Manhunt

by Gretchen Felker-Martin

Beth and Fran spend their days traveling the ravaged New England coast, hunting feral men and harvesting their organs in a gruesome effort to ensure they'll never face the same fate.

Robbie lives by his gun and one hard-learned other people aren't safe.

After a brutal accident entwines the three of them, this found family of survivors must navigate murderous TERFs, a sociopathic billionaire bunker brat, and awkward relationship dynamics―all while outrunning packs of feral men, and their own demons.

Genres: Horror, Queer, Fiction, LGBT, Dystopia, Science Fiction, Transgender

296 pages, Paperback

First published February 22, 2022

About the author

GRETCHEN FELKER-MARTIN is a Massachusetts-based horror author and film critic. Her debut novel, Manhunt, was named the #1 Best Book of 2022 by Vulture, and one of the Best Horror Novels of 2022 by Esquire, Library Journal, and Paste. You can follow her work on Twitter and read her fiction and film criticism on Patreon and in TIME, The Outline, Nylon, Polygon, and more.

Reviews

[Roxane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gretchen Felker-Martin's Manhunt is sublime horror--gory, impeccably written, a condemnation and a celebration with a cast of incredibly flawed, deeply interesting characters. I had no idea what to expect when I started reading Manhunt. The novel drops you right in the middle of action. The world has been overturned by a plague that turns men into monsters and in the aftermath, packs of wild men roam the world looking for prey. Only women and trans men have survived and the stakes, for trans women are precarious as they hunt for sources of estrogen to keep themselves alive in every sense of the world. Though the novel starts, with friends Beth and Fran, soon their world expands as they come across Robbie, a man who saves their lives and gets romantically involved with Fran and Indy, a doctor who is using her skills as best she can in a terrifying world with terrifying stakes. They must contend with merciless TERFs who use gender essentialism as a cudgel to rule what's left of the world. The TERF leader Teach hoards power at all costs while her must trusted lieutenant, Ramona, falls in line even when she shouldn't while harboring a secret love for a nonbinary person. There is so much to love here. Manhunt revels in contradictions and complexity. The novel is uncomfortable, but not because of the gore or violence. It's uncomfortable because when you look at how this world we live in treats trans people, what happens in Manhunt seems entirely plausible and yeah, maybe we should all sit with that for a minute or ten. It's a reminder that survival is a brutal thing, that desperation reveals who we really are, and that even at the end of the world, every one just wants to be seen and understood and acknowledged as they really are. By far the best book I've read this year. You should read it and share it with all your friends and enemies.

I will also add that this is one of the few and maybe the only book I've ever read that acknowledges that fat people would exist in a dystopia and gets into what the reality of that might look like. We can't all run for hours on end while trying to escape feral hordes of men and TERFs.

[Cameron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stop review bombing a trans woman author because you’re mad she isn’t writing sexless uwu smol bean YA trash.

[Emily May]

LOL @ this cover 🤭

[Bri B. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Y’all want to worship this book because the main characters are trans but ignore the terrible writing, disgusting demonization of women, grotesque depictions of characters eating organs from zombified people’s bodies, and horrifying misogyny evident in just the first chapters available to preview.

And considering the author has said things like “I truly, sincerely believe that art should have more rape in it” and “I'm a woman, and a professional author, and I've never written anything without at least one rape scene in it,” I’d be surprised if there wasn’t graphic depictions of rape or other violence against women in it. Truly disgusting that this book has been approved by any publishing house.

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was like tonguing a live wire; I loved every moment and I still haven’t recovered. As erotic as it is devastating, as brilliant as it is visceral, Manhunt is a modern horror masterpiece.

[MossyMorels · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only reason I'm not giving a 1 is because I don't want to be grouped with the transphobes hating this book because it's trans. I am a trans person and a huge horror fan so was excited for this book. But God was this. Alot. I feel like this book was meant for nothing but shock value. Every page is filled with murder, rape, cannibalism, and sexually explicit content with no breaks. And I don't think it frames trans people in a good light at all, it makes sense why transphobes are using this book to back up their negative ideas on what a trans person is. Also, while the concept of this book and the plague is intriguing I don't think the author spent enough time exploring the idea of what this world means for trans people in different stages of transition. And idk how it sits with me that trans women in this book if they go off hrt become murderous rapists, or the opposite for trans men. Before I started T, I was told by so many people it would change me and make me an angrier, meaner person and this book kinda supports that misconception. Also everyone in this book is so sex obsessed it's weird. God my thoughts are just all over the place with this book,
tldr everything in this sat wrong with me and it fuels transphobic ideas and misconceptions

[megs_bookrack ((struggling to catch up)) · Rating 4 out of 5]

**3.5-star rounded up**

Holy Splatterpunk, this is good!!
Caution: Don't read whilst eating...



Honestly, I don't even know how to begin going about reviewing this book. While it technically fits into genres that I have read, it's like nothing else.

Manhunt is like being punched in the face repeatedly and enjoying it. Maybe even asking for more...



This is like an unrated version of The Walking Dead, but with trans and other queer main characters.

Basically this story takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where a virus has turned the entire male population into horrifying creatures; like walkers.



We follow two best friends, Beth and Fran, trans women, trying to survive in New England. They are manhunters. For reasons I won't go into here, they kill the infected men and harvest certain parts of them.

Any time they are out hunting they are in terrible danger. This entire setting is incredibly risky. There are not just the infected men they have to deal with, but also bands of TERFs scouting certain areas, as well as other general apocalypse survivors.

Everything and everyone poses a risk.



Over the course of the first part of the story, Fran and Beth join up with a trans man named, Robbie, and their long-time friend, a fertility doctor named, Indi.

Basically, as you can imagine, living situations in this world are highly unstable. We follow our quad as they move from one place to another, trying to find a safe situation for themselves. It ain't easy and a lot of blood, guts and various other bodily fluids get shed along the way.



Y'all, wow. I haven't read something this bloody, gorey, toe-curling, gag-inducing, addicting, erotic and uncomfortable, well...ever.

I love how Felker-Martin never lets up. It's not a super gore-filled scene followed by 50-pages of nonsense. It is balls to the wall, pardon the pun, the entire way through.



The post-apocalyptic setting was so well done. I loved the idea behind the virus, how it struck men and how society tried to rearrange itself after. That was very creative.

Additionally, the characters were well done. I wish I had gotten to know each of them a little bit more, but I understand you can only make stories so long. The important bits were all here.

Towards the end, it did get chaotic for me. The perspectives were shifting so rapidly, it was sometimes hard to follow. In particular, as the final showdown approached, a few times I lost track of whose perspective I was reading from.



Overall, this was such an addicting story. Holy smokes. I feel like I need to take a recovery day to get over it. It's violent, erotic, thought-provoking, visceral...did I mention erotic?

Proceed with caution, but also, don't. It's a ride worth being a little uncomfortable for. You can eat again after it's over.



Thank you so much to the publisher, Tor Nightfire, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I cannot wait to see what Gretchen Felker-Martin dishes up next!!

[Nore · Rating 1 out of 5]

Edit: Updating my review because actually, after looking at the author's Twitter, I take it back. I wouldn't read anything else by someone who posted someone's negative review to mock, disparagingly referred to AFAB nonbinary authors as "theyfabs" (whose books you shouldn't buy, according to her), and encouraged the dogpiling of an author writing a book she didn't like. I'm good! All that's a pass for me!

This works better as polemic than it does as a horror novel; it has a weak plot, with so. Very. Many. Timeskips, most of which weren't announced until a few pages after the skip, which made it hard to tell how much time was actually passing in the book. The embarrassing pop culture references means this is gonna be hella fucked dated come five years' time, if it even lasts that long. Constant sex scenes - everyone was so horny for everyone all the time, regardless of what else was going on. Indi at one point mentions that funerals make her horny, which, okay, sure, throw that in for the shock value; it adds nothing to the character, but you're the author.

And shock value is really what carries this book, that and some very nice prose. The problem is that shock value is all that it has, and it runs on too long for the gruesome descriptions and brutal events to remain shocking, and good prose only does so much if you've lost interest otherwise.

Better worldbuilding or characters with traits beyond "extremely horny for everyone" (oh, and "self-pitying and self-centered to a painful degree") might have made this less of a drag to read past the halfway mark, but neither of those materialize at any point. I'd read something else by her, but I think I'll pick something shorter next time.

ETA: I'm at my keyboard now instead of on my phone and spoilers ahead, because it discusses the grand finale Big Boss Fight at the end of the book. The women defending themselves set up a few trucks to run unmanned into the hordes of men swarming the fort, and apparently run them directly at the walls they're standing on, which was a mind-boggling display of stupidity that was written entirely to allow the men to break into the fort without the author having to think of a more plausible way than "one single truck manages to bash through super thick stone walls." Admittedly, I was skimming at this point, but it's what I mean by weak plot. Everything is convenient. Nothing takes too much time. Fran manages to walk back to the Screw and just happens to find Robbie in time, despite it being a decent trip by vehicle and her being in shoddy little slippers over rough terrain.

So, two stars. It was okay.

[s · Rating 2 out of 5]

it's cool that this is pitched as a corrective to the canon of gender-plague novels, although it's not taking aim at stuff like herland or the female man so much as, basically, Y the last man & that fake looking book the end of men—specifically, the way this kind of book fails to account for trans people. unfortunately the world of manhunt is defined by self-hatred to the point of absurdity. if you wanted to satirize the "narcissism" of trans women that people who hate us talk about, idk if you could do a better job than this: it's incredible how much the women in this book worry about how clocky they are. maybe "internalized transmisogyny" is the real plague? the monomaniacal, self-loathing internal monologues (and corny joss whedon one-liners, surprisingly) pile on for hundreds of pages; a pulpy fast-paced thriller spins its wheels around them until the big, kinda unintelligible, action climax. there's something a little disingenuous about the idea that unrelenting ugliness is somehow more truthful than any other approach; as if brutal violence and cruelty can't be done as poorly as anything else, or that wallowing in misery is valuable simply because it's upsetting. but that's for another time :)

like detransition baby, this is never weaker than when it slips into soapboxing and reveals the fundamental myopia of its cultural worldview—absolutely a book written by someone who is too active on twitter (yes—takes one to know one). most of the bits that do land are the parts you'd expect in anything marketed as trans fiction. not convinced much else here works but hey. we'll get there one day girls!

[frankie · Rating 4 out of 5]

i too like to imagine a comically violent end to jk rowling’s miserable life

[Muriel (The Purple Bookwyrm) · Rating 1 out of 5]

More accurate rating: 1/10.

Full video rant review here: https://youtu.be/F5YI7bXmhdg.

Disclaimer:
I went into Manhunt fully expecting it to be bad - though not quite as bad as it turned out to be - and as an autistic, gender-critical feminist reader who has this 'topic' as one of her very niche special interests.

I've read my fair share of sex-based plague/power-shift stories over the past couple of years (e.g. The Power, The Screwfly Solution, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, Y: The Last Man and The End of Men). I've been disappointed about as much as I've been satisfied by them; I've mostly been frustrated by the superficiality of their theming, and the flimsiness of their world-building. The Power and and The End of Men were especially bad in that regard... but that was nothing compared to the trash fire of Manhunt!

Synopsis:
Manhunt, a queered and porned up amalgamation of Y: The Last Man, The Screwfly Solution and The Walking Dead, features a version of our world plagued by a pathogen, the t-rex virus (yes, really), that transforms anyone with high enough testosterone levels (in practice, men and pre-op trans women... because kilometre-wide holes in the world-building I'll get back to) into an über-aggressive, dehumanised 'zombie-werewolf' intent on raping, eating and killing (not necessarily in that order) anything with a hole between its legs. The remaining, unaffected women and trans people have to survive in a brutal world where groups of so-called 'TERFs' have established a "matriarchy", and go around killing any trans woman they find – as a preventative measure against them 'wolf-zombying' out. The plot (such as it is) follows trans women Beth and Fran, who are quickly joined by trans man Robbie; their 'cis' female friend and hormone supplier Indi, and Ramona, one of the baddies, a TERF chaser who ends up betraying her side to get some bussy – literally. Random events happen, so that lots of (rather gross) sex can happen, and then BAM! A final, localised showdown takes place between the baddie TERFs and the 'Queer Parade'... with exactly zero consequences for the wider world, or the future of said world.

This book purports to address the lack of trans representation in the niche genre of 'sex-based apocalypse' fiction. A) That's not at all what it actually does. B) Trans people are represented in that genre in any case, if only covertly. In The End of Men, for instance, the plague latches onto the Y chromosome, and trans women certainly exist... it's just that they die along with the men, because they are male humans – but I guess some people can't deal with that fact.

Manhunt is sold as horror, but it honestly felt more like porn to me at times – so horror-porn? There was so much pointless sex smearing the pages of this book. And to say it was gratuitous would be an understatement. To whit: "He paused, open mouth full of half-chewed mush. Beth wondered if he breathed through his nose that loud when he sucked cock." Aight. It was all gross, unpalatable kinky shit involving constant references to mommies and daddies. Blegh! And so no, the book wasn't particularly scary, or that gory (as compared to, say, something like The Walking Dead). I was taken aback by the sex, and the obvious contempt, not to say hatred, that permeated this book, a lot more than I was by the relatively mild splattering of body parts implied by this supposedly being splatterpunk.

1) Plot:
What plot?
Beth and Fran collect testicles to extract oestrogen (like that would actually work, even the crazy fucks who sold testosterone as an elixir of youth back in the day would create a solution out of balls and inject it sub-dermally, not eat the gonads raw, ffs). Robbie saves them from marauding zombie-werewolves – but not before Beth gets graphically, anally raped, and mildly gets off on it too (ahem). Our dynamic trio hauls ass with their bud Indi when TERFs roll into town, and wind up in a techno-bunker owned by a crazy nepo baby named Sophie. Ramona, a TERF character, fucks a non-binary male prostitute, feels bad about it, leads a hit squad and gets in güd with her leader, called Teach. Shit with the bunker goes south, our trans protags hunker down in an abandoned WWII fort, then face a final showdown with the TERF army, who got themselves a shiny battleship. Ramona betrays her side, which ultimately turns the tables and allows our protags, minus dead Fran, to see another day in this idiotic world no one cares about.

2) Writing:
The writing was really bad in places, fine in others. But oh my gods the similes... the repetitions... and the immature, "edgy-because-I-can" language. In Manhunt, gunshots sound like the yips of a bichon frisé. Oil frying in a pan sounds like small mouths smacking together. Aight. In Manhunt, everyone has stretch marks, everywhere, and every other person has skin that smells... or tastes like milk – what in the actual?! And zombie-werewolves have breath that smells like cum (because why not I guess).

Vulgar edginess-wise: the word cunt was used all. Of. The. Bloody. Time. It's not that I find it that offensive personally, because I don't, but like... it was so clearly, artlessly meant to be vulgar and edgy for the sake of it. And not only do the trans characters say cunt all the time, the women do too, even American radical feminists who should loathe the word. Every female in the text refers to her own vulva as a cunt, and calls other women bitches and cunts all of the time as well. #Justwomanthings, amirite?!

What I do personally hate is hearing, or reading, women being called 'girls'. And in Manhunt, this is of course done all of the bloody time! Now yes, I'm well aware grown women call each other girls sometimes (and I hate it when women do it too!), but absolutely not to the extent the author has her characters do it. I found it infantilising, disrespectful and gross, especially when it was – additionally – plonked into the following sentence: "Fuck me so I can feel like a girl." Wut. I'm sorry (not sorry): who the fuck thinks this kind of thing after having been violently, anally raped by a bunch of zombie-werewolves?! That was offensive.

The book is also filled with 'American Internet Culture War' discourse (if you can call it that), and pop-media references that won't mean jack-shit to most, non-terminally online people.

3) Character work:
Manhunt offers the reader a veritable buffet of misogyny and lesbophobia, but also features fatphobia (never thought I'd use the word unironically, yet here we are), a sprinkling of actual misandry and, wouldn't you know... a serving of transphobia as well!

The book liberally implies trans women are not really women at several points – something considered transphobic by a lot of people but which I found, here, hilariously ironic. It constantly stressed all the ways Beth didn't pass, and that both her and Fran had to acquire and prove their "womanhood" – because deep down, they knew they weren't really women. Trans women in the book were consistently described in very unflattering terms, with an emphasis placed on their masculine traits.

On top of all that, Beth, Fran (and Robbie too, honestly) were incredibly dislikable characters, and little more than walking, negative stereotypes; unsympathetic, vain, conceited, narcissistic sex pests who couldn't stop whining about the fact they couldn't fully transition now the Apocalypse had come a knockin'. Or thinking about sex (popping boners at the same time, #Justwomanthings) when they were about to die or kill someone. Beth also broke a kid's jaw when she was six; Robbie assaulted a classmate with a nail gun, and committed full-blown arson as a teenager. Charming, totally not mentally unstable people, right? Seriously, was I actually supposed to root for these creeps? Their virtue-signalling Indian doctor buddy wasn't much better, mind you; like how do you remain morbidly obese for five years post-apocalypse, if it's not by hoarding food? Speaking of which: the author spent a disquieting amount of time detailing and lingering on the obesity of her character – make of that what you will. Indi converts ball juice into oestrogen, is a fertility specialist but then... never tries to help by figuring out a way to keep humans reproducing safely. No, better to bitch and whine about white women, I suppose, and thirst, "cunt dripping" (ahem), after her submissive trans girlfriend. Ramona, the great TERF betrayer was, for her part, yet another sex pest who called herself a lesbian, even though she secretly craved transsexual dick. Aight then.

The villains were cartoonishly evil, and thus not particularly convincing. Teach, the head baddie helming a platoon of TERFs for the 'Matriarchy of Maryland', was said to have worked at Guantanamo (because of course she did). Bonus point: she also used to be buds with Janice Raymond. *Chuckles* Bit on the nose there, but okay. It certainly wasn't as bad as the, *deep breaths*, 'Knights of J.K.Rowling'. Talk about unsubtle... and, frankly, immersion-breaking! But okay, screech away I guess.

The gist of it is: everyone was hateful in this book. The trans protags were perverts and psychos. Beth strangles a woman for no reason and laughs while doing it. Robbie says this: "If he'd spent his time preparing for anything since the end of the world, shooting a bunch of screaming cis idiots was it." Alrighty. The TERF protags were perverts and psychos. Ramona the coomer doesn't hesitate to betray and kill for the chance to get some trans strange. And Teach, our resident Big Bad™, turns über-evil at the end of the book, and rips out the uterus of a (black) woman to punish betrayal (it doesn't make sense for several reasons, but then it doesn't have to I guess). I honestly hoped everyone would croak at the end of this miserable book.

4) World-building:
It's hot garbage . Nothing makes any fucking sense in this story; elements of the world-building are tweaked, and plot contrivances inserted, any time the author needs to link up fetish sex scenes, violence or Twitter screeding. That's it.

● The virus made no sense. The premise of binding it to testosterone levels utterly failed, in no small part because it was clearly meant to be a(n offensive at times) proxy for virility. That, just, cannot work, given how complex sex steroid endocrinology actually is. The text states that boys and men have all succumbed to the virus – except for those born after the outbreak. Yet trans women are safe, as long as they can dose with oestrogen. Women with PCOS, however, are not (AHEM). The text further states that the virus binds to elevated levels of testosterone, yet it also states that a post-op trans woman had zombied out in the past – live on television no less. So how the fuck does that work?! A) Women with PCOS will never have the levels of testosterone men have. B) Studies show that 75% of trans women cannot get their testosterone levels down to female-typical levels, even with medication! C) Castration doesn't actually guarantee anything, but still... why didn't Beth and Fran cut their testicles off, as a pseudo-safety measure, then? Especially given we are told Fran definitely wants bottom surgery?? How the fuck are they still alive, honestly!? We're also told Fran contracted the virus then got better, all on her own... but it was never mentioned again. And rotten cherry on top of the shit cake: the t-rex virus only affects human, even though plenty of other animals share sex steroids with us. 😑

● Haven't had enough? Get this: the men affected by the t-rex virus grow barbs on their dongs, like felids (and said dongs also lengthen to about 11 inches, because this is porn, as much as it is horror, just like I said). They also run on all fours (even though there's zero reason for this, we are not adapted, skeletally, to run efficiently on all fours). And if a zombie-werewolf manages to impregnate a woman, a male baby will chew its way out of her womb after three months, then become sexually mature after a year... whilst still looking like a baby? This was never made clear, and regardless: EW. 🤦‍♀️ But also, how ? How were the particulars of this virus even selected for in the first place, given the text also stated it'd mostly been airborne until the events of the story? The best explanation I've got for these nonsensical details is it was all just there for shock and ick value. And to express deep contempt for... men, to be honest, because all men are, effectively, reduced to savage beasts in this book, and a character goes so far as to suggest that men can now happily rape and murder... like they've always wanted to, deep down. As a woman, I certainly have my moments of (trauma-derived) androphobia, but JFC even I don't believe that.

● The very fact TERFs were a force to reckon with in a post-apocalyptic world was, obviously, laughably ridiculous – so were people caring about them, or trans rights. Like come the actual fuck on! People would care about survival, rebuilding civilisation, and figuring out a way to keep the species going. Speaking of which: why was no one shown to be searching for a cure? Or a way to reproduce safely? Hell, why weren't the TERFs using trans women as sperm donors rather than prostitutes?! Why hadn't some men managed to survive by castrating themselves, and without identifying with the opposite sex? I guess that was sort of the case with the sons of women living in 'protected zones', but then said women also transgendered them: why? No reason was ever given for this; it made no sense, especially given it was so-called TERFs doing it! It made absolutely no sense for 'TERFs' to trans boys, then group them up into 'Maenad corps'... like for fuck's sake, put some effort into it! Why in the hell would radical feminists use a term for devotees of a male god (Dionysos), when they could've used the term Galli, also from Ancient Greece, and which refers to eunuch devotees of the great goddess Cybele! Furthermore: why in the hell did, again, radical feminists use trans women and non-binary males as prostitutes?! Like, tell me you know nothing about radical feminism without telling me you know nothing about radical feminism, my fucking gods! Radical feminists, especially American ones, are one thousand percent critical of sex-positivity as a 'movement', one thousand percent kink-critical to fully anti-kink, one thousand percent porn-critical to fully anti-porn and one trillion percent anti-sex work (if only as it exists under a patriarchal and capitalist regime)! Also, let's be real: in the real world, women use the services of prostitutes significantly less than men do, in any case, but then it's also very clear the text lacked any real grasp of female socialisation and psychology.

● And then the simple, again ironically hilarious fact is that Manhunt's baddies fundamentally remained sympathetic – to a certain extent at the very least – because at the end of the day, their ultimate goal was to protect women. The story gives its 'TERFs' an entirely reasonable, moral and legitimate reason, post-t-rex virus, to see all trans women as potential threats. Since as biological males, they can absolutely zombie-wolf out into raping and killing monsters. Not that the trans protags see it that was, of course. E.g. when Beth is thrown out of her queer-friendly communal house, all she can think of is herself, the fact she was never truly seen as 'one of the girls' (cry me a fucking river), and doesn't show the least ounce of empathy towards the women who are – understandably, once again – scared for their lives and distressed by the fact they are losing male friends and relatives left, right and centre.

Concluding remarks:
Let's be honest: if a man had written this, hell if a woman had written this, it would've gotten torn to shreds by woke liberal media outlets. In an age when it's trendy to fully conflate the art, with the artist, then the art consumer and, I don't know, castigate people for reading Lovecraft, or The Mists of Avalon (even if you absolutely do not condone racism or child rape, duh) how the fuck is this misogynistic, lesbophobic, even transphobic, etc... hate- and porn-fuelled revenge fantasy fanfic not held to the same bloody standards?! Because woke liberalism isn't actually progressive; it never was, and it never will be, QED.

But like... outside of 'media politics', this was also, just, genuine, obscene trash in any case. No redeeming value whatsoever; it didn't even feel like a true novel, to be honest. Glorified rage-fap fanfic material indeed!

[Chris Cairns · Rating 1 out of 5]

I DEFINITELY didn't enjoy this book. The premise was good, and if the book delivered what it promised, it could have been great. But it didn't. I feel the whole point of this book was to try and offend people. There was lots of gore, violence, and misogyny. I enjoy horror, but this was not it. The plot was weak, and the time jumping was confusing.
The graphic scenes of rape added no actual meaning to the book, but since finishing this book, I've discovered that the author claimed, "I truly, sincerely believe that art should have more rape in it". I cannot understand how this made it out of a publishing house. This is another author I will be adding to my, never read a book by them again list.

[April Daniels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Manhunt is the feel-bad classic of the decade. A pitiless, nerve-shredding descent into Hell; as ruthless as it is perceptive, this book reached into my chest, tore my fears out, and showed them to me. Gretchen Felker-Martin writes the best queer horror on the market.

[dyketatorship · Rating 1 out of 5]

too gruesome and i didn't like the graphic violence against women. guess it's my fault, im so not a horror kinda person

[Sadie Hartmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think back on popular, post-apocalyptic horror novels. The viral outbreak of Captain Trips in Stephen King’s, The Stand. The environmental and human destruction left after nuclear warfare in Swan Song by Robert McCammon. The ambiguous but devastating world event causes humanity to unravel in Cormac McCarty’s The Road.

Very important markers of the genre; identifiably unique and remarkably special but very much told by the same voice.

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin is a post-apocalyptic horror novel telling a new tale, from a new voice, in a familiar setting, for a spot on the shelf next to the classics.

Felker-Martin devises a plague that attacks humans with high levels of testosterone leaving the host in a ravaged physical state; reduced down to basic, primal instincts: Sex, Eat, Kill, Repeat. Humans not infected with the plague have splintered into various groups based on differing philosophies of survival. Adhering to post-apocalyptic blueprints, the reading experience is enjoyed through multiple POVs. The reader navigates a twisted new reality through varying perspectives following different main characters and their trusted allies.

Because of the nature of the plague, this story imagines new gender roles and sexual dynamics. All stereotypes based on sexuality and gender are smashed into oblivion and reformed in order to smash them again. Everything about this universe is fresh and exciting because the lens of the narrators through which we view the world is so new.

Felker-Martin gives everyone a voice and an experience. This does make the scope of Manhunt feel a bit daunting in size with its huge cast of characters to keep track of, but that’s something many readers come prepared to do for this genre given all the door-stopper, epic novels that have come before.

The most difficult thing about investing in the characters of Manhunt is all the fucking emotional wreckage. These are not two-dimensional, cardboard cutouts of fictional people running around playing apocalyptic warfare, these are complex, flesh and blood individuals with strong, dynamic character traits, big personalities, and raw emotions. They run full-on into one another with all their psychological trauma and form these complicated relationships based on attraction, survival, and need. It is unabashedly queer, explicit, greasy, violent, and sensual. *flailing hands and gesturing* all of these things, all at the same time.

It’s tough to go through some of the things these characters end up doing to one another but there are some shining moments of feel-good hope and humanity, softened by humor; sprinkled with sarcasm. It’s a lot of fun and it’s also very dark.

Gretchen Felker-Martin clearly has a lot to say. There seems to be a countless cast of colorful characters just waiting to make their mark on our horror-fiction-loving hearts with more strange and wonderful stories to tell.

This is a debut that literally throws open the door and announces its arrival by making sure the room knows its intentions to stay. Manhunt is what the future of this genre looks like. Take note.

[jay]

i dnf'ed this months ago and never logged it. oh well.

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

„Manhunt“ reads like a hallucinatory fever dream that processes the subconscious trauma caused by the adversities trans people face – mind you, this is not intended to be some politically correct rational argument about trans rights, it’s an in-your-face, over-the-top horror revenge tale (and I feel like many negative reviews that talk about misogyny etc. don’t get that, and also don’t get the humor that is the basis of the absurd plot). The book operates with the tropes of extreme horror cinema, namely the graphic notion that humans are meat sacks with bones, which gives the whole thing a certain slaughterhouse aesthetic - and if you find that already quite disturbing, this book probably isn't for you (to quote the author: "I write the most disgusting books in the English language, books about sexual revulsion, about body horror, about how violence forms and fits into our lives.").

Let's have a look at the plot: In a plague-ridden world, people are threatened by a virus that turns everyone with enough testosterone into a cannibalistic monstrosity (the virus is called t.rex, of course). Our protagonists are trans women Beth and Fran, who are trying to fight off both feral men and TERFs who intend to destroy all trans women (which they perceive as disguised men, and thus dangerous). Beth and Fran team up with Robbie, a Native trans man, and Indi, a cis female doctor who knows how to supply estrogen. Together, they roam the postapocalyptic world while fighting against their trauma and for their lives, trying to beat the odds of trans-misogyny, gender dysphoria and social exclusion. Let's not end this round-up without giving a special mention to TERF soldier Ramona, whose career is going increasingly well, her double-life not so much, though.

It should become clear that this plot aims to represent the discourse, but even more, it aims to represent the feeling of being the object of that discourse, to feel helpless and lash out via writing - and it's one of the noblest tasks of literature to make marginalized voices heard, in an artistic form. I find criticism that wants writers to "behave" rather silly. It's their job to create, not to behave.

So what bothered me when reading this was not the reliance on graphic violence, nastiness and obscenity (it's your usual extreme horror), but that the text is overly descriptive (a pet peeve of mine) and that the pacing was so off that it frequently felt like the author connected individually crafted scenes.

Still, I applaud Felker-Martin for this daring text and the many good ideas, even though in the end, they don't quite form a cohesive novel. This is the kind of stuff that would never get nominated for the Women's Prize for Fiction, but you know what? It should be nominated, because it's not harmless "look, we're the good ones here" stuff, but seriously challenging to read and has things to say that you can debate over.

[karen]

oh god this cover. nightfire knows exactly how to make me want to read a book.

[Brandon Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was BRUTAL!! And gross, emotional, intense, and so much more. I’m very sad now 😂

[Petra X]

"**People fix your hearts or die. Bind Jesse Singal with strong rope and bring him to the quarry at the edge of town. Give him to us alive and unspoiled. Leave, and no matter the sounds you hear, do not look back." This evoked the same kind of horror in me as this story, A Party Down at the Square. The book is about burning black people, in the book called N*s. The quote, was about **Cis people who if they don't agree with Gretchen Felker-Martin deserve lynching.

Is the world not moving forward in love and kindness and togetherness at all? Has the internet brought more divisiveness when we think it brings us all together, from all four corners of the earth and whatever language we speak?

Gretchen Felker-Martin on February 12 tweeted that she wanted to slit the throats of J.K. Rowling and several other authors who've spoken out against gender reassignment procedures for children, or letting trans women access some female-only spaces. One of those she threatened asked how she was able to remain on Twitter.

In the transgender activist's debut novel, Manhunt, published in February 2022, Rowling is murdered. The book is promoted as 'an explosive post-apocalyptic novel that follows trans women and trans men on a grotesque journey of survival.' According to Twitter's March 2019 policy statement : 'You may not threaten violence against an individual or a group of people. We also prohibit the glorification of violence. From the Daily Rag.

In the book, she had JK Rowling burned alive, but her tweets are more about slitting the throat of anyone she considers transphobic and she names names, Naturally everyone who doesn't agree with her book and tweets is a transphobe.

I'm going to get the book though. I think the author is extreme, I don't agree with them at all, but still it is a work of fiction and many books of fiction, perhaps most are based on what the author knows in real life and works it to fit their story. I'm not going to 1 star it for objectionable views but rate it on how good a book it is.

[Sally · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hmm, Team Slightly Misinformed Tweets, or Team "There Needs To Be More Depictions Of Rape In Fiction, And There's Nothing Wrong With Writing About Graphically Killing Off A Public Figure Who Could Sue Me Into The Stone Age, And Also There's Nothing Wrong With Sending Incest .gifs To Assault Survivors On Twitter, And Also Nothing Wrong With Comparing Trans People Dating TERFs To Holocaust Survivors Fantasizing About Their Camp Guards"?

...yeah, no contest.

Edit: actual transphobes dni

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
I love that this ownvoices trans story exists. As a cis woman, I did not necessarily connect or understand all of the personal details infused in the book, but I appreciated being exposed to unique challenges of trans persons.

In terms of a horror story, this one was gruesome and unflinching. The author is not afraid of a gritty tale that will likely be most terrifying to those with balls.

My biggest challenge with this novel was a personal one, rather than a criticism of the book. That's the fact that I do not typically enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction. I was hoping the diversity aspect of this story could override my disinterest in the subgenre.  Unfortunately, despite the great representation, the story leaned heavily into the tropes of post-apocalyptic fiction… which just is not my thing.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a diverse, queer horror story featuring a group of individuals who underrepresented in fiction.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

[Dea · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will go into more detail below but wanted to leave a quick spoiler free quip. If you are going into this expecting a fun actiony monster hunt with sharp commentary on the state of our society, you will be disappointed. There is very little actual monster hunting in this book, maybe 5% tops. And the sharp commentary does not go beyond just angry rants, which are cathartic but ultimately do not add to the discussion. If you instead want to read misery porn, and there is a LOT of on page sex and most of it is miserable, because one or both participants are not enjoying themselves, at which point you ask why is this even happening, and some of it venturing into rape territory, then by all means dive in!


I will do my best to keep this short and not turn it into a rant over aspects that I may have not understood properly. I am fully aware that I might not be 'in the know' and thus not best equipped to make judgment calls, but still and opinion is an opinion even if it is not an informed one.

First, this book has more sex than your smuttiest smut novel. I don't read smut novels so I cannot speak from experience, but I feel that if there was any more sex on page there just wouldn't be any room for plot. The sex is also very abusive. At first I thought it was a way to illustrate power-dynamics between the participants, but by the third time I read about someone spitting in someone's face I started to wonder if the author just enjoyed writing about spitting and hitting. Which is cool, not kink shaming, but the BDSM community might have something to say about the obvious abuse and non-consent once again being presented as BDSM kink.

Second, for a book where men are monsters it has a lot of hate aimed at women, all sorts of women. It brought on the same feeling as the “Handmaiden's Tale”, that men are monsters but women are crafty bitches that are just waiting for men to get out of the way so they can stab each other in the back. Both TERFs and the mean-girl clique are matriarchies on the surface, but in reality they are the same old patriarchal structures just with women at the helm. Which brings me to the point, why bother taking men out of the picture? Is the point that women, if given power, would do the same thing? That being awful to each other is just human nature? And why such lack of imagination? Can the author not imagine any other government systems besides the exploitative ones we have? Or is the point that the form of government that can survive in the apocalypse is one built on the old system of patriarchy?

And the language everyone uses is so misogynistic. The two protagonists, the mean girls, and the TERFs toss around terms like 'cunts' and chastise each other for acting like a pussy. I would expect the 'womyn power' nazis at the very least to be careful about the language they use. It isn't edgy, it is old and worn out to the point where it doesn't elicit a reaction beyond annoyance.

Third, I feel like Robbie got short-changed. While Beth and Fran offered different experiences based on one 'passing' and the other one not, Robbie's experience would offer a drastically different view because for him striving to 'pass' would also mean striving to resemble 'the enemy'. Aside from casual lamenting about being looked at while walking the halls of the mean-girls club there is nothing about others' opinion of him or whether or not it colors his opinion of self.

Fourth, and this one simmered for the whole time I was reading the book, running out of meds is an actual danger in the book which does not translate to actual danger in the real world. So unless the author's point was that trans individuals, especially trans women, are actually dangerous and we should all learn to live with that fact, maybe this wasn't such a good plot choice to make.

The concept of the book was fascinating. The action was really great, not too detailed not too abstract, just enough to get you worried about the survival of the protagonists. Trans characters are underrepresented in the media and it is good to see not just one token story but a variety of narratives to represent different experiences. That said, none of those things made up for scattered story telling, world-building inconsistencies, and frankly tropey pointless violence towards women and minorities.

PS: I did not know where to put this, so I will put this here. I was completely willing to leave a 4 star review on this book despite all my issues with it, explained at length above, until I reached a certain scene. It is Part III, Chapter III, “Natural Woman”. Specifically, where the protagonists are asked to stay and help defend “Fort Dyke”.

He paused, open mouth full of half-chewed mush. Beth wondered if he breathed through his nose that loud when he sucked cock. Fran looked pale. Indi’s expression was carefully neutral.

That threw me out of the narrative and made me so angry I wanted to stop reading right there. What the fuck, Beth? (And by Beth I mean Gretchen) How does that fit into the platonic relationship you two have had until now? How does that fit with the gravity of the situation? How are you OK with sexualizing him when all he is doing is eating? I don't know if it was because I was already annoyed at him being denied a character arc besides being in a relationship with Fran or not, but it was a strong spike of emotion and I did not feel it was fair to leave it unmentioned.

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve restarted this review more times than I can admit. This book is going to live with me forever, which sure is cliche as fuck to say, but I genuinely mean it. This book is empowering, grotesque, devastating and so utterly captivating that my review won't do this novel any sort of justice.

Manhunt is a post-apocalyptic novel that follows several characters who are trying their absolute best at surviving in a world filled with ravenous men and shit-eating TERFs. We get to meet Fran, Beth, Robbie and Indi, as well as several other characters who, and I promise you, will make you want to throw your book at a wall, either due to how much you love them, or how much you utterly fucking despise them.

As someone who’s been queer for over 15 years, and been out as trans for eleven years, I’ve never came across a dystopian novel that’s...so unapologetic with its queerness, so open and raw, as well as filthy and unforgettable. Sure there’s some queer dystopian novels I’ve read, but nothing like this. I promise you, there is nothing you will find that can be related to this book. I mean, this book hit me like a sack of bricks, it’s the first time that I’ve felt free & unburdened while reading a story surrounding trans characters, it’s the first time that I’ve felt normal while reading trans characters. Maybe that's because I don't read enough books with trans MCs, or it’s the fact that Gretchen did not hold back with her writing, she didn’t shy away from using certain words, or making characters do certain things, fuck me, it was so gods damn validating.

Now, this is something I’ve been raving about since finishing this novel. I want to send a huge thank you to Gretchen, for using the word ‘clit’ for a trans man and all the other ‘dirty’ words throughout this novel. This might seem like a small, odd thing to put in my review, but I remember being a baby queer, using words like ‘mound’ and ‘clit’ for genitals, and being absolutely hounded on for the fact I was using those terms for myself, and how I was phobic for uttering them. It took me quite sometime after the onslaught of online abuse, to gain the courage to start using those terms again. Now that I’m much older, reading Manhunt was like a huge breath of fresh air. Reading words like ‘clit’, ‘cunt’, ‘scrotum’, ‘dick’, ‘anus’ was an absolute joy to see, because let's face it, most book sex scenes suck. I’m tired of the watered down, painfully straight sex scenes in books (and even queer books.) This book has some of the most realest and genuine sex I’ve ever read in a book, and there’s a fuck ton of it.

You know what else there was a fuck ton of? Gore. Pain. Slurs. Transphobia. Love. Found Families. You name it, this book’s got it. It’s a heavy story, filled with things that stuck deep in my chest, that made me seethe, that made me cry, but most of all, made me feel like I belong on this shitty-ass earth.

Manhunt is a ruthless novel that nobody is prepared for. This is going to change horror for the better. This is a dystopian work filled with bloodshed, engaging characters, and showers the reader with trans normality, queer love, diversity and the oppression that one has to suffer through for being true to themselves. Gretchen Felker-Martin has outdone herself with this novel, and I can’t wait to see what else she conjures up in the future.

TWITTER | BLOG | INSTA

[Corey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me first say that I am trans. I had no problem with making fun of JK Rowling, nor did I have a problem with the rape and graphic violence. In fact, I wish there had been more of it. With that, let's start with the good.
Felker-Martin shines most when she is describing sex and violence. Her writing during these scenes provokes a visceral reaction that was really effective. She also very effectively communicates just what it is like to be trans. In particular, there was a nightmare scene near the beginning that really gets across the body horror of transness. I really liked that scene because Felker-Martin is playing with what she knows. Her sex scenes, also, were highly evocative. You so rarely see trans sex depicted in pop culture and I think she did a wonderful job. She also very effectively shows how transmisogyny is really just misogyny in another form and how it ultimately leads to the destruction of all women, cis or trans. When she talks of transness, or fatness, or what it is like to be a brick, she communicates very effectively. The problems begin when she begins to speak outside of her perspective.
To be honest, I was surprised when I saw in the acknowledgements that she had authenticity readers. Whether it was an Indian character or a Black character, or a transman, I felt like I was reading a caricature. In addition, I don't think Felker-Martin really understands the TERF mindset. Through Teach and Ramona's inner monologues, I felt like I was reading grand camp villain speeches instead of any nuanced reasoning behind their worldview. I understand that this is pulp fiction but I feel that if you are trying to actually make a point, it's important to do it effectively. The caricature nature of the book really stood out to me especially because all of the main characters essentially have the same voice. There is essentially no differentiation in what little personality these characters have and there is no way to know who is speaking unless it is explicitly stated. It makes it impossible to care about these characters and what happens to them. This brings me to Manhunt's cardinal sin which prompted me to give it a two-star rating and write my first-ever review.
This book is poorly written. Syntactically, it is extremely confusing and difficult to parse. I found myself constantly rereading paragraphs unsure of who was talking or whose perspective we are following. In fact, I noted several points where perspective abruptly shifts mid-paragraph. I also found myself needing to reread because sentences are confusingly worded and, occasionally, entire paragraphs are just long run-on sentences.
This book is bleak. That isn't a bad thing; it's a valid take on the genre. However, it is also a slog. This book took me five months to read because I kept finding myself putting it down in the middle hundred pages. There are pages and pages of these identical characters moaning and groaning with nothing ever really happening. I wish that something billed as a horror novel had more...horror in it. Instead, it is mostly internal politics and B plots that ultimately add nothing. Felker-Martin attempts to alleviate some of the bleakness with Ready Player One-styled pop cultural references and attempts at humor, all of which fall flat and serve to make Manhunt even bleaker. I found myself rolling my eyes often.
This was one of my most-anticipated books of the year, and so it was extremely disappointing to me. We need more trans stories in all genres. Horror is one of my favorite genres, especially queer horror. There are the bones of a good story in here, but blank, character-less characters combined with a grammatical and syntactical mess made it almost unreadable. I feel for Felker-Martin in the bad reviews that are just transphobia and I debated whether I would add to the negativity. But, ultimately, I feel that it is important to hold trans creators to the same standards as I would cis creators. We need to do better than this. Our stories need to be told. I just wish this one was told better.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second of two arc books I read this weekend at the same time, and when you see the content of this book, that's why I wanted a palate cleanser romance novel to accompany this book. That is absolutely not to say that this book wasn't good though- in fact I think it's grotesquely and brutally brilliant.

I want to discuss some context to why this book exists before I get into the meat of the review. A lot of post-apocalyptic literature doesn't take trans people into account when they write and build their worlds- which isn't great but not the worst crime either. But also recently there have been a string of gender based post-apocalypse novels that are explicitly written with transphobic dogwhistles at best, and being outright transphobic at worst. Several of those books I requested arc copies to read so I could fairly explain my thoughts on them without giving financial backing to their authors, but each time I was rejected. So I knew I had to jump at this book when I saw the blurb. Horror is not at all my usual genre of fiction, but I felt like this book is going to be important.

Manhunt follows Grace and Fran, two trans women and Robbie, a trans man, as well as some other characters as they all try to survive in a post apocalyptic world in which an ailment affects all people with high amounts of testosterone in their system causing them to go feral. In response to the outbreak a lot of the centralized power becomes openly transphobic and run by TERF organizations and seek to root out all transwomen from the cities leaving Grace, Fran, and Robbie in a lurch for survival.

As I mentioned, this is far from my usual genre of books- but if I was going to read a horror book at any time October seemed fitting.

I really was intrigued by literally all the characters in this book. Grace and Fran had a really interesting relational dynamic of trusting and relying on each other but with hurt feelings and damaged souls tracing back even before the outbreak. I also found the internal torment of characters like Indi and Ramona really compelling. The character work is great in this book.

One thing I found really interesting about this novel is how society has adapted to the apocalypse. Electricity still exists, hell whole cities still exist. Everything has changed but much is also continuing on despite a lifechanging event for literally everyone involved. Many post-apocalyptic stories I've read while still have clusters of people don't quite depict it in this manner and I found that engaging.

The metaphors and messaging of this book are absolutely not subtle. It's going to be hard to read this book and not see explicitly what is happening and how it parallels to current day trans politics and the people trying to destroy our lives. It's often really intense and brutal imagery that can be difficult to read and imagine- but it also felt so real. Felker-Martin did a really great job at showing the translation from this horror story to how discourse is handled today

One thing I was torn about that both took my out of the book emersion at some points, but I totally understand why it exists in the book was the use of modern day language regarding trans politics and terfism. Part of me thinks in a post apocalyptic world such as this one the terminology would have changed. It seemed a little weird to me that the groups were still calling themselves "trans exclusionary radical feminists" in a society with literally no cis men. How much would "feminism" still be a thing in that scenario? But at the same time I feel that using modern day terms really slams the metaphors down and the messages of the book become all the more clear. So I see both sides of it.

This book is brutal and holds back no punches, it's not for everyone- it might not even be for me. But it is an important book and definitely has carved a place for itself. I was super into it. 5/5

Thank you to Macmillan and Netgalley for providing me and ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

[Carl Bluesy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of post apocalyptic stories and I loved all the gore this book had. I think the character and voce from a trans woman character was the high points of this book. It always comes down to characters, this had one I don’t see there voice being upfront so much. I’m sure there are a lot of book out there that do, but I’ve only seen a few, and this one stood out to me and a ver strong voice.

It was good to see all the ups and downs of her experience as a trans woman and as a survivor of a apocalyptic, and how they effected each other.

I did find this book suffered from sectioned off issues. Where there would be a lot of the sexual aspects in a large chunk, with little of anything else, then a lot of gore and violence. This gave a rough pacing for me, where I feel if this stuff was better balance it would have made for a better reading experience, where I wouldn’t tire of one aspect of the book and wanting it to move on to the next thing. If it was shuffled around, just a little bit more, it could keep all it had, but hit in a much more satisfying way.

Have you read a book with a trans lead? What ones have stuck out to you?

[Anna Simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weird, horrific books about trans people deserve to be written and read. Speaking frankly, this makes me want to revisit a draft I have lying around...

[Lexi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Manhunt isn't for everybody- and hell, it's probably not for me. Please note that my rating should not affect you picking this book up if it speaks to you. At the end of the day I just wasn't super engaged with the plot or characters, but I do want to make a case for picking this up.

Gretchen Felker-Martin is a skilled splatterpunk author and a trans woman. Manhunt is a post-apocalyptic nightmare fever dream loosely skinned as a metaphor for how trans women are treated by radical feminists. This book is personal and cuts deep. There were times I felt very invasive reading it. Though it is a scifi/speculative story, so much of the author's personal rage and feelings bleed through these pages.

In some ways, you need to accept how over the top Manhunt is it to get it. The scenarios and behaviors of the characters are pretty beyond "realistic", but again, they are mirroring the trans experience as a whole, largely online. If the apocalypse happened, would massive gangs of TERFs enslave and murder trans women and build a society where there is almost a single-minded goal of hating them? Probably not....but just look online. Look at the way radfems behave towards trans women. The emotional and verbal violence inflicted on trans women online is presented as physical here.

This book is gory. There's sex and death. There are scenes of shock. There is a lot of transphobia depicted. There are trans people fighting for their lives.

The characters didn't really do it for me, but I do think that they were interested in that they were nearly all trans and nearly all morally grey. These characters experience a LOT of dysphoria and pain. They aren't always behaving perfectly. They aren't always charitable to each other.

More important than the characters, however, are the antagonists. All died hair, piercing clad women that talk a LOT about women's liberation. White feminism is lampooned in a huge, cathartic way Gretchen Felker-Martin spares no punches when laying into this particular brand of feminism.

I think the characters failed to interest me a little outside of what they meant to the message, and I did not particularly care about their adventure or relationships. All that said, there are going to be some people. particularly trans women, who NEED this book. This is the angry rage monster that every trans girl deserves. I strongly recommend picking this one up.

[Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

No one needs to write another gender apocalypse novel ever again, this is the definitive one.