So Thirsty Review: Rachel Harrison Deftly Tackles Vampire Fiction

So Thirsty Is Everything You Could Want from a Rachel Harrison Vampire Novel

Rachel Harrison and vampire fiction seem made for each other. In the four years since her acclaimed debut, The Return, Harrison has established herself as a writer of consistently entertaining, witty, viscerally effective horror fiction of stealthy depth, rivaling Grady Hendrix in her ability to blend subgenres and conceptual hooks with genuine emotional payoffs. And, since she’s already done witches (Cackle), werewolves (Such Sharp Teeth), and Satanists (Black Sheep), vampires seemed like a logical next step for her talents.

But So Thirsty is more than just the next logical progression in Harrison’s career. In tackling the stew of horror metaphors that is vampire fiction, Harrison has found arguably the richest vein (pun intended) of emotional vibrance in her career thus far, delivering a novel that’s fiendishly funny, chilling, and profound all at once.

Sloane is a thirtysomething woman stuck in an unfulfilling marriage, living vicariously through the jetsetting life of her best friend Naomi. Because Naomi’s traveling all the time with her rock star boyfriend, they don’t get to see each other much anymore, but that changes with Sloane’s approaching birthday. Gifted a stay at an idyllic Finger Lakes resort by her husband, Sloane retreats into a getaway with Naomi to rekindle their friendship and hopefully get some perspective on her life. But Naomi isn’t content with a quiet vacation and soon whisks Sloane away to a strange party, where both of their lives change forever.

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Like every author tackling vampire fiction for the first time, Harrison gets to pick and choose the basic rules of this encounter, and the change it elicits in both Sloane and Naomi. Her vampires behave in a distinctly Harrison-esque way that makes them both glamorous and messy, funny and sexy, particularly when Sloane and Naomi begin to adjust to the particulars of their new lifestyle. Sloane narrates the action in propulsive, present-tense prose, and Harrison’s wit emerges both intact and even more developed in this, her fifth novel. It all makes for a very fun read that pushes you to keep turning pages, particularly when things start to get bloody.

And things do get bloody in sequences both hilariously and shockingly violent, as Harrison weaves scenes that evoke everything from Near Dark to Let the Right One In to What We Do in the Shadows, but what stands out most about So Thirsty is the emotional transformation happening alongside the physical one.

As with all of her other novels, Harrison has set out to tell a story about a woman who’s learning new things about herself, pushing her identity in ways she might not fully understand to uncover certain truths about the world. The horror elements are a vehicle for this journey, at turns both comforting and thrilling, and Harrison is adept as ever at weaving what she really wants to talk about in between the sprays of blood. Sloane is a woman who’s not just in a troubled marriage, not just in awe of the life her best friend leads, but who is deeply aware of just how far she’s let herself slip through what might be a misplaced need to play things safe. She’s aging, she’s weary, and she feels trapped not just by obligations to others but by her own fear.

Sloane’s vampiric encounters are a different kind of fear, to be sure, but they’re also a catalyst for her to confront the deeper fears of her life in a more direct, ferocious way, and it’s in these moments that Harrison delivers some of her best writing ever. Her grasp of Sloane’s inner truth is virtuosic, and her ability to weave that truth into genuinely satisfying horror storytelling makes this book everything you could want from a Rachel Harrison novel.

Whether you’re a reader who’s been following Harrison’s work since The Return or just someone looking for a new vampire book to spend a weekend with, So Thirsty will satisfy. It’s scary, it’s sexy, it’s funny, and it’s one of those books you can hand to just about anyone looking for a good time with a genre novel.

So Thirsty is available now wherever books are sold.

Matthew Jackson is a pop culture writer and nerd-for-hire who’s been writing about entertainment for more than a decade. His writing about movies, TV, comics, and more regularly appears at SYFY WIRE, Looper, Mental Floss, Decider, BookPage, and other outlets. He lives in Austin, Texas, and when he’s not writing he’s usually counting the days until Christmas.

So Thirsty Is Everything You Could Want from a Rachel Harrison Vampire Novel