A review by avokaitotoast
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin

adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

1.0

Short review: 
  • over hyped
  • not horror at all
  • very disjointed narrative (not in a good way)
  • i have no idea what the plot was
  • felt like i was reading something on wattpad half the time

Long review:

Where is the horror??? Is it in the room with us?? This isn’t even bad horror, it’s just *not horror*. At all. Maybe it could be a thriller? But not a horror. It is So heavily advertised and reviewed as a horror, and to be honest, maybe if it hadn’t been I would have enjoyed it more.

I was so hyped for this book. I love queer fiction and I love horror so this book was right up my alley, not to mention the phenomenal reviews… It did not meet expectations

Gretchens prose about the trans experience is actually really nice. It’s refreshing reading an actual trans author write about it, and I really like the concept of using a zombie-esque virus as a metaphor for body dysmorphia. 

The plot, however, was barely there. The setting was developed well, but the actual plot was so lost. I think for me it came down to how disorganised the whole book was.

The book follows perspectives of 5 people. However, instead of having a chapter devoted to each POV, it changes like 8 times a chapter. It makes it impossible to follow each characters subplot, not to mention the over all plot.

I wish I was kidding but I texted my friend when I was 3/4 through with the book and was like „I have no idea what the point of this book is“.

The „horror“ was lacking. If you could call it horror. I think if this was written as a black comedy and leaned into that angle then this could have been phenomenal. Unfortunately, it felt unintentionally hilarious.

All in all, it’s not a ~bad~ read, it’s just not what was promised by the marketing in my opinion. I‘ll always support queer authors and don’t regret buying this book, but I also think people can be hesitant to leave negative reviews for queer authors. I did finish it, so it was entertaining enough to read, but I do think half the time I was reading it just to try and get to the „amazing“ book I‘d heard about.