In 2025 busy A & E consultant treats a young man with a fever she doesn't think to much about it, but when he worsens & dies very quickly she wonders why, expecting it to be an isolated case. Sadly this is far from the case. Before very long men are dropping like flies. This seems to be a virus that only affects men. It is carried by women & it is frighteningly contagious! The story is told by various women & through it we follow the nightmare, the search for a vaccine, how it impacts on society and on individuals.

Reading this in the time of Covid may or may not have been a good idea! At times I found it very dark & depressing, however it was not a book I could put down. It left a lot of questions as to the way society would move forward with women being in the majority. I was left with a concern that all the things wrong with the 'old boy' network would just swap gender: surely women are better than that- aren't they.

Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book. It's not one I'll forget easily!

WOW! You may not think a novel about a pandemic which targets men is what you need right now, but this was just utterly impossible to put down!

The concept is simple (I mean, apart from all the science and stuff 🤣) - it’s the year 2025, and a virus which originated in Scotland is killing men at a terrifying speed. Women are asymptomatic, and a very small percentage of men are immune, but most people are losing sons, husbands, brothers, fathers and friends. It’s a race against time to find out where the virus originated and to create a vaccine. (This sounds scarily familiar?).

The utter brilliance of this novel is in the vast amount of characters (from various countries worldwide) whose viewpoints we look at - from the doctor who first spotted the urgency, to an anthropologist recording its impact on people, and to MI5. The variety and different experiences all of these characters bring just makes this so compelling - and the chapters are really short, so it’s brilliantly fast paced too.

I was surprised at just how emotional I found this - it’s probably one of the most realistic and heartbreaking depictions of what it’s like to know you might lose everyone you love, and how you are meant to move on after losing a husband or child. Certain chapters absolutely devastated me, but thankfully the pace and movement between characters means there’s not too much time to dwell.

The other big impact of this novel is in the amount of moral dilemmas it raises - decisions as to who gets to have a child in this new world with so few men, in drafting people into employment, even in whether the person who created the vaccine should be compensated (hmm, no, she’s awful!). I think this is the type of novel to provoke lots of thought and discussion which is always a good thing.

I just honestly can’t recommend this enough - it’s gripping, terrifying, moving, and I wish I could experience reading it for the first time all over again! Astounding!

I've given 4 stars. Thought it was a good book. But really did feel that it dragged on at the end.
The story itself though was brill. Really felt I was living the story. Well written!

Ta da..... the clouds parted and this gem of a book was delivered into my life! I'm pretty sure there was an orchestra somewhere playing dramatic music. Christina Sweeney-Baird clearly wrote this book with me in mind, so thanks for that love ha ha ha..... Seriously though, The End of men had everything that I love... a virus outbreak, global pandemic, multiple perspectives, and kick-ass women. And people, please note I did say virus outbreak and global pandemic so be aware that this may not be the right book for some people at the moment with all that's going on. But if you're ok with those then definitely get reading this book.
Told from multiple female perspectives the story follows the initial virus outbreak up in Scotland and then the progress of the virus as it literally wipes out men! This fatal virus spreads across the globe killing almost all men except from a small number who are immune. Now, I know what some of you women out there are thinking (definitely not me, honest), but let me just say, if we think about it logically there would be absolute chaos with all the men wiped out. Aside from the fact that billions of women would be caring for their male relatives before they died, and then grieving, many industries and professions are male dominated. A disproportionately number of the Fire and Police Services are male. As is engineering, electricians, farming etc.. And don't forget the problem of reproduction to keep the population going!
The book is in a dated documentation type style with snapshots of what is happening as the dates progress, which makes it easy to keep track of where the timeline is up to. Honestly, it was written so well that I couldn't put it down. I can't believe this is the author's debut novel. Loved it, loved it, loved it!

Heart-rending, prophetic, and puts the last year into perspective.

I don't remember crying so many times during one book. One or two tears, yes. But this had me bawling at regular intervals. The pain and horror of this man-centric pandemic was absolutely devastating to follow.

The structure brings home the international havoc, the agony and the chaos inflicted by something so similar and yet so different to our own last year on the planet.

From Scotland, an innocuous start spreads chillingly fast and chillingly predictably. The author wrote this in the months before COVID-19 slapped us all out of our oblivious trivialities, but manages to show both what could have been and in some ways, what has been.

A Scottish doctor notices worrying symptoms in a male patient that the hospital staff are unable to save. The sky-high fever is replicated in another male, with no connection between the two. Seeing the start of something much bigger, she dutifully follows pandemic procedure but is rebuffed or dismissed.

And so begins the end of the world. Or for those with that particular mix of chromosomes: XY. Women carry it, but they don't die. Only men.

If it weren't for the context of 2020, this novel would still be chilling and a stark warning to the world. As it is, it's chillingly prophetic and immensely immersive. We don't follow any one character or story, but the story of the world and individuals coping with their personal and wider losses.

Mothers losing their sons, husbands staying away from families to contain the spread. Scientists working on vaccines. Politicians rebuilding. A battered wife desperate for her husband to catch the virus and die. Men trapped on a boat in the ocean with few supplies hoping they can outlast it. Conspiracy theorists. And we see terms and objects now so familiar that they seem shockingly out of place in a book from before last year: social distancing, people sat two metres apart. Face masks.

We return time and again to key stories. We see the before, during and after. Each of which are rather fascinating in 2021 context, particularly the author's take on how countries cope in the midst of the pandemic and how societies begin to function and rebuild when the worst is seen to be over. The post-pandemic world is society in reverse and gives a lot of pause for thought.

The reader will most likely do as I did and feel almost broken reading this, but then look up and around and feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude that things in the real world weren't worse than they are.

'Powerful' doesn't even begin to convey this book, this story, this situation and these lives. This will not be something everyone is ready to read, or wants to read. If you do, be prepared for a lot of emotion. But it's worth it to see how the story ends...

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.

It starts off with a man being brought to the hospital with flu-like symptoms. The next day he is dead. Just 2 days later others are dying with the same symptoms. All of these are men. The Doctor who treated patient zero, Amanda, realises this is not just any ordinary bug going about but people don't listen to her. And within a few weeks, there is a worldwide pandemic just killing men.

I loved how the book is told through different stories. There is a lot of heartbreak and suffering. But I also love how we see women carry on and continue life with men being the minority.

This book had it all. It was thrilling, gripping, scary, tear-jerking, love, compassion, power. This book was so close to home with Covid-19 happening right now. But I enjoyed reading more because of this,

Can't wait to read more from this author.

4.5/5 stars.

Published with canny timing this follows the events of a worldwide pandemic, a virus that everyone can catch....some remain asymptomatic but others become ill and die terrifyingly fast. All the others are men. Quickly the world is reduced to women and the few men who are immune or manage to avoid catching it.

If you think this book is about hating men you'd be wrong. It paints a world where if a woman is pregnant she's terrified it's a boy as he will inevitably die. It's not just the end of men, but of boys too. This is a world of crippling sorrow. But also of rebuilding and change. Of women stepping up when they've been pushed back. Of putting aside sorrow to secure the future.

All through the book the style reminded me of World War Z. It's told from multiple points of view, from all over the world. Which is good as I loved that book. Let's not speak of the film! And I really liked this too. It was very easy to get immersed in this world. There's a little bit of lag in the middle but overall a very impressive debut.

When a doctor in Glasgow discovers a deadly plague that is killing men very quickly the medical service reject her claims due to a personal connection which hilights her instability. As this plague spreads across the country and eventually the world what will happen? Some males are immune but the world is going mad with the decrease in population but in other ways made safer with females in charge.
I loved this book, told from various view points of women round the world in different yet similar situations. I think because of the current Covid pandemic this makes it more real!
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

As soon as I read the description for this book I knew it was going to be a truly unforgettable read. This fascinating story begins in the year 2025 in a hospital in Glasgow, Scotland. When Dr Amanda Maclean is called to treat a patient who has presented with flu-like symptoms. Dr Maclean initially believes this will be a run of the mill consultation, but when her patient begins to deteriorate at an alarming speed and he dies within hours of first showing symptoms, she quickly comes to realise that there is something much bigger at play here.

As more people begin falling ill with the same symptoms, all of whom are men, that is when the Doctors know that they are dealing with a large scale plague that is targeting the male population, and more worryingly, within days of contracting the deadly virus, most of them are dead. Dr Maclean informs the authorities, but they are unwilling to listen, which soon enough results in this unknown virus spreading throughout the world and killing 90% of the male population in its wake.

The story spans over six years and is told from varying perspectives, allowing us to get a real, indepth insight as to how the wider population have been affected by this tragic plague. We get to connect with not only Dr Amanda Maclean, but the other characters who share their own perspectives on this outbreak, and I know I certainly found myself riding a wave of emotions as the story progresses.

Despite the topic of this story being quite hard hitting, and certainly relevant to the life we have all been living over the past year or so, Christina Sweeney-Baird manages to add some humour and light-hearted moments throughout, something I truly enjoyed. This never once took away from the serious threat that the world within her story was facing, but did allow us to enjoy the journey that little bit more.

Written in a charismatic, immersive way, I found myself drawn in to the world that existed between the pages of this book. Emotional and all consuming, I adored this story.

The End of Men is scary how relevant it is in the day of COVID. The novel is extremely fast-paced with excellent characterization. Completely unputdownable! Highly, highly recommended!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

The sheer number of pandemic-themed novels published in late 2020-early 2021 is weirdly coincidental. Sweeney-Baird does a great job of plotting this wide-ranging novel so you read it quickly in big gulps. It has echoes of Max Brooks's World War Z and Naomi Alderman's The Power. Everything seemed very realistic, particularly with our newfound knowledge of what actually happens in a pandemic. I wish she'd delved a bit more deeply into the question of what society would be like with men in the minority with more examples, but I definitely liked the assumption men's rights activists would still exist. However, I still prefer Bethany Clift's The Last One At The Party, as it delved more deeply into the issues by focusing on one character rather than many.

The End of Men begins in a hospital in Glasgow where Dr Amanda MacLean recognises a pattern with incoming patients dying suddenly and with no apparent reason. Most surprising is that these patients are all male. When Amanda demands the authorities look into the matter and take some action she is
fobbed off as being hysterical and unreliable. From this beginning the Plague spreads out around the world and the reader follows the story through accounts, blogs and memories of different people affected.
At first this might not seem a good story to read. just as the world is suffering its own pandemic but it does show that things could have been/be much worse.
The writing is easy to read despite the troubling material and I finished the book in a couple of days. Although there are numerous characters I had no trouble following each person's story and
rather think that this keeps it from becoming too maudlin. Probably Amanda and Catherine come across as the two main characters and although I didn't invest heavily in either of them I did find myself interested and anxious to see how the story panned out.
The addition of the a story from a maid in Singapore and a family in Penrith adds a more world wide dimension to the plot but they are almost like short stories inserted into the text and the reader has little investment in the actual characters.
An enjoyable read despite the premise.
Many thank to Netgalley, HarperCollins UK, and HarperFiction for the chance to read this ARC in return for an honest review.

The End of Men opens with an A&E doctor realising that a virus is spreading through her department and she attempts to warn authorities. The novel then moves forward a day or two and then a few days at a time following a large cast of characters as we see how they react and cope with the virus and the implications it may have for their own lives. I was concerned this might be too much to read given that we’re living through a pandemic in the real world but actually I found it different enough that I enjoyed reading it. There are similarities to what we’re living through but there are differences too – in the novel women can carry the virus but it’s only males who die from it and only one in ten males are immune. We see people from all walks of life suffering through the pandemic and it’s heartbreaking the loss that people go through. I did find it hard to connect to any other characters in the book though – all the voices read the same to me and I kept having to flick back to the start of the chapter to see who I was with at the time. Also I understand that the focus of the novel was the virus but I felt that there wasn’t a lot of emotion in the early part of the book, it left me feeling a bit cold and disconnected from what was happening. Later on as time has moved on quite a lot there was more acknowledgement of loss and some moments really brought a lump to my throat. Overall, I did enjoy this novel – it was definitely compelling and I recommend it!

WOW! Considering this book was written in 2018 it is scarily familiar to the world we are living in right now.
In 2025 a mysterious illness sweeps through a Glasgow hospital with frightening speed. The victims present with a mild fever initially but are dead within hours. It has Doctor Amanda Maclean baffled and terrified. And why does it only seem to kill men?
Before long, the ‘plague’ is affecting pretty much the whole world. Women everywhere are losing previously healthy husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons to this deadly disease. It is just heart-breaking. I mean, imagine being happily married with beautiful sons then you suddenly find yourself alone in the world. How does anyone begin to move on from that? How will the world recover without any men?
This story is told from the points of view of multiple characters which do take a bit of keeping up with to be honest. These characters offer many differing perspectives, throughout the years of the plague, which make up a compelling, thought-provoking, and emotional read which kept me glued to my kindle.
There are so many similarities throughout this story to the life we have been leading for more than a year since Covid_19 hit. (I think the author might be a bit psychic.) What fascinated me the most was the science behind why women were immune, and the roles women suddenly had to play in a world previously often dominated by men. An excellent concept and such brilliant writing! I’m amazed this is a debut novel.
I highly recommend and I look forward to reading future books by Christina Sweeney-Baird.
**Many thanks to the author and publisher for my review copy via NetGalley**

Any regular readers of my blog will know I love a dystopian / speculative fiction read so was thrilled to be invited on this blog tour. The End of Men is set in 2025 and tells he story of a deadly virus – one that will kill 90% of the male population, within 5 days of them becoming infected. Women are carriers but are asymptomatic and the virus infects the whole world with terrifying speed.
Despite this being a disease that kills men and boys, the story is primarily told through women. From the doctor who first discovers the disease and who desperately tries to keep her husband and two sons safe, to the ordinary women who loose their families, to the scientists desperately trying to come up with a cause and a cure, to the politicians trying to deal with the fallout and figure out how life can carry on.
I loved this and it is such a good story with loads I want to talk about. Every story of loss was utterly heart-breaking but one that stuck with me was Catherine whose husband succumbs to the disease. They make the painful decision to cut off contact as soon as he became ill in order to keep their young son as safe as possible, so he has to die alone upstairs in their home. Catherine stops touching her young son in the hope of keeping him safe but eventually he also dies and she has to live with the regret of not showing him affection while she could. She is unable to stay friends with one of the oldest friends because her husband is immune and she has daughters – the pain and jealously is too much for her.
The author does a great job of imagining how society would change with a dominantly female population. How there will be a shortage of people to do traditionally male jobs from bin men to surgeons. How every day items that are generally designed for male users are eventually changed to suit female users (smaller mobile phones to suit smaller female hands, seat belts in cars that fit better). How relationships change – some women choose to start relationships with other women, while the remaining men that are left struggle with the attention they get women.
Written before Covid in 2018 this is the second pandemic book I have read this year and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Full of emotion, The End of Men is a thought provoking and intelligently written debut! I absolutely loved it and highly recommend.

This is a stunning debut novel, all too realistic for those of us living in the global Covid pandemic. I will be busy recommending this book to friends and family.

Having seen lots of chat about this book on social media over the past few months, I was very grateful to receive a beautiful hardback copy to read and review for my Bookstagram page (@karenkisreading) and this book blog.

About 17 months ago we started hearing about a virus in China, three months later we were watching Prime Minister Johnson telling us that we had to stay home to protect the NHS. This book was written before the pandemic hit (I’m not sure how much editing happened after lockdown), but to have this idea pre-Covid does seem a bit spooky.

As in our own global pandemic, in the story mistakes were made, lockdowns didn’t happen quickly enough and world travel continued for too long, with fatal results. We meet a wide variety of characters, the majority of them are women, all at different stages in their lives and all dealing with the consequences of the virus.

I have some some reviewers pointing out that certain life situations weren’t considered but I think the author did an excellent job to look at so many different elements of how life changed in this book, not just in the UK but across the world.

This is not a ‘I hate men’ book, the women who lost their sons, fathers, partners suffered immense grief and often guilt, that they were probably the carrier of the virus that killed their loved ones. It is a ‘what if’ book – looking at how life would change if we had a very uneven male to female ratio. How would schools, governments, businesses continue, especially in male dominated career areas and countries?

I found this an enjoyable and thought provoking read, and I’ve enjoyed discussing it with family and on social media. This could be a great book club book, with so many discussion points. A stunning debut novel and I look forward to reading more by Christina Sweeney-Baird in the future.

TW: pandemic, grief, death.

Given the year we’ve had it is quite easy to imagine a new flu-like virus sweeping across the world and changing life as we know it forever. Now imagine the consequences if that highly contagious virus could be spread by everyone but only men had symptoms. Oh and it had a 90% death rate. Welcome to The End of Men.
Told through lots of recurring narratives this book had me hooked straight away. What would once upon a time have been borderline thriller/dystopian/sci fi in genre, our own global pandemic qualifies the storyline as being entirely plausible.
Having read the book in April 2021, just as we are beginning to see restrictions lifted here in the UK, after some chapters it would take a moment to adjust back to our reality versus the reality portrayed in the book.
The similarities of the two pandemics is a powerful technique and as The End of Men pandemic progressed Christina Sweeney-Baird addressed the handling of the outbreak, international responses, the race to find a vaccine, the morality of selling the vaccine and travel restrictions with absolute precision.
What’s more, and what really made this book such a page turner was the unraveling and heartbreaking realities that the world would face if 90% of men were dying. From grief becoming an everyday reality, to food shortages, to there being a huge economic crisis as the nations workforce depletes this book kept me on the edge of my seat. Moreover imagine a world where women are genuinely in control, men become the minority and those who remain face the inequalities historically experienced by women. Just wow, those delicately placed moments just blew my mind.
Thank you for a book I never wanted to put down. Thank you for making me grateful for all I have and those closest to me.

**I was provided with an ARC through netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

A well-written debut that I think has both benefited and been hindered by its time of publication.

Through the accounts of various , predominantly women characters The End of Men is an account of a pandemic that wipes most of the male population off of the planet, spanning from a few days before to a couple of years after.
Having been written from 2018 it was quite scary to see just how the fictional events in the book mirrored what has been occurring with the coronavirus in reality. I feel like if this book had been published at a different time it would have perhaps been a hard-hitting read however, it would not have had as much of an impact emotionally as it does now.

That being said with the speed that events were occurring in the book, having real world experience of very similar happenings I couldn’t help but feel they sometimes felt a little unrealistic. One thing I do wish though was that the government in the real world had starting dealing with our pandemic a lot faster like the one in the book.

I really liked the narrative choice of the author to tell the story through various points of view from around the world and the short snappy chapters were great for the pacing.

What I had a problem with though was that I felt most of the characters didn’t have a distinctive voice. Other than all having different circumstances and relationships a lot of them felt the same which made it a little confusing to keep track of all the storylines. Even when the point of view jumped to a character in a different country the characterisation felt very surface level.

Also despite a handful of medical terms there weren’t that many elements of science so I personally wouldn’t class this book as a sci-fi but more a contemporary novel with a dystopian-esque setting. Though maybe this comes down to how the setting felt so close to reality that I can’t see it as a dystopian.

Nevertheless this was a thought-provoking read and I look forward to seeing what Christina Sweeney-Baird writes next.
Final Rating – 3/5 Stars

Dr Amanda MacLean is at work in A&E when she starts to notice a pattern in recent admissions of men and boys, all showing the same symptoms, all who quickly die. And its JUST the men. She tries to warn the authorities but is dismissed and ignored. Without proper steps being taken to contain it, the virus spreads, and suddenly men all over the world are at risk.

The End of Men is told from the viewpoint of various women; the women who are fighting to survive, the women investigating the source of the virus, the women working tirelessly to find a vaccine. Some men survive but the world is going to be a very different place and its down to the women left standing to make the changes needed for this new world.

This is the second debut novel I've read this year, set during a global pandemic and written before we entered the one we're in now, the other being Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift. Both may make difficult reading for some and I understand that others won't be able to read them at all, using books as an escape from pandemics rather than diving into another. But, anyone not reading this book will really miss out.

The book is told in narratives from various different characters. The dogged and determined Amanda MacLean, american Elizabeth who defies her CDC bosses to travel to the UK and help on the ground with research into the virus, ambitious and ruthless Lisa who knows she can find a vaccine and has to get there first, anthropologist Catherine, who sets out to speak to the people affected by the virus and civil servant Dawn who reluctantly finds herself having to find a way forward for society. We meet these women and many more, some only once, some repeatedly, and hear about their experiences with the virus, how it has affected them and their families and what they are left with once its done its worst. I won't be the first or the last person to draw comparisons to World War Z in the way the book is told in different narratives.

Some of the stories are tragic, and a wife and a mother of two boys, downright terrifying. I was choked up a few times. I can't lie and say that the current situation didn't effect my reading of this; experiencing the fear and stress of dealing with a pandemic in real life makes the events of the book all the more relatable.

The switching narratives did make the book something of a compulsive read, as each section was fairly short and would draw you in just to find out what was happening next for each character. I will say that I often would get confused with who was who and it would take a minute to remind myself of which character I was reading and what situation they were in. I didn't find it a huge issue though.

I really liked this one, though it may be difficult to read for some. I'll certainly look out for what the author does next.

This must go down as one of the best books I have read this year - wow. Just the right amount of humour and pathos. The government scenes were so realistic. The Canadian scientist was just brilliant - you dont expect that from a Canadian. I could go on and on about the characters they were all so well thought through - got the relationship with Phoebe.

I appreciate that people might not want to read such a book due to the current situation, what bad timing, but really it makes you feel so much better about life.

I read that the rights have been sold - wow I just cannot wait.

This is a must read

I was given an advance copy by the publishers and netgalley but the review is entirely my own.