The Radleys are a typical suburban British couple. Peter is a doctor. His wife, Helen, is a mainstay of the village book club. Their son, Rowan, is a good, quiet kid with a touch of photodermatosis (oversensitivity of the skin to light) and some trouble fitting in. He’s being bullied.

His sister, Clara, has just gone vegan and has some trouble with anemia. Clara hopes that being a vegan will help with the animals who take one look at or sniff of her and flee. Her parents are trying to get her back on a more “normal” diet. Clara’s new best friend is someone Rowan likes. A lot.

The trouble is, both Rowan and Clara (as well as their parents) are vampires. No, there are no coffins in the basement, and no bats in the belfry (no belfry to start with, just a typical suburban home).

No problems with sunlight if you wear enough sunscreen. And no bloodsucking. That would be contrary to the “Abstainer’s Handbook,” the parental bible.

Peter and Helen are trying to fit into the life of Bishopthorpe, a place so small people have to go to the next town to see a movie. But the parents are keeping the truth of what they are from the children, and that has tragic consequences when Clara is attacked by a town lout. Her instincts take over and she has a case of “OBT,” overwhelming blood thirst.

So, how are we going to cover up the death of the lout? Yes, he had it coming, but the police are not going to accept that. They are going to see Clara and the rest of the Radleys as dangerous. And the police is on to the fact there are vampires in the midst of the English countryside, and they have a unit just to deal with them.

And yes, in this story vampires can have children together.

Peter is a “hereditary” vampire and Helen chose to be “converted.” They reluctantly call on Peter’s brother, Will, an enthusiastically practicing vampire, to help them out of the mess.

Will has been a little too careless with his kills, has gone a little too far out in vampire society, and he’s off the “protected” list. Will and Helen have a complicated history of their own.

Let the fun begin. How is this family going to repair itself? Will it?

If you just go by the synopsis, this sounds like a “typical vampire novel.” Haven’t we read a hundred or so of those? Yes, but Haig has sprinkled “The Radleys” with wicked, even biting social satire.

He’s taken liberties with the conventions of the vampire novel to create something fresh. He does not hesitate to hold this distorted mirror up to us allegedly normal people.

Read “The Radleys (yes, the family name is a bow to Boo Radley of “To Kill a Mockingbird” fame) for incisive, insights into “typical” lives and the little lies we tell ourselves.