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Hell Followed with Us

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About this listen

 INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A furious, queer debut novel about embracing the monster within and unleashing its power against your oppressors.

"A long, sustained scream to the various strains of anti-transgender legislation multiplying around the world like, well, a virus." —The New York Times

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.

But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.

Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own. Perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and Annihilation.

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A William C. Morris Award Finalist
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A YAVA Award Nominee!
A Booklist Editors' Choice Selection
A BCCB Blue Ribbon Book
Named to the ALA Rainbow Roundtable's Rainbow Book List Dystopian LGBTQ+ Literature & Fiction Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Fiction
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Body horror, religious zeal and trans and LGBTQ representation make this a gripping, pain rendered but ultimately optimistic end of world infection tale, where Benji having escaped from his dead name, coerced gender conformity and domestic abuse only to run from a dark future and into the somewhat welcoming embrace of a local LGBTQ youth community that have survived and formed their own defense. Falling for Nick, the aloof leader and reconciling further body changes are just part of a violent and gory story which holds your attention, although not without a strong constitution for body parts, fluids monters and cult angel soldiers.

Visceral, bloody and proud apocalyptic fantasy

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Really enjoyed this book. A lot of themes explored and well developed, especially within the trans and queer experiences. Not for the faint hearted in many places!

Intense and engaging

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This is such an interesting idea of a story. The horror aspects work so, so well, both the gore and the quieter horror of the religious fundamentalism. I loved the interspersed Bible quotes and religious teachings, and I could absolutely see how an eco fascist fundamentalist Christian community could arise. I didn't realise the extent to which this story would lean into body horror - it becomes very, very gruesome, but it all worked really well and made for an engaging listen.

I didn't, however, think that the characters worked. There were way too many side characters who were all named but utterly uninteresting and interchangeable to the plot. Benji never behaved like someone who had grown up in a cult - he didn't seem to have internalised any of their toxic teachings apart from the quotes he remembered, and he was strangely clued into trans culture and talking points (actually, culture in general - how would he have known about black block?). That his dad had just so happened to find a book about neopronouns felt lazy. It seemed to me that focusing on his dysmorphia towards his transformation into Sereph meant that there wasn't the opportunity for Benji to explore what being trans meant in the supportive environment of the ALC, and so instead he had to arrive there fully formed in his trans identity, ready for action. It was difficult for me to align that level of self knowledge with someone who had had the limited upbringing he had experienced. There were also the hints of interesting quandaries - how do we alleviate dysmorphia (or engage in trans euphoria) in a decimated world? These hints were just left dangling, and I think they could have been better incorporated into the plot without taking away from the horror aspects that worked so, so well.

interesting story, great horror, not sure about the characters

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I loved this so deeply it was so amazing to see teens like me survive the end of the world, so unique to i got bored of zombies it was so captivating to see something so original

favorite book

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Brilliant. A post apocalypse filled to the brim with body horrors. All paired with a trans-masc experience. I love how all sides of the queer community are on display, even those that conflict with each other.

Queer Body Horror

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