The Transition

A white-cued, transgender teen’s recovery from top surgery takes a terrifying turn in this high-adrenaline horror novel from Kisner (Old Wounds). Seventeen-year-old Hunter is home recuperating post-op when he’s mauled in his Chicago suburb backyard by a wild animal. Alarmingly, his wounds heal faster than they should, and he gets his period for the first time in years since starting testosterone. With his pilot father out of town, he turns to his best friends—hotheaded Korean American hockey player Gabe and imperious biracial (Filipina and assumed-white) Mars—who suspect that the creature was a werewolf. Certain the only way to stop Hunter from becoming a werewolf as well is to track down and kill his attacker, the trio concocts plans based on myths and rumors. Simultaneously, Hunter begins hearing in his mind the voice of the creature, to whom he feels a kinship. Soon the lure to join its pack—and avenge himself against bullying classmates—becomes too strong for Hunter to resist. Body horror elements involving rotten teeth and open wounds add grisly dimensionality to Hunter’s mortal, adolescent challenges, including his attempts to understand his attraction to both Gabe and Mars, and managing grief over a long-lost friendship, which ground the intensely emotional narrative. It’s a thrilling, provocative parable about body dysmorphia and transformation both earthly and mythical. Ages 14–up. Agent: Chloe Seager, Madeleine Milburn Literary. (Sept.)