In Gretchen Felker-Martin's mind-expanding survival adventure, Manhunt, a mysterious plague transforms all cisgender men into feral creatures. Cisgender women and transgender people are immune, and the former want to annihilate the latter.
Beth and Fran, trans women and friends for life, roam the apocalyptic landscape of New England suburbs, hunting the roving packs of beastly men terrorizing the area. Killing one of the infected men is vital for the two friends' survival--they need to harvest the infected males' organs, pack them in dry ice and deliver the package to Dr. Indiresh Varma, who will extract estrogen and testosterone from the organs. Without the hormone supplements, Beth and Fran would become susceptible to the same plague ravaging cisgender men.
Though the friends are armed, they're attacked by a gang of trans-exclusionary radical feminists (TERFs) and a pack of feral men, leaving Beth near death. They're rescued by a trans man named Robbie, who agrees to help Fran transport Beth to Dr. Varma's home. Instead of refuge, they arrive to an explosive situation in Varma's neighborhood, which has been occupied by TERFs. Hate, intolerance and prejudice eventually erupt into an epic, bloody war.
In her acknowledgments, Felker-Martin (Ego Homini Lupus) mentions that she tried "to make this book as gross as possible," even gleefully labeling her novel as "splattercore." But as much as her prose leans far away from beautification, the text serves up a steadfast truth: humans rarely tolerate one another's differences. Thankfully the author surrounds this bitter reality with an incredibly well-told story of survival. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer