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. The novel is uncomfortable, but not because of the gore or violence. Manhunt revels in contradictions and complexity.

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. They must contend with merciless TERFs who use gender essentialism as a cudgel to rule what's left 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.

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. 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. The novel drops you right in the middle of action. I had no idea what to expect when I started reading Manhunt. 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.

Manhunt by gretchen