans, they can’t go outside during the day, and they have miraculous healing powers. But I found them to be horrifically terrifying and honestly more like serial killers than supernatural creatures. Buehlman’s vampires are undead nasties who hole up during the day in abandoned mines and dilapidated shelters of one sort or another, but by night they cruise the dark streets of America in their hot rods, causing horrific car accidents and feasting on the crash victims. There’s a car on the book cover for a good reason: cars play a central role in the story, both in the machinations of the killings, and the characters' love of big engines and shiny paint jobs.
Judith Lamb and her family are driving one night when a car with its head lights off pulls up beside them. Judith is horrified when a deathly pale man in the backseat reaches through the window and grabs her son Glendon, yanking him into the car. The ’67 Camaro peels off into the night before Judith or her husband Robert can react, but the worst is yet to come. Following close behind, a red GTO rams into their car and causes a grisly accident, killing Robert and gravely injuring Judith.
When Judith wakes up in the hospital, her husband is dead and her son has been kidnapped and is likely dead as well. Survivor’s guilt and lots of soul-searching lead Judith to joining a convent in the hopes of becoming a nun someday. But now, two years later, a stranger comes to visit her, claiming that he is a member of a group of vampire hunters called the Bereaved, men who have been watching and studying groups of vampires for years in the hopes of destroying them some day. Their leader, Phillip Wicklow, asks Judith to leave the convent and join them in their fight, explaining that her connection to the convent gives her a holy status that could be a powerful force against the creatures.
Judith’s desire for revenge leads her to accept Wicklow’s offer, but killing vampires is a nearly impossible—not to mention deadly—task. As Judith prepares for the battle ahead, she’s going to need all her faith to survive, as well as the physical skills she’s learned from her father. Because these vampires are mean. And tricky. And worst of all, they’re hell on wheels…
Wow, where to start? First of all, this book is a flawless example of how to write a horror story, and it’s one of the best of that genre that I’ve ever read (and that’s saying something—I’ve read a lot of horror fiction). Buehlman’s writing is part poetry and part nasty Southern Gothic drawl. Each sentence is perfectly timed and perfectly placed. Buehlman just understands the rhythms in writing, and it’s a rare thing. I also have to mention that the way he writes a character’s inner dialogue reminded me so much of Stephen King, except that Buelhman’s prose is so much better.
Word of warning: if you don’t like reading about car crashes, then this might not be the book for you. There are some pretty hairy scenes that involve fatal crashes, and what’s even more terrifying is the fact that Luther and his vamp friends deliberately cause these accidents. As I mentioned before, the horror in The Suicide Motor Club is more of the human variety, which makes these characters even scarier. Yes, the vampires have sharp teeth and they drink blood, but they also shoot guns and wield knives, and they do it with shit-eating grins on their faces. These aren’t the sort of folks you want to encounter at night on a lonely stretch of road.
Another of Buehlman’s strengths is his ability to write deep and sympathetic characters, and even the meanest of the vampires, a piece of work named Luther, has a past life as a race car driver, who even now as a vampire loves cars. I loved these little details, the character traits that make even the worst and nastiest characters come across as human. (Although there is a vampire named Calcutta who didn’t have any redeeming qualities, from what I could tell. She was one of the scariest characters I’ve ever encountered!)
And then there is Judith, who has lost everything and doesn’t know where to turn. The fact that she takes steps to become a nun, of all things, gives her the strength she needs to fight the vampires. Judith seems meek and helpless in the beginning scenes, especially after her son is taken so brutally. But she rallies back with a dark purpose when she’s given the chance to exact vengeance, and this side of Judith really surprised me. Buehlman gives us wonderful back-story details about growing up with a father who not only taught her how to shoot and fight, but imparted important life lessons to her at the same time. Judith isn’t a flashy character, but she’s one I’ll remember for a very long time.
Buehlman frames his story by dividing it into five main sections, each one becoming increasingly more tense as the story goes along. By the time we’re introduced to a new vampire character named Clayton, I had the dreaded feeling of just where things were headed, and I was right. I suddenly felt like I was in the speeding car, unable to prevent what was coming. And these are the magical moments in storytelling that are so elusive. The last page of the story gave me chills, the good kind that you get when everything comes together just right in the end. Every aspiring writer should read this book and take notes—this is how it’s done.
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy. This review originally appeared on Books, Bones & Buffy
June 25, 2021
A pretty wild ride by Buehlman, and a very polished one in terms of prose and design as I have come to expect from him. Buehlman returns to vampires here, once again in a historical setting (like The Lesser Dead), but this time in the late 1960s.
The book stars off with a young couple and their child cruising along the highway in the desert southwest; the boy Glendon sitting in the backseat waving his hand out the window to get the air flow. Suddenly, a few men in a GTO pull up alongside and grab the boy's arm and yank him from the car, eventually pulling him out all the way and then clipping the family's car, sending it into a deadly tumble. What the hell is going on? The wife, Judith, saw glowing eyes of the men who grabbed her son, but the cops blew her story off.
Judith, after her husband died a few days after the wreck, is a wreck herself-- lonely, despondent, and unsure what to do. After some soul searching, she decides to become a nun, and would have remained so until one day a strange visitor came to the abbey and told her about the vampires that took her son-- does she want to join the 'bereaved' and take vengeance upon them? She opts for yes and then the hunt for the 'Suicide motor club' as the band of vampires is known gets under way...
I liked this a lot, but not as much as Buehlman's other works. Unlike the gritty background of NYC in the 70s of The Lesser Dead, the main feature of this adventure were the cars of the day-- hot rod Chevys and Fords. Buehlman, as usual, has done his homework here on; the cars are depicted true to life and the chase scenes are worthy of the big screen for sure. Yet, unlike his other novels, Buehlman does not even try to tackle existential questions, or try to make you think sideways-- this is pure adrenaline adventure and that is about it. That stated, Buehlman does this very well!
Finally, and this is my purely subjective opinion, Buehlman never fails to let me down a bit with his endings. Yes, there is a spectacular denouement, but the finale left me underwhelmed. 3.5 stars, rounding up, primarily due to the sound of revving engines still stuck in my brain as I write this!
The book stars off with a young couple and their child cruising along the highway in the desert southwest; the boy Glendon sitting in the backseat waving his hand out the window to get the air flow. Suddenly, a few men in a GTO pull up alongside and grab the boy's arm and yank him from the car, eventually pulling him out all the way and then clipping the family's car, sending it into a deadly tumble. What the hell is going on? The wife, Judith, saw glowing eyes of the men who grabbed her son, but the cops blew her story off.
Judith, after her husband died a few days after the wreck, is a wreck herself-- lonely, despondent, and unsure what to do. After some soul searching, she decides to become a nun, and would have remained so until one day a strange visitor came to the abbey and told her about the vampires that took her son-- does she want to join the 'bereaved' and take vengeance upon them? She opts for yes and then the hunt for the 'Suicide motor club' as the band of vampires is known gets under way...
I liked this a lot, but not as much as Buehlman's other works. Unlike the gritty background of NYC in the 70s of The Lesser Dead, the main feature of this adventure were the cars of the day-- hot rod Chevys and Fords. Buehlman, as usual, has done his homework here on; the cars are depicted true to life and the chase scenes are worthy of the big screen for sure. Yet, unlike his other novels, Buehlman does not even try to tackle existential questions, or try to make you think sideways-- this is pure adrenaline adventure and that is about it. That stated, Buehlman does this very well!
Finally, and this is my purely subjective opinion, Buehlman never fails to let me down a bit with his endings. Yes, there is a spectacular denouement, but the finale left me underwhelmed. 3.5 stars, rounding up, primarily due to the sound of revving engines still stuck in my brain as I write this!
June 25, 2016
3.5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum https://bibliosanctum.com/2016/06/25/...
The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman was actually pretty awesome. Know that the only reason I didn’t rate this book higher is because I’m very picky about vampire books, owing to their particular abundance in fantasy and horror fiction. In truth, as much as I enjoyed this, I think there are better vampire titles out there, including Buehlman’s own vampire novel that was published a couple years ago, The Lesser Dead. I still remember how I felt when I read that book, the sense of fear and dread that filled me when I first encountered the novel’s group of creepy vampire children roaming and hunting in the subways. I wanted badly to experience that again with The Suicide Motor Club, but in the end it just didn’t compare.
The Suicide Motor Club opens in 1967, following a family of three as they drive down a lonely stretch of highway. All of a sudden, another car comes speeding up towards them out of nowhere, overtaking the family, making a snatch at the little boy sitting in the back with his arm hanging out the open window. Just like that, Judith Lamb’s son Glendon was gone, yanked into the other vehicle, a hot rod Camaro occupied by its gleaming-eyed driver and his pale companion. However, before Judith and her husband Robert could catch up and rescue their boy, another car comes up behind them and rams them off the road, causing them to crash.
Robert Lamb dies in the hospital soon after, but Judith survives, heartbroken knowing that Glendon is also lost to her forever. She ends up joining a convent, but two years later when she is still a novice nun, a stranger named Wicklow comes seeking her, claiming to be the leader of a group called the Bereaved. They are hunters, and the targets they hunt are the creatures in those cars that took Judith’s son, killed her husband, and almost killed Judith herself: Vampires. Wicklow tells her about a band of them known as the Suicide Motor Club, who prey on their victims by targeting them on the road, deliberately causing deadly accidents so they can swoop in and feed on the survivors. Because of her past experiences and unique position as a nun, Wicklow believes that Judith can help them. Ultimately he convinces her to join the Bereaved, appealing as well to her intense desire for vengeance.
There are a couple reason why I didn’t think this one was as good as The Lesser Dead. First of all, it’s pretty hard to out-creep creepy vampire children. Creepy vampire children are like the pinnacle of creepiness. Even the sadistic founder of the Suicide Motor Club and his ilk could hardly match that. Second, I felt a distinct aversion for the kind of…unsubtlety that made up the action in this story, like scenes of car chases, horrific crashes, and deadly explosions, etc. To be fair, this is something I should have anticipated, considering that fast cars and highways are the central focus of this novel. If that kind of action strikes your fancy, then chances are you’ll love the hell out of this book. Personally I’m just not that into this kind of bombast, so for me many of the more “exciting” sequences fell flat.
I also enjoyed the characters, even given limited opportunity to really get to know any of them. There are a lot of characters involved, including minor appearances from incidental names and faces whose presence is mainly used to illustrate the destructiveness of the vampires as they make their deadly rampage along the country’s highways. It’s a common enough device (especially in many horror and thriller-suspense novels) but to me it felt like it was slightly overdone here, overshadowing the more important primary characters. I liked Judith, but at the same time I also felt a detachment to her cause. When you consider the main story without all its tangents, the plot is actually quite simple; and at the end of the day, Judith didn’t seem to have much control over her circumstances, nor did she have the means to really influence the direction of the story and the fate of all involved. Still, I don’t deny that I generally prefer more character-driven stories, so this is most likely just a matter of taste.
Lest I start to sound too negative though, I want to emphasize again that this is not a bad book, and I actually liked it a lot! Admittedly I have high expectations when it comes to Buehlman, since I loved the two other books I’ve read by him. It’s just hard not to make comparisons to them, especially since like The Lesser Dead, this newest novel also features vampires, and I’ve even heard somewhere that The Suicide Motor Club was meant to be a quasi-prequel. Knowing that he was tackling vampires as a subject again, I’d merely hoped that the story would be more original, or that there would be something more unique about these vampires. Everything ended up being fairly standard and predictable, but I definitely wouldn’t say I was disappointed either.
Frankly, when it comes down to the enjoyment factor, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book. It might not be perfect, nor do I consider it Buehlman’s best, but he does some pretty neat things with the premise. The Suicide Motor Club also hasn’t changed my opinion of him as a talented author, who writes with such a bold, evocative style. Plus, it’s fast-paced, action-oriented, and it’ll keep you turning the pages. When you’re looking to escape with a thrilling horror novel, sometimes you just can’t ask for more.
The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman was actually pretty awesome. Know that the only reason I didn’t rate this book higher is because I’m very picky about vampire books, owing to their particular abundance in fantasy and horror fiction. In truth, as much as I enjoyed this, I think there are better vampire titles out there, including Buehlman’s own vampire novel that was published a couple years ago, The Lesser Dead. I still remember how I felt when I read that book, the sense of fear and dread that filled me when I first encountered the novel’s group of creepy vampire children roaming and hunting in the subways. I wanted badly to experience that again with The Suicide Motor Club, but in the end it just didn’t compare.
The Suicide Motor Club opens in 1967, following a family of three as they drive down a lonely stretch of highway. All of a sudden, another car comes speeding up towards them out of nowhere, overtaking the family, making a snatch at the little boy sitting in the back with his arm hanging out the open window. Just like that, Judith Lamb’s son Glendon was gone, yanked into the other vehicle, a hot rod Camaro occupied by its gleaming-eyed driver and his pale companion. However, before Judith and her husband Robert could catch up and rescue their boy, another car comes up behind them and rams them off the road, causing them to crash.
Robert Lamb dies in the hospital soon after, but Judith survives, heartbroken knowing that Glendon is also lost to her forever. She ends up joining a convent, but two years later when she is still a novice nun, a stranger named Wicklow comes seeking her, claiming to be the leader of a group called the Bereaved. They are hunters, and the targets they hunt are the creatures in those cars that took Judith’s son, killed her husband, and almost killed Judith herself: Vampires. Wicklow tells her about a band of them known as the Suicide Motor Club, who prey on their victims by targeting them on the road, deliberately causing deadly accidents so they can swoop in and feed on the survivors. Because of her past experiences and unique position as a nun, Wicklow believes that Judith can help them. Ultimately he convinces her to join the Bereaved, appealing as well to her intense desire for vengeance.
There are a couple reason why I didn’t think this one was as good as The Lesser Dead. First of all, it’s pretty hard to out-creep creepy vampire children. Creepy vampire children are like the pinnacle of creepiness. Even the sadistic founder of the Suicide Motor Club and his ilk could hardly match that. Second, I felt a distinct aversion for the kind of…unsubtlety that made up the action in this story, like scenes of car chases, horrific crashes, and deadly explosions, etc. To be fair, this is something I should have anticipated, considering that fast cars and highways are the central focus of this novel. If that kind of action strikes your fancy, then chances are you’ll love the hell out of this book. Personally I’m just not that into this kind of bombast, so for me many of the more “exciting” sequences fell flat.
I also enjoyed the characters, even given limited opportunity to really get to know any of them. There are a lot of characters involved, including minor appearances from incidental names and faces whose presence is mainly used to illustrate the destructiveness of the vampires as they make their deadly rampage along the country’s highways. It’s a common enough device (especially in many horror and thriller-suspense novels) but to me it felt like it was slightly overdone here, overshadowing the more important primary characters. I liked Judith, but at the same time I also felt a detachment to her cause. When you consider the main story without all its tangents, the plot is actually quite simple; and at the end of the day, Judith didn’t seem to have much control over her circumstances, nor did she have the means to really influence the direction of the story and the fate of all involved. Still, I don’t deny that I generally prefer more character-driven stories, so this is most likely just a matter of taste.
Lest I start to sound too negative though, I want to emphasize again that this is not a bad book, and I actually liked it a lot! Admittedly I have high expectations when it comes to Buehlman, since I loved the two other books I’ve read by him. It’s just hard not to make comparisons to them, especially since like The Lesser Dead, this newest novel also features vampires, and I’ve even heard somewhere that The Suicide Motor Club was meant to be a quasi-prequel. Knowing that he was tackling vampires as a subject again, I’d merely hoped that the story would be more original, or that there would be something more unique about these vampires. Everything ended up being fairly standard and predictable, but I definitely wouldn’t say I was disappointed either.
Frankly, when it comes down to the enjoyment factor, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this book. It might not be perfect, nor do I consider it Buehlman’s best, but he does some pretty neat things with the premise. The Suicide Motor Club also hasn’t changed my opinion of him as a talented author, who writes with such a bold, evocative style. Plus, it’s fast-paced, action-oriented, and it’ll keep you turning the pages. When you’re looking to escape with a thrilling horror novel, sometimes you just can’t ask for more.
June 28, 2021
I don’t write reviews.
The smell of burnt rubber in you nostrils. Atmosphere thick with motor oil and ozone. The sound of impact. If you were in the car and lived, it’s a sound you never forget. Nor do you forget that feeling when time slows down and you know, this WILL crash. If you’re lucky, you don’t tense up. I didn’t, so what a lucky girl I must be.
Now take your real experiences and add vampires into the mix. A strong sympathetic female lead, Judith. A mysterious brave male undead lead, Clayton. (You might remember a mention or two about him in the Lesser Dead). Monsters and men and those in between. And vroom vroom cars.
The smell of burnt rubber in you nostrils. Atmosphere thick with motor oil and ozone. The sound of impact. If you were in the car and lived, it’s a sound you never forget. Nor do you forget that feeling when time slows down and you know, this WILL crash. If you’re lucky, you don’t tense up. I didn’t, so what a lucky girl I must be.
Now take your real experiences and add vampires into the mix. A strong sympathetic female lead, Judith. A mysterious brave male undead lead, Clayton. (You might remember a mention or two about him in the Lesser Dead). Monsters and men and those in between. And vroom vroom cars.
July 2, 2020
"And I had the feeling she hated me for taking her life from her just when she was figuring out how to enjoy it. But also, she loved me for being strong enough to do that, which is f***'ed up. That's why we ain't in the Garden of Eden no more, and the angel with the fiery sword ain't ever lettin' us back in."
Touching and wonderfully chilling vampire tale with some low down dirty, heart thumping action. These are not your grandparent's vampires. Forget the capes and the fancy duds. These are the feral vampires, terrors of the road, preying on the innocent motorists of the vast open highways of 1960's America with their muscle cars and boundless hunger for death and destruction.
This is the third book I've consumed from Buehlman, the other two being The Lesser Dead and Between Two Fires, and I have to say I'm blown away by his consistent ability to deliver. His prose is electric, and he knows how to write a story that's always moving and evolving. And a master at putting some new spins on old, tried and true tropes, and creating well balanced, lively and amusing stories that are a pleasure.
As with The Lesser Dead, the author does his own audio narration here, and it is marvelous. Most authors can't compare to a professional narrator, and I had thought Neil Gaiman the only exception. But Buehlman hits it out of the park.
Touching and wonderfully chilling vampire tale with some low down dirty, heart thumping action. These are not your grandparent's vampires. Forget the capes and the fancy duds. These are the feral vampires, terrors of the road, preying on the innocent motorists of the vast open highways of 1960's America with their muscle cars and boundless hunger for death and destruction.
This is the third book I've consumed from Buehlman, the other two being The Lesser Dead and Between Two Fires, and I have to say I'm blown away by his consistent ability to deliver. His prose is electric, and he knows how to write a story that's always moving and evolving. And a master at putting some new spins on old, tried and true tropes, and creating well balanced, lively and amusing stories that are a pleasure.
As with The Lesser Dead, the author does his own audio narration here, and it is marvelous. Most authors can't compare to a professional narrator, and I had thought Neil Gaiman the only exception. But Buehlman hits it out of the park.
August 5, 2017
"Why am I smiling at the end of a Christopher Buehlman book?"
- me
A fast paced tale of revenge... that left its fly unzipped.
On a lonely moonlit road Judith looses her husband and son to vampires. Her cheating spouse was no great loss but having Glendon wrenched from her arms shatters Judith's world. She finds solace in God and prepares to become a nun when an ex priest stops by to recruit her as a vampire hunter.
Solid premise. I'm a big fan of simple revenge tales, Wraith of Khan is one of my favorite movies. The book doled plenty of revenge, but it wasn't enough.
My experience with Buehlman's books is that they have several endings/knives to stab you with. This one didn't. Hell, I found myself smiling at the end. Then I was outright scowling because one, I was smiling at the end of a mother fucking Christopher Buehlman book and two
All of this points to a cliffhanger ending in preparation for a sequel to cover the time period between SMC and Lesser Dead. But the final act feels less like a "See you next time kids!" than a "And now you can go fuck off."
And now I'm smiling again because that is a Christopher Buehlman ending. Four stars.
November 9, 2019
Good vampire tale, in the same vein as Mr. Buehlman’s other book, The Lesser Dead (see what I did there...😎🤓🧛♀️). Of the two, I liked this one better, despite a rather disjointed start. As in the other book, this was filled with very interesting characters, and takes an interesting perspective of that of the vampires. Well worth the read if you enjoy tales of the bloodsuckers. 4.0/5.0 stars for me.
December 21, 2017
i would rate the last 1/4 of this book 3.5 stars and the fir 3/4 4.5 stars. overall an excellent take on vampires vs humans
spirituality vs atheism. buehlman is so good at this subgenre but i found lesser dead creepier overall.
this is almost more an action than a horror novel although there are horrific moments.
i just love his prose there are some excellent characterizations and turn of phrases and if i hadnt read the lesser dead before this i may have rated it even higher.
spirituality vs atheism. buehlman is so good at this subgenre but i found lesser dead creepier overall.
this is almost more an action than a horror novel although there are horrific moments.
i just love his prose there are some excellent characterizations and turn of phrases and if i hadnt read the lesser dead before this i may have rated it even higher.
August 18, 2023
Another scary good vampire tale narrated by Buehlman himself. Ummm, that ending though...
June 10, 2016
It was some time during early Autumn of 2013 when a friend who I was just getting to know, because he was a sales rep for Penguin books, put an advanced reading copy of The Necromancer’s House by Christopher Buehlman into my hands. I can still remember exactly what he said because, in hindsight, he couldn’t have put it better. He told me, “Buehlman is the greatest horror fiction writer you’ve never heard of.” I took the hand-off with equal measures of curiosity and hesitation - I hadn’t really read horror fiction since the late, late teenaged nights that I sat up with a flashlight, compulsively flipping the pages of secondhand Stephen King novels. But, curiosity completely piqued, I started asking questions, and he recalled a couple really wild sequences in the book without giving away any of their ultimate surprises.
This sounds a whole lot easier to do than it really is, precisely because one of the most delightful things about Buehlman’s books are the jolts, turns, and revelations that punch and spin you when you’re not expecting them - the shocks that strike deeply enough to pull the air out of your lungs. I tell friends and guests in the bookstore that this writing is delicious, that Buehlman is a master of literary sleight of hand, adept at both misdirection and manipulation, and that he will frequently use the way that you read against you - to your ultimate enjoyment. One great example of this is the protagonist of his fourth book, The Lesser Dead, who is a remorseless liar. I’m not giving anything away here. Joey Peacock warns readers right away, “You will be burdened with an unreliable narrator who will disappoint and repel you at every turn.” A Pause. “Still with me?” he asks. “Too bad for you. I can’t wait to break your heart.” This is on page three.
The Suicide Motor Club, Buehlman’s tale of a band of renegade vampires rocketing across darkened highways in American muscle cars, lands in bookstores this month, and is every bit as innovative and hair-raising as his earlier work. Like The Lesser Dead, this book is a period piece, this time set in the sixties, and Buehlman is skilled at creating a believable historical environment without the details of the landscape suffocating the story. Unlike his previous vampire tale, this book’s main character is human. Judith Lamb, in the book’s opening sequence, watches in horror, one late night, as a glossy black vehicle with its headlights off glides up next to her family’s car on Route 66, as an odd looking man stretches between the cars to grab her son through the open rear window, and as he smiles a sinister (and toothy) grin. They force her off the road and disappear into the darkness.
It should go without saying that neither this book nor its predecessors are for the faint-of-heart. But neither are they gratuitous gore-festivals produced for mere shock value, This book’s unique bifurcated narrative structure seems like something that wouldn’t really work but, almost as a testament to the author’s brilliant design, it unfolds beautifully. Buehlman reminds us, by way of his great cast of characters that vampires don’t have to be sexy to be charismatic, and they don’t have to be deformed to be utterly frightening. To date, the publishing industry has produced so many vampire books that some bookstores have entire sections devoted to them, but The Suicide Motor Club, as can be said about The Lesser Dead, is truly something fresh and thrilling, and Buehlman’s utter delight in telling his stories well is almost palpable in the text.
This sounds a whole lot easier to do than it really is, precisely because one of the most delightful things about Buehlman’s books are the jolts, turns, and revelations that punch and spin you when you’re not expecting them - the shocks that strike deeply enough to pull the air out of your lungs. I tell friends and guests in the bookstore that this writing is delicious, that Buehlman is a master of literary sleight of hand, adept at both misdirection and manipulation, and that he will frequently use the way that you read against you - to your ultimate enjoyment. One great example of this is the protagonist of his fourth book, The Lesser Dead, who is a remorseless liar. I’m not giving anything away here. Joey Peacock warns readers right away, “You will be burdened with an unreliable narrator who will disappoint and repel you at every turn.” A Pause. “Still with me?” he asks. “Too bad for you. I can’t wait to break your heart.” This is on page three.
The Suicide Motor Club, Buehlman’s tale of a band of renegade vampires rocketing across darkened highways in American muscle cars, lands in bookstores this month, and is every bit as innovative and hair-raising as his earlier work. Like The Lesser Dead, this book is a period piece, this time set in the sixties, and Buehlman is skilled at creating a believable historical environment without the details of the landscape suffocating the story. Unlike his previous vampire tale, this book’s main character is human. Judith Lamb, in the book’s opening sequence, watches in horror, one late night, as a glossy black vehicle with its headlights off glides up next to her family’s car on Route 66, as an odd looking man stretches between the cars to grab her son through the open rear window, and as he smiles a sinister (and toothy) grin. They force her off the road and disappear into the darkness.
It should go without saying that neither this book nor its predecessors are for the faint-of-heart. But neither are they gratuitous gore-festivals produced for mere shock value, This book’s unique bifurcated narrative structure seems like something that wouldn’t really work but, almost as a testament to the author’s brilliant design, it unfolds beautifully. Buehlman reminds us, by way of his great cast of characters that vampires don’t have to be sexy to be charismatic, and they don’t have to be deformed to be utterly frightening. To date, the publishing industry has produced so many vampire books that some bookstores have entire sections devoted to them, but The Suicide Motor Club, as can be said about The Lesser Dead, is truly something fresh and thrilling, and Buehlman’s utter delight in telling his stories well is almost palpable in the text.
July 2, 2016
Imagine your are 17 years old, and a senior in high school. Now imagine you are skipping school with some friends and it's spring break so you head on over to the beach to catch some sun and hopefully meet some nice members of the opposite sex, and everything works out. You meet the person of your dreams, who is only in town for the next two nights, and you hit it off. They have friends for your friends, you all go out, have a great time, and the two of you end up in the same bed in the same hotel room and you know what happens next. Now... bear with me here. Now, you are 41 years old (my current age) and you are looking back at that memory, and you're being triggered. You feel the sun, you hear the waves, you remember the buzz from the beer, the smell of the person you spent the night with... you remember it all and you realize that you are sitting in your chair at home daydreaming about your youth with a HUGE smile on your face. That smile is how I am when I read a book by Christopher Buehlman. I am 17 years old, having the time of my life, and I know as it is happening, that this is going to be something I remember for the rest of my life. I "found" Mr. Buehlman last year after having a friend recommend Those Across the River. Read it, loved it, dove into and devoured the rest of his catalog. He taps into the amygdala portion of the brain and pokes the reptilian fears that reside in the unconscious. Genuine scares, genuine coolness, and a promise of more to come. Read this book and remember what fun is all about.
August 28, 2023
DNF at 12%. I can’t get into it. The characters suck, and vampires driving around on the highway kidnapping kids? Pass.
March 13, 2022
Late-sixties, monstrous vampires, and muscle cars. Everything has a kind of purity in this horror.
This has some mystery, more revenge, and a lot of questioning of one's spiritual mores. But really, it's a great dark look at open-road, burning rubber vampires with a great talent at mesmerism.
Basically, it's a great premise and a good long stint in a now-distant time. :) Yeah, sorry Boomers. Those are the dark ages now. :)
For everyone else who wants an anachronistic setting for a different breed of vampire that doesn't sparkle or shine blades, just drive a beefy car and snatch kids and young women, then this is definitely for you. And if you're all for the revenge aspect, I'm sure you're gonna like this, too.
This has some mystery, more revenge, and a lot of questioning of one's spiritual mores. But really, it's a great dark look at open-road, burning rubber vampires with a great talent at mesmerism.
Basically, it's a great premise and a good long stint in a now-distant time. :) Yeah, sorry Boomers. Those are the dark ages now. :)
For everyone else who wants an anachronistic setting for a different breed of vampire that doesn't sparkle or shine blades, just drive a beefy car and snatch kids and young women, then this is definitely for you. And if you're all for the revenge aspect, I'm sure you're gonna like this, too.
August 1, 2023
Surprisingly terrifying vampire book, dirty, gritty and filled with monstrous twists.
August 7, 2017
I have loved every single Christopher Buehlman book I have read, so when I cracked “The Suicide Motor Club” open, I felt like I was going back to something both familiar and thrilling. His prose is wonderful and the images he conjures are delightfully disturbing, as always.
Judith’s quiet life turns into an unexpected nightmare when a simple drive turns into a tragedy: before she has time to realize what’s happening, her son Glendon is yanked out of their car by a pale man with strange eyes and sharp teeth. Before she or her husband can do anything about it, another car hits them and makes them crash horribly by the side of the road. She escapes with cuts and bruises, but her husband dies from his injury and her son is simply considered missing by the authorities; no one believes her story about the abductor having shiny, cat-like eyes and unnaturally pointy teeth… Lost for direction and overwhelmed with grief for her missing son, she finds refuge in a convent, but is soon shaken out of her retreat from the world by a man calling himself Wicklow. Not only does Wicklow believe her story, but he knows a lot about the road-roving gang who attacked her family, and he intends to kill them.
I loved the idea of the Bereaved, the group of people who have seen and lost loved ones to the vampires and how they get organized to eliminate them. While I am not a religious person, I eventually came to understand Judith’s decision to find what comfort she could as a novice nun: when you can’t make sense of what happened to you and when the pain is more than you can handle, surrendering yourself to a belief system is not a crazy thing to do with yourself. That being said, I was so happy to see her reclaim her strength when she found a way to get revenge for her loss. It’s become unusual to think that vampires can actually be affected by religious images and holy water, and I am glad that old idea was dusted off and given a fresh go.
“The Suicide Motor Club” features the same disgusting and cruel vampires Buehlman regaled me with in “The Lesser Dead”: they stink, their teeth are sharp and gross, and when they “charm” or hypnotize people, it makes them drool a little. They are vicious and nasty creatures, and the one person in this book interested in having sex with them is really disturbed (that guy creeps me out more than the undead!). That’s how I like my vampires: scary as Hell! Characterization is a strength with Buehlman, so each of his icky villains has a distinct, sinister personality and voice. As one of them points out, this transformation tends to exacerbate certain pre-existing personality traits, so while you never fully sympathize with them, you get where their twisted behavior comes from. The idea of a bunch of vampires stalking their prey on dark, lonely highways is a terrifying idea: the isolation, vulnerability and pain implied by this sort of death made me shiver as I read the all too graphic descriptions of the crashes.
This was a fast, gritty read! I found it a bit less atmospheric than the other Buehlman novels I read, but just as gripping because the tension only escalates as you get further and further into the story. This is not as creepy as the vampiric children of “The Lesser Dead”; it’s a different kind of scary entirely because you are not being told this story by a vampire but by the people vampires have hurt – in oh-so many ways. It’s much more bombastic and brutal, and I just wish he had taken more time to create a slightly slower build-up so you can really soak in all the wonderfully scary parts of this story. That being said, the last 50 pages were incredibly riveting, heartbreaking and shocking: I did not see that coming, Christopher!
While I didn’t like “Suicide Motor Club” as much as “The Lesser Dead”, please let me be clear: a not-outstanding Christopher Buehlman book is still way, way better than pretty much everything else out there, so do not take my 4 star for lukewarm feelings.
Judith’s quiet life turns into an unexpected nightmare when a simple drive turns into a tragedy: before she has time to realize what’s happening, her son Glendon is yanked out of their car by a pale man with strange eyes and sharp teeth. Before she or her husband can do anything about it, another car hits them and makes them crash horribly by the side of the road. She escapes with cuts and bruises, but her husband dies from his injury and her son is simply considered missing by the authorities; no one believes her story about the abductor having shiny, cat-like eyes and unnaturally pointy teeth… Lost for direction and overwhelmed with grief for her missing son, she finds refuge in a convent, but is soon shaken out of her retreat from the world by a man calling himself Wicklow. Not only does Wicklow believe her story, but he knows a lot about the road-roving gang who attacked her family, and he intends to kill them.
I loved the idea of the Bereaved, the group of people who have seen and lost loved ones to the vampires and how they get organized to eliminate them. While I am not a religious person, I eventually came to understand Judith’s decision to find what comfort she could as a novice nun: when you can’t make sense of what happened to you and when the pain is more than you can handle, surrendering yourself to a belief system is not a crazy thing to do with yourself. That being said, I was so happy to see her reclaim her strength when she found a way to get revenge for her loss. It’s become unusual to think that vampires can actually be affected by religious images and holy water, and I am glad that old idea was dusted off and given a fresh go.
“The Suicide Motor Club” features the same disgusting and cruel vampires Buehlman regaled me with in “The Lesser Dead”: they stink, their teeth are sharp and gross, and when they “charm” or hypnotize people, it makes them drool a little. They are vicious and nasty creatures, and the one person in this book interested in having sex with them is really disturbed (that guy creeps me out more than the undead!). That’s how I like my vampires: scary as Hell! Characterization is a strength with Buehlman, so each of his icky villains has a distinct, sinister personality and voice. As one of them points out, this transformation tends to exacerbate certain pre-existing personality traits, so while you never fully sympathize with them, you get where their twisted behavior comes from. The idea of a bunch of vampires stalking their prey on dark, lonely highways is a terrifying idea: the isolation, vulnerability and pain implied by this sort of death made me shiver as I read the all too graphic descriptions of the crashes.
This was a fast, gritty read! I found it a bit less atmospheric than the other Buehlman novels I read, but just as gripping because the tension only escalates as you get further and further into the story. This is not as creepy as the vampiric children of “The Lesser Dead”; it’s a different kind of scary entirely because you are not being told this story by a vampire but by the people vampires have hurt – in oh-so many ways. It’s much more bombastic and brutal, and I just wish he had taken more time to create a slightly slower build-up so you can really soak in all the wonderfully scary parts of this story. That being said, the last 50 pages were incredibly riveting, heartbreaking and shocking: I did not see that coming, Christopher!
While I didn’t like “Suicide Motor Club” as much as “The Lesser Dead”, please let me be clear: a not-outstanding Christopher Buehlman book is still way, way better than pretty much everything else out there, so do not take my 4 star for lukewarm feelings.
September 14, 2018
This was not what I expected and I'm not one to give too much away with the plot but here's a few points which may help you to choose it as your next read.
1. Vampires are DO NOT sparkle.
2. Vampires do not wear capes, live in castles, yearn to be rock stars, or reside in the posh part of New Orleans French Quarter.
3. If a person is an immoral, vile scumbag at the bottom of the human-swill barrel and gets turned into a vampire, then that vampire is the rancid scum beneath said barrel.
4. Buehlman obviously reads G.R.R. Martin - don't get too attached to all the characters.
Great read, solid writing, a few good little twists at the end I didn't see coming. I'll definitely be reading more Buehlman.
1. Vampires are DO NOT sparkle.
2. Vampires do not wear capes, live in castles, yearn to be rock stars, or reside in the posh part of New Orleans French Quarter.
3. If a person is an immoral, vile scumbag at the bottom of the human-swill barrel and gets turned into a vampire, then that vampire is the rancid scum beneath said barrel.
4. Buehlman obviously reads G.R.R. Martin - don't get too attached to all the characters.
Great read, solid writing, a few good little twists at the end I didn't see coming. I'll definitely be reading more Buehlman.
August 13, 2017
'70's muscle cars, non-sparkly vampires and Route 66. What else do you need?
7/10
7/10
June 21, 2016
Every one of Chris Buehlman's books is absolutely amazing, which is why it should come as no surprise that 'The Suicide Motor Club' was an incredibly good read.
The characters in this novel come to life, as does their backdrop of classic Americana, and the cars, THE CARS!! I can hear the growl of the big blocks while I read. I can feel his protagonist's fear, I can smell the enemy. Chris paints a picture so vivid that there is no mistaking the danger in the monsters, and that's precisely what they are.
It joins his previous novels 'The Lesser Dead' and 'Those Across the River' in rehabilitating the horror image of monsters. These are not the kinds of vampires and werewolves that pine for a bitch-faced girl's affection; Chris Buehlman's monsters truly are the things that go 'bump' in the night.
The characters in this novel come to life, as does their backdrop of classic Americana, and the cars, THE CARS!! I can hear the growl of the big blocks while I read. I can feel his protagonist's fear, I can smell the enemy. Chris paints a picture so vivid that there is no mistaking the danger in the monsters, and that's precisely what they are.
It joins his previous novels 'The Lesser Dead' and 'Those Across the River' in rehabilitating the horror image of monsters. These are not the kinds of vampires and werewolves that pine for a bitch-faced girl's affection; Chris Buehlman's monsters truly are the things that go 'bump' in the night.
May 19, 2023
This is my second Christopher Buehlman, and I want more! I read The Lesser Dead some time ago, and although it was very good, I liked this one even better. It is not a sequel, but a continuance of the vampire world Buehlman created in The Lesser Dead. (If you haven’t read TLD first, it might be confusing. Maybe not.) While TLD was gruesome, scary, and dark, this one was gruesome, scary, dark, and kick-a$$! Think Quentin Tarantino. Fast paced, with a great plot that had me reading all day! I would not recommend this to everyone, but to all horror aficionados, it really is a must read!
May 12, 2016
Suicide Motor Club is gut-wrenchingly gritty from ignition. A mean ride of monsters and a mad mommy. Replete with Buehlman's characteristic nightmare violence and wonderfully sick sense of humor, test your faith with these road warrior vamps that are anything but charming.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 370 reviews