[Book Review] Manhunt (2022)

In a time where the rights of trans people are consistently dissected, where their very existence is disparaged as ‘political’, where levels of anti-trans violence and murder are skyrocketing, it is more important than ever to engage with art that gives voice to the voiceless, art that explores the pain, trauma, fears and joy of the trans community in their own words.

Arguably one of the most important of these works in the modern era, is Gretchen Felker-Martin’s Manhunt, a novel that holds both horror and heart in equal regard, a biting and brilliant debut from one of horror-fiction’s most exciting names.

The story drops us in the middle of a feral future ravaged by a vicious plague known as t.rex - a virus that feeds off testosterone and turns those whose bodies harbor a certain level of the hormone into savage, bloodthirsty beasts. Our heroines are Beth and Fran, two trans women doing their best to survive in the ashen wreckage of a dystopian future, harvesting organs from roving gangs of monstrous men to supply them and their community with the hormones necessary to stave off the disease. Not only do they have to avoid being attacked, raped, and eaten alive by slathering man-beasts, the pair’s existence is also threatened by a militant group of TERFs (trans-exclusionary radical feminists) violently intent on rebuilding society as a haven for cis women and nobody else. 

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When it comes to horror, Manhunt does not hold back, defiantly weaving together fantastical themes of body horror and splatterpunk with more realistic terror such as trauma, rape and even all-out war. Felker-Martin’s skill as a writer is never more obvious than in her eye-wateringly graphic depictions of human cruelty. There are moments she puts to page - with all the fiendish, palpable glee of a hardcore horror fan - that detail the bodies of cankerous and rotten men with such visceral detail they reek through the pages with gag-worthy fetidity. It’s a brutal and refreshing refusal to pander to a recent spate of moralistic judgement against horror that revels in filth and eschews sterility; this is a story for lovers of quivering guts, explosive gore and girls who fuck and fight with vengeance.

Nestled among the bloody carnage is Manhunt’s raw and beating heart - its characters. Alongside Beth and Fran, we’re introduced to a wonderfully ragtag group of survivors, including loyal doctor Indi, a cis woman who has chosen sisterhood and love over exclusion and hatred, and fan-favourite Robbie, a trans man learning how to claim and embrace his masculinity in a world where the word ‘man’ is filthy and flawed. It’s hard not to fall in love with the vulnerable, flawed and painfully human characters that Felker-Martin has brought to life. Her dedication to presenting realistic, three-dimensional roles even extends to the story’s villains who, even at their most vile and vitriolic, are given fully fleshed and often contradictory internal conflicts that grant Manhunt’s most vicious moments that much more emotional weight.

As the story barrels its way furiously towards a truly explosive ending, Manhunt never loses sight of the meaningful details that ground the story in realism despite its outlandish concept. Buried in Manhunt’s entrails of nihilism, war and gore, is a shining glimmer of hope – a battered, apprehensive hope of a better future, but hope, nonetheless. Manhunt’s unflinching refusal to sugarcoat a dystopia where trans women are excluded from any ‘feminist’ movement feels more important than ever, and is a powerful call to arms to remind people of all genders that we are far more than the differences in our genetic make-up, and to stand proudly side by side with our trans brothers and sisters in their fight for freedom.

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