Feminist dystopian novels have previously offered up tales in which men disappear due to some catastrophe or transformation. And, of course, pandemic literature has featured altered sociocultural and geographic landscapes many times before. Lauren Beukes combines these two tropes in her timely and readable new novel, AFTERLAND, where a virus, known as HCV, wipes out most males around the world, shifts the culture of the U.S. and creates a set of dangerous circumstances for her three characters.

South African sisters Cole and Billie are both in the U.S. when the man-killing pandemic begins to sweep the globe. While calculating and often criminal Billie sees some business opportunities, Cole is more concerned with her husband Devon’s death and the health and protection of her 12-year-old son, Miles. While the vast majority of biological males die of cancer brought on by the virus, Miles is immune. What should be a silver lining in the face of tragedy is nothing of the sort: Miles is kidnapped by the American government and taken to a research facility in Seattle, where he and his mother live for two years.

"AFTERLAND is great fun, with some insightful reflection on gender, power, religion and agency. More than anything, it is a thriller; readers are privy to the perspectives of Cole, Miles and Billie in this action-packed yet thoughtful novel."

The pair is then moved to a California mansion with a handful of other surviving men and boys, but they are still essentially prisoners of the government. Billie arrives in California, bringing an opportunity for freedom, and Cole sees in it her chance to get Miles and herself back home to Johannesburg. Cole and Billie begin to devise their escape strategy. But just as Billie’s exploitative plans are about to come to fruition, things change, resulting in a violent confrontation between the sisters. Cole and Miles manage to escape, leaving a gravely wounded Billie behind.

The mother and son, the latter of whom is now pretending to be a daughter named Mila, run from the government, hoping to make it across the country and onto a boat back home. Their journey takes them first to a communal house where they find sanctuary and respite after a crime spree that keeps them moving ahead of the government. But Billie is hot on their heels. Next, they fall in with a traveling religious cult of apologetic nuns who demand more from them than they can safely give. It is during their time with The Church of All Sorrows, as an increasingly angry and irrational Billie catches up with them, that Cole and Miles’ fragile disguises begin to come apart. Between the forgiveness and salvation that these nuns in neon habits preach to Cole and the comfort they offer to Miles, it is hard to break free of them, even as they near the port where a boat home awaits and Billie draws murderously close.

AFTERLAND is great fun, with some insightful reflection on gender, power, religion and agency. More than anything, it is a thriller; readers are privy to the perspectives of Cole, Miles and Billie in this action-packed yet thoughtful novel. It is a wild chase from coast to coast, and Beukes nicely balances the violence, not to mention the depictions of head-wounded Billie, with the emotional trauma the characters experience. But it is also a coming-of-age story as Miles grapples with puberty and identity in a world where his true self is both threatening and precious.

Taking place in the summer of 2023 but flashing back over three years, AFTERLAND is set in our almost reality. The world has changed drastically, but much has stayed the same, and it is in that dichotomy that Beukes’ really interesting ideas shine.