This is a very compelling, timely and interesting read. Funnily it was written before the pandemic, but great timing!
The story is rich with lots of things shaping our current reality like pandemic, social disorder, changing dynamics, etc. Great writing too. I highly recommend.

Although written before Covid-19 hit town, this novel is about a virus that wipes out 90% of the male population of the world.
We dip into events at various dates in the first five years of the pandemic and from various perspectives.
Although there is a large cast, the novel is scenario-driven rather than character-led novel. Many of the characters make brief appearances and do not return for a hundred or so pages. Probably the most developed are Amanda, the accident and emergency doctor who first raises the alarm, and Catherine, an anthropologist who finds herself documenting the emerging society. We meet these women at the beginning of the story, see them suffer terrible loss and then watch them adapt and take on new challenges.
Other characters include: an egotistical virologist working on a vaccine; a Filipina nanny in Singapore who makes a split-second decision to flee; a smallholder on a remote Scottish island who believes her family will survive in splendid isolation, that’s until the Scottish government repurposes her farm; and a male passenger on a ship stranded off Iceland.
Through snapshots of these characters’ lives, we see societies reconfigure as women take on new roles at the same time as mourning loved ones. We see a little of how different countries handle the crisis. Scotland, for example, very quickly declares independence (Who knew?) and New Zealand comes up with a startling way to protect baby boys born before a vaccine is found.
This is a what-if novel. But rather simply asking: What if we faced a global pandemic (Image that), the writer really asks the question: What if the world were run by women? And sneaks in a damning indictment of her (our) pre-virus world where women are underrepresented in so many industries that urgent and mass reskilling is required.
At times, the novel is utopian rather than dystopian. There are minimal references to crime and war in this new world order and what riots there are seem to be started by panicked men at airports and railway stations as they attempt to escape the virus in the early days. However, there are also hints that some women fall into bad habits in their attitudes towards the “weaker” sex. Men, now objects of curiosity in the workplace and on the streets, have to form action groups to protect their interests and stand up against inappropriately gendered language in the office.
A lot of thought has gone into every imagined scenario and the writer provides stimulating options. This book will be widely read, reviewed and debated, and is ripe for an intelligent TV series adaptation..

Many thanks to Net Galley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this interesting story.

The End of Men is a timely, at times prescient novel, about a global flu-like pandemic. Split into short sections told by various characters across the world, it's dystopian fiction in the vein of World War Z or The Power.

Covid aside, it's a brilliant premise. The novel starts as a gripping survival narrative, and there is a poignant exploration of trauma. However, a novel split between multiple POVs needs to have a strong sense of character - and in this respect Sweeney-Baird's storytelling fell a bit flat for me. I didn't really engage with any of the narrators, and so I felt detached from their experiences. I didn't get much of a sense of people's day to day lives, and too often, I felt like life-changing policies or discoveries were only ever outlined through the eyes of those in charge, rather than the people they actually affected.

The End of Men is an enjoyable read - but perhaps not as compelling as it could have been.

I began reading this just as we went into a second lockdown for Covid-19. I suspect that added a certain realism and creepy feeling to the plot that may not have been so evident if I had read this last year. The plot centres around an outbreak of a virus in Scotland that quickly spreads around the world. "The Plague" as it becomes known only affects men and women are carriers. Starting with flu-like symptoms, any man or male child that catches it, dies within a couple of days. There is no treatment and no cure. 10% of the worlds male population are immune, all the other are at risk. The book explores the collapse of the political elite throughout the world as the men die and woman take over, it brushes over the difficulties countries face, replacing their workers in male dominated careers, from garbage men to fire-fighters to scientist and how the world needs to retrain and re-develop their education programmes. It looks at how the world can be carried by woman who are grieving the loss of their partners, brothers, fathers and children. It follows the stories of a number of people around the world as societies have to adapt to the new world order and races to find a vaccine. I LOVED this book. The emotions it covered and the whole concept was original and well thought out. It covered topics I would never have thought of which gave it a greater feeling of realism and following the development of the plague through the eyes of the various characters was a good way of covering it. One of those books that will remain with me long after I have finished it. Highly recommended. Deserves every one of my 5 stars. Thank you for allowing me to preview this excellent read

You would think that a book with a title proposing the end of my gender would be cause for concern, possibly misandry, wrong! This is a book about many many different things currently affecting our society, be that misogyny, the pandemic, the fear and paranoia becoming prevalent in society today but it’s also about hope and it’s a very good read

I loved this book and read it in one sitting. It kept me enthralled to the end - and perhaps because of the current pandemic! It was very relevant (and also very scary to see how a situation such as this can be so easily predicted by someone with an imagination - and yet not predicted by governments world wide and to be taken by surprise.). I loved how the book was written by the view points of different women. I would have liked to have seen a bit more in the end about how the world had changed and how the leadership of women had altered everything. The author went it a little bit there, but I would have liked to have seen a bit more. But I really enjoyed the book and couldn't put it down.

I'll be honest, this book ended up being totally unlike anything I expected it to be - but in a really, really good way.

I didn't think I would get so heavily invested in the characters. And I definitely didn't think that I'd be bawling my eyes out less than 20% of the way through.

This was an edge-of-your-seat kind of novel that, while it was written years ago, ends up tapping into the current global situation in a masterful way.

In the year 2025, a mysterious virus has broken out in Scotland - and it seems to affect only men. When Dr. Amanda MacLean reports this phenomenon, she is dismissed as hysterical. By the time her warning is heeded, it is too late and the virus has become a global pandemic, as well as a political one.

The book is an immersive account of the women who have been left to deal with the consequences of the virus, and it's all told in first person narratives. From Dr. MacClean to intelligence analyst Dawn; Catherine, a social historian determined to document the human stories behind the male plague to Elizabeth, one of many scientists desperately working to develop a vaccine, the women give readers insight into the start of the plague and beyond.

It was clear how carefully the author had plotted out the book and how much research had gone into the writing process. It felt like Sweeney-Baird had really done a deep-dive into the possible eventualities from a worldwide pandemic, and how the people around the world may react.

Wow what a Book , This book is so close to what is going on at the moment with the covid 19 pandemic we are going through I got goosebumps reading this book especially how close to home this book is.

I would recommend everyone read this amazing book.

I would give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley & Harper Fiction for sending me the arc of this book in exchange for this honest review.

The year is 2025. Doctors in Glasgow see the first patients with flu like symptoms which is the start of a deadly global pandemic, much worse than what we are currently experiencing. This illness only kills men and has an extremely high mortality rate. The story is told from many different perspectives, and although I can appreciate that it is very well written, I have to say that I did not enjoy reading it. Let's hope we never have to live through anything so lethal and world changing. Thanks to NetGalley for a preview copy.
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Wow! What a great book, I so enjoyed it. The premise is that a virus sweeps around the world, killing over 90% of all males but sparing all women. It felt very odd to be reading this in 2020, as we are reeling from the onslought of Corona virus, which is not at all as discriminating as the Male Plague. I was not sure how the book would work, as it was written just before the pandemic. It was interesting to read how the author made the characters cope, trying to spare their loved ones by social distancing and masks - just as we do as a norm now.

The story follows a series of people, showing how the pandemic started (a scary prospect with parallels to the rumour-mill for Covid-19), how it spread and how it affected different people. One felt such sadness for some of the woman, and wanted to belt a couple of them (especially Lisa, who I hadn't taken to even before her efforts to grab all the credit for finding a vaccine - a testament to how well the author portrayed her).

I great story, great escapism (if not quite as escapist as the author anticipated when she wrote it!) and I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction and The Borough Press for allowing me access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A truly amazing debut by this author; a prescient, thought-provoking and emotive tome all in one. While a piece of science fiction but too close to home due to the current Covid-19 climate the lengths that CSB goes to, to create a world where men are removed from the world is startling all the courses of action that will have to be taken by people is staggering.

After a run of a few bad books to cover, this book engaged me and was most enjoyable from beginning to the end to a new beginning

Wow, I was not expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did! Maybe due to the fact, we are literally in an a pandemic, this book was much more impactful, but I think even had covid-19 pandemic not been going on, I would still have been blown away! Completely unputdownable, easy to immerse in, character development and setting completely out of this world, and the plot original, unique, and most important riveting! I would never ever expect it to be writing by a debit author, as it’s too good, but an amazing at how much this debut accomplished! Highly, highly recommend! Prepare for some chills and shocks, especially in today’s world!

Will definitely buzz around and use lower amazon reviewer number on release date!

Utterly engrossing, completely compelling.
Reading this in a pandemic adds a weird layer of reality crossing over with the fiction. This was an utterly compelling read and seeped into my thoughts frequently; and the outcomes (including improved healthcare for women, smaller phones etc) are things we could do without waiting for a male plague to bring about!

Given all that is currently happening in the world I was excited to obtain an ARC of this publication in return for an unbiased review. As a native of Glasgow and the West of Scotland this book further interested me as this was where the plague first emerged.
Told from the perspective of numerous different characters worldwide this was a fascinating read without too much medical explanations and kept my attention throughout.
I'm giving this book four stars rather than five as I felt that it became a little rushed to get to the post plague world. One thing for sure, it'll set you thinking, what if there was a plague that effected only one sex and killed off 90% of that sex ? Guaranteed to set you thinking.

I loved this book! It was enthralling, and I know that the printed version will be even better, as the digital version takes away from the impact. The story is sprawling in the best sense, and I became so much part of the narrative. I can see this being an instant classic, and would highly recommend it to others.

One of the best reads of 2020 so far! Blew me away! Hard to read currently but brilliant writing! Excited to read the next book, excellent debu!

The End of Men is Christina Sweeney-Baird's debut and I found it to be a gripping and shocking read. It is set in 2025 and an outbreak of a virus in Scotland has become a global pandemic which only affects men of whom it kills 90%. The novel follows the accounts of those women caught up in the pandemic from the doctor who witnessed the first case of the virus , a social anthropologist who documents the human experiences , an intelligence analyst and scientists working on the first vaccine. In the current climate Sweeney- Baird's debut feels chillingly possible and I became immediately caught up in the lives of the women involved. It looks at grief and loss and how society changes in the absence of men. It illustrates the strength, determination and resilience of the survivors and I found it to be an ultimately hopeful book. Definitely one of my reads of the year and highly recommended.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

I felt a bit disoriented reading a novel that cuts this close to the bone and, lifting my head, would momentarily forget which version of the plague I was living through. ⁣
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This pandemic emerges suddenly in Glasgow with a near fatal mortality rate - but only for men. The book flits between women across the globe from the emergence of the plague to a post-pandemic return to a new normal. Many of these women are central to the handling of the disease, such as a Scottish A&E doctor who handles Patient Zero and whose desperate cries for action are ignored, a young CDC researcher who flies across the Atlantic to join the British Task Force at the epicentre, and a Canadian lesbian virologist who is determined to find a vaccine. Yet it was the more ordinary women whose stories I found more engaging, like the British housewife whose selfish husband leaves her so he can enjoy his last days without the humdrum of domestic boredom, and the Filipina maid working for the Tais who is desperate to flee Singapore as it descends into anarchy. I wish we spent less time with the insufferable anthropologist at UCL, so absorbed by her own grief that she bitterly avoids her best friend who has not experienced tragedy. ⁣
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There is much that echoes reality - the governmental incompetence as ‘the institutions we thought would keep us safe, would in fact be woefully inadequate in the face of a pandemic’, the politicising of a cure, the longing for a return to a pre-pandemic normal. The other part of this thought experiment was more speculative - what would a world where a plague had killed 90% of men look like? Many of these details had, I strongly suspect, been taken directly from Invisible Women - safety features, medicine created for women. Wars where ‘rape is not a tool’ ending the wars waged since the dawn of time where ‘nobody wins when men fight’. It is also a world where plumbers, train drivers and security forces are in short supply, and where women everywhere grieve the death of their husbands and sons. ⁣
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There are many ideas packed into this engrossing book, but perhaps it was most enjoyable because it presents a pandemic so crippling that ours looks rather light.

Incredibly relatable in the current circumstances, brilliantly written and beautifully engaging, I could not put it down until I was finished

A fascinating and fast-paced read, I was glued to this novel. The consequences of a highly infectious and usually fatal pandemic were fascinating to observe - human consequences, emotional, physical, cognitive; as well as consequences for global security, production and supply chain, employment... The list goes on and on and prompts some fascinating chains of thought, as all the best 'what if' novels do.