Manhunt

"By far the best book I've read this year.” ―Roxane Gay #1 Best Book of 2022 (Vulture) • A Best Horror Novel of All Time (Cosmopolitan) • One of the Best Horror Novels of 2022 (Esquire, Library Journal, Paste, and CrimeReads) • A Top 10 Horror Debuts of 2022 (Booklist) • A Goodreads Choice Award nominee for Best Horror • A Best Book of 2022 (Tor.com) • A Best SFF Book of 2022 (Gizmodo) • A Top 25 Most Influential Works of Postwar Queer Literature (The New York Times Style Magazine).Manhunt is an explosive post-apocalyptic novel that follows trans women and trans men on a grotesque journey of survival.“A modern horror masterpiece.” ―Carmen Maria MachadoBeth 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 motto: 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."A filthy, furious delight."―The New YorkerAlso by Gretchen Felker-Martin:CuckooBlack Flame

Roxane Gay

“Manhunt is sublime horror – gory, impeccably written, a condemnation and a celebration with a cast of incredibly flawed, deeply interesting characters.... By far the best book I've read this year. You should read it and share it with all your friends and enemies.”

NPR

“Disgustingly rendered and brilliantly imagined…. A fresh, stomach-turning take on gendered apocalypse.”

The New Yorker

"A filthy, furious delight; within its tense, gruesome premise live roundly human characters, with big, unwieldy emotions. It’s a shockingly tender exploration of genders and bodies, of violence as a part of nature, of the way love is a tool of survival."

Esquire

"It’s a book that almost no one will finish without finding something that shocks, appalls, or angers them, but anyone with the balls to tackle a truly transgressive horror novel will find much to savor."

Vulture

"The book is timely, visceral, grotesque, unflinching, and unexpectedly fun, full of sex and gore and messy, beautiful humanity."

Bustle

“A grisly, gory, glorious work of splatterpunk social horror ― and the perfect introduction to both subgenres.”

Buzzfeed

"The most unique perspective on one of the most well-trodden genres of the past several years, Manhunt takes no prisoners in its twisted tale of transgender and non-binary people in a post-apocalyptic wasteland."

Observer

"A masterful genre-bending horror novel, Manhunt is a must read."

Publishers Weekly

“Felker-Martin’s horror chops are top-notch.... A ballsy postapocalyptic tale.”

Library Journal, STARRED review

“A sensual, tender, honest, and inspirational story of imperfect but well-meaning people banding together in an attempt to not only survive but thrive.”

Electric Lit

“An audacious dystopian story ... destined to be one of the year’s most talked-about novels.”

Booklist, STARRED review

“Highly recommended for those looking for particularly upsetting or disturbing horror fiction.”

Carmen Maria Machado, bestselling author of In the Dream House

“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.”

Cassandra Khaw, USA Today bestselling author of author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth

“It’s beautifully written, a barbed hook that will dig deep and split you open.”

Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since Last We Spoke

“An iconic masterpiece of modern fiction. Dark and vicious. Visceral and uniquely devastating....I loved every second of it.”

Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby

“Felker-Martin can write: Manhunt expertly drops one political target after another, breaks your heart with nearly every character, and keeps up a relentless velocity― all while just being plain fun as hell.”

Gabino Iglesias, author of The Devil Takes You Home

“Manhunt is a celebration of trans people and a literary blitzkrieg against TERFocracy. Timely and necessary, this is extreme horror that says something. Listen to it.”

Hailey Piper, author of Queen of Teeth

“A unique, brain-searing nightmare that's full-on teeth and claws, and all heart too.”

David Demchuk, author of Red X

“Taut, visceral, terrifying. A gripping tale of trans survival, rendered in Felker-Martin’s exquisite, uncompromising prose. You can’t turn the pages fast enough.”

Brian Keene, bestselling author of The Rising and End of the Road

“Every ten years or so, a horror novel comes along that pushes the genre to terrifying new heights. Manhunt is such a novel. An emotional buzzsaw of a book that left me shaken.”

Meg Elison, author of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

“Manhunt is a razor-sharp novel, and Felker-Martin is here to raise the bar for post-apocalyptic fiction. Prepare to take a bite that will stain your jaws red.”

Lincoln Michel, author of The Body Scout

“Equal parts terrifying and transgressive, every page of this thrilling novel drips with blood, ichor, and other bodily fluids. Manhunt will grab you by the throat on page one and won't let go until the end.”

Lucy A. Snyder, Bram Stoker-Award winning author

“A must-read for fans of post-apocalyptic horror. Felker-Martin's prose is stellar, her characters are compelling, and her novel's pace is tremendous.”

Gizmodo

"Thrilling, gory, disgusting, and wonderfully cathartic, Manhunt is a manifesto against every gender apocalypse stereotype, creating space for trans and nonbinary people in the biology of transhumanism by eating the competition whole."

Paste Magazine

"Manhunt is also the rare case of a book that absolutely lives up to the tremendous hype and infamy surrounding it."

The Mary Sue

"Manhunt is as gruesome and violent as it is empathetic and complex; a vital reimagining of how these narratives are constructed and produced, complete with an all-out war against militant TERFs and moments of yearning that are deeply painful."

Emily V Gordon

"Manhunt is the sexiest, angriest, most deeply felt, and most urgent take on the zombie apocalypse I've ever read. It's a breathless wonder."

April Daniels, author of the Nemesis trilogy

“The feel-bad classic of the decade. A pitiless, nerve-shredding descent into Hell; as ruthless as it is perceptive ... Felker-Martin writes the best queer horror on the market.”

Archie Bongiovanni, author of A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns

“What a refresher it is to read Manhunt, where trans characters don't just take center stage, but are imperfect and complex, and the horror around them and their reactions feel realistic and urgent. Manhunt is brutal and empathetic. This book is dripping with visceral imagery and vulnerability.”

Felix Biederman, New York Times bestselling author of The Chapo Guide to Revolution

“I hope that as many people as humanly possible read Manhunt. It gives you a deep gift of human understanding and empathy through nearly indescribable body horror and mortal terror.”

Maya Deane, author of Wrath Goddess Sing

“Out of the exuberantly gory splatterfest emerges a tender celebration of women and women’s bodies, no matter how reviled and monsterized, in all their capacity for pleasure, resistance, and life.”

Adam Cesare, author of Clown in a Cornfield and Video Night

“Humane and pissed off and funny and real and acerbic and tragic. It does everything a book can do, but still has time to be a full-on horror novel with some of the most grueling sequences I've ever read, ever.”

Trevor Henderson

“Manhunt is a vital, angry re-evaluation of the zombie apocalypse narrative, putting the spotlight on characters usually left behind and shamefully ignored. Vicious and charming, absolutely not to be missed.”

David Gallaher, author of High Moon and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon

“Manhunt is an intense, pulse-pounding thriller that is equal parts sapphic, sophisticated, and stylish. Felker-Martin's prose is volcanic and visceral.”

Jordan Shiveley, author of Hot Singles In Your Area

“A raw horror-filled mouthful that will stretch your jaws to aching while you struggle feverishly to take yet another bite, and another, and another…A must-read, PERIOD.”

Grimdark Magazine

"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."

Apartment Therapy

“A violent, blood-drenched corrective to a rash of ill-considered gender plague novels by cis authors.”

CrimeReads

“I dub this the great TERF-pocalypse novel....I cannot underscore enough how much I love this novel.”

About the Author

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

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