The End of Men

The End Of Men is a book that would always have appealed to me, even before I was living through a global pandemic. Written a few years before the situation we now find ourselves in, it’s surely a quirk of fate that it will be published in a time we are, hopefully, rebuilding our lives. 

Did I read it differently to how I would of a year ago? Yes. Are there parallels? Yes, undoubtably, because a virus that takes over the world in a matter of weeks is something that is now much more of a reality than many of us ever thought. I think as a result, whilst reading I was a little less terrified than I would’ve been, and maybe it seemed less like fiction and something that could be in the daily news. Which just serves to demonstrate quite how timely this book is. 

Spanning years and told by a kaleidoscope of distinct narrative voices 
The End Of Men is a brilliantly written story of humanity. It delves deeply into what it takes to survive yet it’s also a heart-wrenching exploration of grief, bringing to life the all too raw poignancy as we consider what we’ve lost and what may be changed irrevocably. Highly recommended.

The first thing that came to me whilst reading this book is it is very close to home with the pandemic that we are currently going through at the moment, when something like this happens it is absolutely devastating, this is the first book I have read that confronts this type of pandemic and I wonder if there will be any other books that confront this issue. It all felt very real reading this, the fact that no one really thought anything of it at the beginning but then how it all spiralled out of control. If we weren't where we are at the moment then I would not believe this could ever happen. It really makes you think what life would be like if you were in this situation. A though provoking and emotional read, one that made me think and one I will never forget.

It's a Five Star Book of the Year for me! 

It’s August 2020 and I’m sat on my sofa in the searing heat. We’re in the middle of a global pandemic and I’ve attempted to read just 2 books in as many weeks and couldn’t finish either of them. 

My concentration is at record rock bottom levels and I’m yearning for a book to take me away from this shitshow. 

I thought I wanted gently calming and quiet reads, but they were just not cutting it. My eyes were seeing the words, my brain was somewhere else entirely. What I didn’t realise (aah, hindsight!) was that I needed a big, powerhouse of a book to slap my brain around with, get it out of slump-mode using good old fashioned brute force. 

So mindless scrolling on Twitter was all I could focus on. 

Then it happened. I came across a very eye catching bright red ARC of a book not due out until Spring 2021. 

The die-cut front cover was gorgeous. The synopsis, terrifying. The End of Men would either wake up my reading with a violent shake or send it further down into blank oblivion. I was prepared to run that risk. The world around me has partly shut down and my mind was rapidly following suit. 

I’ve got hundreds of books to be read, but what did I do? I requested it on NetGalley of course! 

It seemed like a bit of a madcap idea to read about a deadly virus, I’m trying to escape the continuous doom and gloom of this world, not add to it. What the he’ll am I doing?! 

Anyway, I had my request accepted and dived straight in. 

There’s a global pandemic and men are dying. Men are dead. Women are carriers, fiercely protecting their sons, watching as their husbands are savagely taken by this killer disease. The thankful ones had daughters. Only one in ten men are immune. 

The End of Men is in the literary fiction genre, with fantasy/sci-fi/dystopian tones that were worryingly real. 

‘The world is closing down’.

It was hitting temperatures here in Hampshire, UK of 35 degrees, yet I felt chilled to the bone. 

Written in multiple points of view from various parts of the world, from Scotland to Singapore, from Canada, to the USA and everywhere else in between, I was able to follow every thread of this story with ease. Usually any more that two or three viewpoints throw me when I’m reading, I struggle to remember who’s voice I’m hearing. All these characters were diverse and the writing style was crystal clear. Everyone’s journey was a path I  followed with ease. 

‘Billionaires have become millionaires, the value of money has evaporated, and this city built on sexism and mans ability to play God through technology is falling apart at the seams.’

At around the halfway mark, I had this niggling pain in my face. I thought I was perhaps coming down with something. (Oh no, those awful paranoid Coronavirus thoughts were creeping in!) Turns out I’d been clenching my teeth so hard whilst reading that I’d given myself a tension headache and jaw-ache! What a relief! So I took some paracetamol and carried on reading. 

‘I have never felt so powerful. This must be what men used to feel like. My mere physical presence is enough to terrify someone into running. No wonder they used to get drunk on it.’

The tables have turned. Women are the future in Sweeney-Baird’s world. Women are being relied upon to save the world, the human race. I’d say it’s about time too, judging by the state of our real pandemic, maybe turf out the blokes, us girls could surely do a better job. (I’m looking at you, New Zealand!)

What I wasn’t expecting was how frightened I felt if we were to be without men completely. Who would remove the spiders? Reach the top shelf for the gravy granules? Clean the windows? I’m joking, obviously. I’m no Stepford Wife, (one of the books I read and thoroughly enjoyed this year by the way!) but seriously, thank goodness this was a work of fiction, albeit too close to reality for comfort at times. 

‘Tonight, I will drink a lot of wine, something I only allow myself to do occasionally to avoid slipping into the kind of sodden, drunken grief that I can see the appeal of very clearly’. 

I know it sounds completely nuts, but I would say this is recommended reading for any person, man or woman, who’s life has been affected by  Covid-19. So that’s EVERYONE then. It’s put our current situation into better perspective for me, that’s for sure. For the first time since March I’ve felt a little more positive and a lot more thankful because actually, things really could be a whole lot worse.   

‘Bad things and good things can coexist…..’ ‘And we have to find the good where we can.’

Ladies and gentlemen, give that man in your life an enormous hug. 

I’d like to say a massive thank you to the author, Christina Sweeney-Baird, the publisher, Harper Fiction for sending me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review via the NetGalley platform.

In years to come readers unfamiliar with the details will probably think this was written in response to the COVID pandemic, it’s hard to believe that a novel predicting a life-changing global pandemic which kills men rather than women was written the year before a life-changing global pandemic which has killed more men than women. At first I was wary that it would be too close to reality to read this review copy  in 2020 and if I’d lost someone close to me that would probably be the case, but I was drawn into the story, told from the viewpoints of different characters around the world as the virus takes hold, from the first page to the last.   It begins with Amanda the Scottish A&E consultant who sees the first men die, realises something is very wrong and tries to get a local lockdown but is dismissed as a hysterical female by the powers that be. Cases spread quickly across the UK, then around the world as we are introduced to a variety of characters, each trying to get to grips with the new world with very few men in their own way. Catherine the anthropologist terrified she’s going to lose her husband and son. Dawn the bored senior civil servant counting down the hours to retirement until she’s suddenly left as the person in charge. Brothers Toby and Mark on a cruise to see the northern lights when the captain realises all they have to do is stay at sea until it’s all over to stay safe, they’ve got plenty of food to keep them going for a couple of months. Lisa the ruthless Canadian scientist who’s always employed the best woman for the job finds herself at advantage in the search for a vaccine when all the male scientists are dying but will she win the race to find it?
This could so easily have turned into a feminist diatribe or a depressing novel without hope but somehow, no matter how sad their story, each character lifts the reader in their own way. Brilliant page-turner!

Saw this title and I thought that is a book for me!! But seriously, this is great, I'm so glad I picked it up. I thought the writing was incredible and especially impressive as it's a debut. I really enjoyed all the different points of view in the book and reading it in the current climate felt exceptionally terrifying! Such an interesting take on the plague/apocalypse style novels. Despite there being a few other books like this it felt completely unique and unlike anything I've read before, I honestly could not put it down and read it over a couple of days. Definitely going to look out for more from Christina Sweeney-Baird. Thank you for sharing this review copy!

I cannot recommend this story highly enough! I was hooked from the start, the writing is incredible and the subject matter gripping. It’s so cleverly written from multiple perspectives that show the full range of the impact of the Plague on loves across the world. It’s gritty, emotional and thought provoking. I just found it fascinating to read the development of the story and to reflect on the changes at every level of society from individuals and families to professions, organisations and governments. The timing of my reading in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic perhaps made it more relatable and it’s uncanny to think that this idea of the authors which must have seemed so far fetched initially turned out to be almost prophetic. A must read in my view and highly recommended. I’d give it 6 stars if I could!

Well, this book will break your heart. It’s story of a plague that all but wipes out the male population feels eerily familiar, and at the same time a horrifying tale of what could have been. The perspectives of the survivors portrayed in this novel are brutal, terrifying and utterly heartbreaking. But that didn’t stop me devouring this book, reading late into the night desperate that somewhere there would be a chink of hope for the characters. Well written and completely unputdownable it’s a story that will resonate with so many of us. My only slight slight pedantic issue? The reference to a matron in a Glasgow hospital numerous times - matrons don’t exist in Scottish hospitals! But that’s definitely just nitpicking.

This book hurts. It takes your heart and squeezes, scratches, tears, and bites. It is so worth all that pain. "The End of Men" is beautifully written, with the plot sucking you in from the first few words. The characters cover quite a large spectrum and, with the differing (and similar) points of view, this makes the plot far harder hitting. You'll probably need several boxes of tissues for this one and should prepare to be shaken. Gut-wrenchingly, gobsmackingly, awesomely THE book to look out for next year.
  
My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

I devoured this one in two sittings.
A disease suddenly appears in a Glasgow hospital. Amanda, a doctor, sees a pattern. Nobody listens to her and it spreads like wildfire. It kills only men.
Recently the news has told us that countries led by women have dealt with the coronavirus best. I kept thinking of that when I read this book. The writer doesn't pull her punches. You get attached to people and they die. It's devastating. 
The women all survive and, as women do, they get on with it. The book shows us how much better the world would be run without men to mess it up.
It's thought-provoking and strangely reassuring. The world goes on even after a pandemic.

The foreword by the author is really insightful, little did she know that her book would very closely mirror the pandemic that the work is currently battling.

The End of Men tells of a disease that wipes out 90% of the male population and It is told from multiple female perspectives, doctors, parents, wives and scientists.
At times it is unbelievably raw especially when we read about a woman who loses both her husband and her son. This had me thinking how many male members of my family I could potentially lose if the disease was real. 
The story is very thought provoking and there are certain aspects which have the ability to make you quite cross - without divulging any of the plot - this is towards the end of the book.

Very well written and enjoyable to read.

If I'd read The End of Men six months ago I would have described it as set in a dystopian future.  Now we are living in the midst of a global pandemic, suddenly what happens in this book doesn't seem so hard to imagine.   Instead of Covid-19, imagine a plague transmitted from animals to humans, and this deadly virus kills 90% of men who catch it.  

The pandemic aspect of this plot is now all too easy to relate to, and this alone made it a fascinating and compelling read as I spotted parallels between the world gripped by a pandemic as imagined by the writer, and how the world has been in 2020. Thankfully Covid-19 is nowhere near as deadly as the Plague.  The impact of the majority of men in the world dying is told from different points of view, from both personal and professional perspectives.  This new society ran mostly by women is a fascinating concept about how the world had to adapt.   The End of Men is beautifully written, unputdownable and as much an anthropology as it is a thriller.

I came across this book on Twitter and immediately pre-ordered it, however I also requested it on Netgalley and was lucky enough to be approved for an ARC. 
I must start by saying that this is hands down my favourite book this year, and most definitely top 10 ever. I read it in two days, and it only took me so long because I was trying to pace myself and not rush it. I got so absorbed by the story that I would not hear my husband talking to me. I went to bed thinking about the events taking place and woke up ready to read on and find out more. 
Reading a book about a global pandemic while we are living one might seem too depressing to consider, but this book had the opposite effect. No matter how bad things are now, they are not as terrifying and as world ending as the ones in this book. It helps with perspective. 
In this book a deadly virus is killing almost all the men in the world – with 97% fatality rate, while the women are asymptomatic carriers. The virus spreads quickly and lives outside hosts for a long time, thus becoming difficult to control. The book starts shortly before the outbreak of this virus in Scotland, but the situation quickly escalates and spirals out of control around the world. 
The book is written like a record of different people’s experiences throughout and after the four-year pandemic, in different countries around the globe. I absolutely loved the format. I became very attached to Catherine and was heartbroken to read about her loss; Amanda who was a force of nature to be reckoned with and she is someone I would like to have as a friend; Elizabeth was like a breath of fresh air trying to keep everyone positive and others.
The author thought very carefully about the geo-political implications of such a deadly virus and she made a fantastic job explaining why certain events happened the way they did and how the world moved on. The impact of this virus on women, the immune men, the trans men and the trans women, the gay and the straight people was discussed and analysed as well. This book reads like a record and in my opinion, this makes it even more powerful.

The End Of Men

What a timely book.   I was interested to read the foreword as this book was wrote prior to Coronavirus and then released into a very different world to the one it was wrote in.

I was half terrified reading this book...because we can now see how easy these things could come to pass and half relieved, as however bad the virus we are currently dealing with is...its not The Plague.

The indictment of pandemic control and the governments shambolic handling of a pandemic is particularly timely.   Being an island ...everyone is aware that if flights had been stopped quicker, if the powers that be has acted quicker then it could easily have been contained. 

The End Of Men shows us this and with even more deadly and life changing consequences.

I cried alot reading this book.  I particularly loved Amanda and Catherine and hated Lisa Michael's with a passion I didn't know possible from what little we saw of her.

It took me a few chapters to get used to the way the story was told...it jumps between characters and situations and you often don't come back to them.  At first I struggled but then I adored it...I wanted the different perspectives and if some were more interesting than others...that was also fine because the pieces made up the whole picture.

Had I read this last year...I may have said something along the lines of how it was far fetched because I am sure the government would handle a pandemic better.   Unfortunately in 2020 we know that's not the case and its luck rather than judgement that has seen to it that we are seemingly containing it to some degree.

However because of the time that we are reading it in...it is hard and painful reading...it felt all too real.

The writing is exquisite...with so many strands they were wound together beautifully and I couldn't recommend this book more.   It scared me, but it also made me really feel and I have been thinking of the people we have lost due to covid since I have finished it and the fractured families and the different world.  It's very scary when a dystopian thriller feels very real but also very humbling.    I think it's amazing how real the author made it before it was real...it shows an innate understanding of humanity and I am very impressed.

Will definitely be reading more  books by this highly talent author.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In 2020 this book is shockingly relevant to what’s happening today. It felt so real. I couldn’t put it down and read it in just two days. Well written

If you had read The End of Men a few years ago you'd likely have laughed at the absurdity of the premise. Now in 2020, this book hits differently. It's eerily relevant and hits a mark you didn't even know needed hitting. Christina Sweeney-Baird has created a relevant, gripping and compelling read.

I couldn't put this book down.  It would have been an interesting read in 2019, but it is fascinating in 2020 to draw parallels between a fictional plot, and the awful reality of Covid 19.  At times I found the story unbearably sad, but the book deals with some important and interesting issues, and there are moments of real humour.  I hope this book finds a wide audience, and I will certainly be recommending it.

What an interesting idea and well put together novel. Obviously I feel for the author to be publishing a book she must have written some time ago in the middle of a global pandemic. (Though not one as serious as the one in the novel.) However it did not impact on my enjoyment and I very much enjoyed the parallels and differences. I didn't want to put it down and I was keen to find out what would happen.
So in the Christina Sweeney-Baird pandemic, men are the ones who die, and women are left behind, many of them grieving the loss of their sons partners, brothers, fathers etc.. I loved the concept and the way the author follow3ed certain characters, both ordinary women and those trying to find a vaccine.  
It was interesting trying to imagine a world where women outnumber men by 9-1., and the book does this well. The author must have read the fabulous Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez , as I recognized some of the statistics and I really liked how she included them into the story..
I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it. It is touching, shocking and gripping. I would probably give it four and a half stars but I am rounding it up to five as I keep thinking about it. . I am certainly going to buy it for my 17 year old daughter when it is published.
Thank you to the author, the publishers and #NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review #TheEndofMen

It's hard to believe that when the author wrote this book, none of has had ever heard of Covid 19. The premise of this book is terrifying, a virus which wipes out 90% of men but can be carried asymptomatically by women as well.

Told through different newspaper articles and the perspectives of women affected by the plague in many different ways, the writing is insightful, sensitive and packs an emotional punch. Some of the events the author describes have been eerily accurate from the pandemic experience we have been going through recently, but with the extreme severity of the plague in this book it is really heart-wrenching as fathers, husbands, brothers and sons are lost to the disease indiscriminately. The exploration of how the world would change in such a devastating situation was fascinating.

This is a powerful, heartbreaking, gripping read and I give it 5 out of 5.

It is scary to think that this book was written before we faced the horrors of Covid-19.

A 'plague' breaks out somewhere in Scotland.

The twist....

It only affects the men.

Fast spreading and rapidly killing. 

The disease in the beginning is given too much time to do damage before any professionals i.e. government, public health etc do anything.

The novel from the get go is eerie, more because of the similarities of what we're going through now but also for how detailed, how realistic it all is.

Told from numerous points of view, we get insight into the progression of the virus and just how it devastated people's lives in differing ways.

From wives losing husbands, sons.

Awful feelings of envy to the men that turn out to be immune. Why should they get to live when others don't?

I digested this story slowly.

Choosing to read it over a few days rather than speeding through it. 

Plenty of emotional moments where I felt I could cry. This isn't a happy ending kind of tale it is dark, but throughout it all there is an underlying sense of hope.

Hope for a cure, hope for a future.

And there is also a brilliant current of empowerment, I loved the portrayal of women, we are survivors (as Destiny's Child would say).

A thought provoking read, maybe the government could learn a thing or two from reading it.

Ultimately, I'm just so glad I had the chance to read The End of Men.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have been interested in reading this book, but the relevance to our current situation inspired me to give it a try, and I'm glad!
A deadly pandemic originating in Glasgow rapidly spreads around the world with devastating consequences.  95% of men who contract the disease die, while women can carry the disease but are asymptomatic.  The book follows the stories of several women throughout the course of the four years or so from the start of the pandemic.  It was fascinating to explore the events that unfolded from the different perspectives - the doctor who discovered the first case of the virus but who was ignored when she tried to raise the alarm, scientists searching for a vaccine, bereaved wives and mothers... 
While heartbreaking at times, the book also offered a sense of hope in the strength and resilience of the characters experiencing a pandemic far, far worse than the current one.  
The only thing that feels slightly strange is that it is set in 2025, and obviously if there was to be a pandemic in 2025, COVID-19 would be fresh in everyone's minds.  It feels strange that it is not mentioned in the book (which it can't be because the book was written before this pandemic) and I think some of the responses would be different in 2025 because of the events of this year.  Basically, it's set in a 2025 where COVID-19 hasn't happened, which feels slightly odd. but it doesn't stop it from being a gripping and fascinating read.

Thanks to NetGalley.co.uk and HarperCollins UK for the eARC

Oh my goodness. That was intense! It is absolutely incredible that this was written in a pre-Covid world but managed to get so many details right. The fact that this novel was so close to the current pandemic made it even more frightening. The author said it started as a thought-experiment but it has now become a terrifying reality. I was continually stunned throughout the book by the things Christina Sweeney-Baird was able to predict, and also intrigued by ideas that were implemented in her novel but have not (yet) been implemented in the real world.

If Covid 19 had never happened, I think this book would have been interesting but so unlikely that it would seem silly instead of the nightmare that unfolds between it's pages.

I initially thought I would get confused as each chapter is told by alternating characters, and I was worried I would mix them up, but this didn't happen at all as each voice was so authentic.

I absolutely loved this book and raced through it in less than a day! I would recommend it to everyone but particularly those who enjoy fast paced thrillers, and The Power by Naomi Alderman and Invisible Women by Caroline Criado-Perez

A shockingly accurate (given the current pandemic) “end of the world” novel that gave me goosebumps. Set in a future not too far from our present, Sweeny-Baird charts the devastation the deadly “Male Plague” virus through the perspectives of multiple woman. I loved the differing points of view and how these women were able to survive while facing unimaginable grief and loss. 
The political discussions that take place later in the novel we’re particularly interesting to me, as well as the various newspaper articles which chronicled the events as they unfolded. 
If you enjoy novels that really make you think while also giving you the chills, this one is for you!

I would like to thank Harper Collins UK for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an unbiased and honest review!

I loved the concept of this book, and it felt creepily timely given the global pandemic we are now living through. At times uncomfortable to read, given current events, and yet also given this I found it even more fascinating to consider how a virus like this CAN infiltrate and tip the whole world off balance. I found myself absorbed by the idea in particular, I imagine it will get people talking - a great read.

I loved this book! Read in one sitting, even with the covid context it really pulled me in. Reads a little like world war z but more drama. Well written I would love to try more from this author!

What a novel to have written and have published in the covid-19 era. Clearly this was devised and written pre-2020...however I'd like to doff my cap to the author because what an imagination! The End of Men is an excellently written highly plausible (as we now know!) look at how fast a virus can spread around the globe and ultimately how useless governments - and us humans - are in response to it.  I thoroughly enjoyed this look at the devastating consequences a virus can have on our society and how plausible the central female characters reacted to it. It's pacy and brilliantly written. Recommend.

I hope by the time that you're reading this, there is a vaccine. 

This book is AMAZING. Its surreal to read a book written in 2018, set in 2025ish and have it seem so far fetched yet real at the same time. 

Im amazed how many similarities the author has made up that have actually been like our reality in 2020 (the government paying 80% of cost of children gave me chills!) 

Likeness to reality aside, this book is a great book. It takes us through various POV over the years after the virus hits and it all comes together beautifully.  I loved the depth each character was given, even if some of them we only spend a tiny amount of time with. I've cried. I've laughed. I've felt like I had lost someone.  

It explores some really interesting points too! The changes to cars when women are the main customer was a quick sentence in the book but made me think a lot about everything.  

Its such a good book. One of my favourites of the year.

It starts in a Glasgow hospital. A man comes in with a mysterious illness that claims his life. Two days later, men who were in the hospital at the same time re-admit with the same symptoms. All of them die. Slow-moving, Public Health does nothing, giving rumour and fear chance to spread among the population, who then run to their homes sometimes getting on planes and boats to do so. Suddenly an isolated sickness is everywhere. Men, boys, and male babies are dying at an alarming rate, and there is no vaccine in sight.
Told primarily through female viewpoints, The End of Men follows a Glasgow A&E doctor Laura, who identifies the Plague. She must navigate through this Plague from the point of discovery to the rebuilding of society after a vaccine. Her story is poignant because of her proximity to the Plague, as well as her loss. I won’t go into too many details, so you can experience her pain for yourself.
There are also snapshots from others struggling to remain sane. Catherine is an anthropologist who collects the stories compiled in the book. Toby Williams is trapped on a cruiser off the Swedish coast with his twin brother slowly starving to death. His wife, Frances, is speaking daily with Swedish authorities to get food to him and the others on the ship safely. Morven must look after 78 teenage boys on her land in Scotland while her son hides in the wilderness, so he is safe from any germs these newcomers might have. Some are complete stories, and others are moment which at times made it difficult to remember who was who, but that didn’t get in the way too much. Each of the stories come together in chronological order for a full-flavoured experience of panic, fear, grief, and determination.
The End of Men reflects all sides of humanity. Some handle their situation with determination, wanting to honour the memories of their lost love ones. Others crumble under pressure. Some characters struggle to find meaning, and others realise this epidemic can further their career aspirations. 
Sweeney-Barid also explores the impact of the Plague on the LGBTQ community. The survival rate for men is 10% as some have natural immunity which means gay men have an even smaller pool of potential partners than women. The loneliness of their situation is poignant and thought-provoking. This attention to detail elevates The End of Men bove other apocalyptic stories and into the same untouchable category of brilliance as Max Brookes’ World War Z.
What made The End of Men stand out for me was my proximity to the characters. There is no barely-concealed narrator’s voice telling me who the author believes is right or wrong. The characters speak for themselves, and we are left to make up our minds.
The End of Men is not for the faint-hearted. Still, it is worth all the pain for the uplifting moments of breakthrough, the tender moments of support and compassion, and the moments you can hold the men in your family grateful they are still with you. Highly recommended.

The summary of this book drew me, mainly as its primarily set in Glasgow and although its September 2020 I did actually want to read about a pandemic. It's 2025 and a man comes into A&E in Glasgow and dies almost instantly.  Then more men keep dying until it's obvious that whatever is happening is only affecting men.   Each chapter of the book is a woman's story and describes how the pandemic affects her as it ravages the world.  Some characters you get to follow their full experiences and some you only get a snapshot into their experiences.  It could sometimes take a minute to realise which person the chapter was about but it does work really well though as you do feel emotionally attached to some of the women and indifferent to others.  

What I wasn't quite prepared for was the consistent crying I would do while reading it.  I'm not sure if it was due to the writing but maybe as I'm the mother of one son it felt very personal.  It reminded me of The Power by Naomi Alderman but where that book pitted men and women against each other this book highlighted the sheer anguish the women felt losing the men that they loved.  It's truly heart breaking but does give hope as well.
I enjoyed this book immensely and would definitely recommend it.

I’m sure every review for The End of Men will comment on the every comparisons between what is on the page and what is currently going on in the world, and when this book comes out next year I hope people realise it was written beforehand as truly there are bits that feel embarrassingly similar to true events, and others that are terrifyingly possible.

The End of Men follows a number of women throughout a pandemic that spreads across the world, killing the majority of men in a 5 day period that starts off like the flu, women can carry and spread the virus but they don’t suffer it’s effects. After Dr Amanda Maclean working in a Glasgow hospital notices a number of patients coming into A&E with what starts like a flu like virus, resistant to antibiotics, and deteriorating fatally within 5 days, she believes Scotland is about to face a pandemic. She contacts Health Protection Scotland with her early signs and is dismissed as hysterical. Very quickly, without governmental guidance or containment, this virus spreads, with cases Being found across the world and before long the future of men and the population of Earth is at threat.
This book follows Women who are doctors, in leadership, in journalism, in pharmacy, mothers and daughters and wives, as they search for the truth, as they search for a cure, as they search for answers and they lose the ones they love.

This is an incredibly well thought out book, truly the author has considered so many eventualities that could result from a worldwide pandemic, even down to a discussion about how technology would adapt to a wider female market (wither population of men decreasing) and how in turn iPhone handsets would become smaller due to women having smaller hands. So many aspects are considered, from discovering the source to finding a cure to how countries would monopolise on this to bargain and overpower others, from the pain of losing a child to the additional pain of knowing someone who hasn’t lost their child, to dating and reproduction and rebuilding the population, from panic buying and rationing to people rioting at the airport to leave, to training a workforce of women that has largely been controlled by men. This book explores a lot and while I can’t say I enjoyed it all, in that at times it’s at hard or at least uncomfortable to read (particularly when it comes to the inevitable and unavoidable deaths and the grief that follows), I have a lot of respect for this book. 

My only criticism would be that that there are a lot of characters and at times it took me a moment to recall where we had a left a character, this may partly be due to the formatting of the ebook Arc though :) The characters themselves are varied and covers the international impact of a virus and a world handed to women to cure and rebuild.

Thank you NetGalley for the early copy in exchange for an honest review, I’m excited for everyone to read this next year.

Today we are in 2020, we are currently living through a global pandemic COVID-19 and I’ve just finished this book, based in 2025, originated in Glasgow and only affecting men. Wow. As soon as I saw this book I had to read it, although it was terrifying I was totally hooked, it’s very close to home with our current situation. It had me wondering what my thoughts and feelings of this book would have been if I’d have read it a few years ago, when a global pandemic was just a story that wouldn’t happen in our life time, I’d have still been gripped but I think I’d have been more relaxed reading it with it being just that, a story. I would highly recommend this book and I certainly will be shouting from the roof tops to all my friends to check it out.

This was a very gripping read. Set in Glasgow in the future a dr has to treat a patient with flu-like symptoms but within hours he is dead. Reading  this in 2020 during the Covid 19 pandemic this story felt so familiar. Just like Covid the virus spread fast and the only difference was the victims in this book were all men. 
When you read a book that is so shocking but rings so true with the world around you at the same time it’s very scary. 
Let’s hope we find a cure for Covid 19 so we really don’t completely reflect this book. 
Definitely one to read right now!!

This poignant novel is almost prophetic in describing the start and rapid growth of a global pandemic. From the initial reticence of health officials to the development of a vaccine and all the heartache and grief in between, it was at times hard to separate the novel from what was happening in real life.

I loved, loved, loved this book. Reading it in the midst of a pandemic made it all the better, I liked seeing what someone imagined a pandemic would be like before we actually found ourselves in one! The subject of a virus which only kills men was an interesting one, it raises many different subjects such as what would happen to the jobs which are mainly staffed with men, such as plumbers, electricians and the army. I enjoyed following different women and the different viewpoints of everyone. At times it was difficult to read as obviously babies and children were not spared. This was such an interesting read.

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

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.

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!

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.

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!

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

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.

Not what I expected but in a good way. A novel about a pandemic in the midst of a pandemic. Loved it. 

This easily could have hit too close to home and gone the wrong way, yet, such beautiful writing and the various perspectives made this into a wonderful piece of literature. It did get a little confusing at times but was worth the persistence.

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.

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

In a bizarre twist of fate I started reading The End of Men during a pandemic, on the day my son was confirmed as having Covid, a day later I was also confirmed as having it. Being a mother of two sons and wife in this story I would be set to lose my whole family, it made for uncomfortable reading at times. I found The End of Men a fascinating story, insightful and a warning as to what could happen in a similar scenario to what we are currently experiencing. Featuring lots of characters and their stores, it was truly gripping. I couldn't put it down.

An uncanny thriller to read in 2020 - about a virus that decimates half the populations. The many different perspectives were really well-written, and effective in showing how a broad cross-section of the population was affected. Genuinely unputdownable, but don't read yet if you feel the plot hits too close to home.

Wow what a fantastic book i could not put it down.  I debated whether or not it was a good idea to read about a plague in a pandemic but i decided what the heck :) it was fantastic so pleased i read this, have already recommended to everyone i have been speaking to :) thanks for the opportunity to read

What a cracking page turner that really sets the pace from page one and keeps going. Reading this in the middle of a pandemic just gives that extra bit of interest and perspective. There is realism with how the deadly make plague was mishandled and then blamed, that we all can relate to. There is the relief that covid is nowhere near as deadly as the make plague. And the stories of individual loss, gains and how the world evolved in a new order to cope with the changes just keeps the reading light on way after bed time.

I was nervous going into this book - was reading a book about a global pandemic really the best option during a global pandemic? To begin with, I worried that no, it wasn’t a good idea. There were too many parallels between the real world and the novel (though the plague in the book so infinitely worse than our current situation). 

But as I continued reading I was surprised, heartened and pleased to see that this is a book about hope. Yes, it’s about grief, devastation, the destruction of everything we know, but that’s only half of the story. It’s also a story of rebuilding, human connection, love and striving for a better future. It’s a story of human ingenuity and the best, and worst, that extremes bring out of people. 

More than anything, it’s a well-written, emotive and powerful book. The characters are all well formed and the breadth that the author covers is admirable - not just how people cope with the death of so many husbands, sons, brothers, fathers - but also how this affects parenthood, politics, international relations, tech, LGBTQ+ rights, education and so much more. 

Reading this book at the moment might seem off putting to begin with, and I won’t deny that the opening third of this book bought me to tears and horrified me on several occasions, but for me, it was worth powering through.

This book is going to be huge next year! And probably on my favourite books of 2021 when we finally get there! I loved the premise and I have turned down many books about viruses this year as it felt too “close” but the book seemed prophetic in its plot development that grabbed me in a way I hadn’t expected it to. Its an intelligently written book that felt unique in its approach to post apocalyptic fiction and very realistic as well. The women characters at the forefront of the storyline were well developed, strong and interesting and I followed their journeys with an investment in their future. Some stories were absolutely heartbreaking as women lost the men in their lives but the positive mind sets and determination of some felt inspiring and hopeful. 
This is such a brilliant book and I devoured. every single page.

I have always loved dystopian novels, particularly ones concerned with the aftermath of a world-changing plague or pandemic, particular favourites including Emily St John Mandel's "Station Eleven" and Stephen King's "The Stand." I did wonder whether the events of 2020 might impair my enjoyment of this genre going forward, but I'm happy to say that doesn't seem to be the case: I love, love, LOVED this beautifully written novel with its intriguing and original premise: a super-flu with an almost 100% fatality rate, but only in men. 

What follows is the gradual unravelling of how a world adapts and changes - some of which is eerily familiar given the events of the last year, and some of which is pertinent only to this particular plot, ie, how a society can continue to ensure the functioning of certain sectors which were predominantly staffed by males, such as security, refuse collection, and police departments; how dating and procreation can work in a landscape where men are vastly outnumbered by women; how the LGBTQ+ community is impacted, etc.

I loved how the narrative unfolded on different continents and via different narrators, and also how each character's arc was completely unique, even if there were certain similarities across the board. This is such a thorough and well-told story, and one that deals with genuinely intriguing questions, even as it completely fulfils its brief of being a page-turning thriller dealing with a global pandemic and mass infection.

I couldn't put this book down, and will absolutely recommend it to everyone I know. A fantastic novel, and I can't wait to see what this author does next.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher, who provided me with a free ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

"The End of Men" by Christina Sweeney-Baird is a gripping story seems much more realistic now than it would have a year ago! 

In this narrative a virus breaks out that only affects men (though women are carriers), threatening the future of the human race, if a vaccine is not found in time.  Once infected, male victims are overcome in a matter of days.  The fabric of society needs to change very quickly as women are required to fulfill the roles of their stricken male colleagues.  Of course, some women are more seriously affected than others depending on the composition of their family circle's which leads to further resentment. 

The author has created a believable scenario with realistic characters, each presented with different problems due to their individual circumstances. I particularly enjoyed the post-vaccine chapters as people try to deal with issues in a female dominated world.

I was worried that reading a book about a global flu like pandemic while being on lockdown during an actual real time global pandemic would be too unsettling and macabre but I could not put this book down. It is so well written and the characters were all very relatable. It made me laugh and cry at times but totally absorbed me. The fact the author wrote this in 2018 is quite spooky as there are many similarities but the pandemic in the book is much much worse so that is quite comforting. The virus only affects males but can be carried by women so quite soon the world is in a perilous situation as men hold most senior jobs and positions of power when they all die quite suddenly how will the world be run. As well as looking at how individuals and families are changed by this virus it also looks at society and the way we live our lives. A really fascinating read which really made me think about society, grief and politics.

The story of a catastrophic pandemic, spreading swiftly throughout the world, and its impact on the people it doesn’t kill.  Infecting only men (while women are carriers), even in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic this tale packs a punch. Across the world, men fall victim and die, leaving women having to recreate order from the chaos that ensues. Told from many perspectives ‘The End of Men’ delivers a gripping storyline, of courage, determination, grief and remembrance. I was hooked from the start and read it in two sittings. It stays with you, as now these events don’t feel quite as improbable as they once would have.
With my thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.