There is a lot going on within the pages of Hello Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White. I will say that some of the bumps for me come from three main things. First and second are the version I read was an online reader copy. This is hard for me to read in this format and there were some major editing issues with whole two to four paragraphs being literally repeated. The final is it is a first novel, and therefore has some vanity issues and reading bumps.
There are several trigger issues including: violence, gender, sexuality, sexual situations, horror, possible self-harming, being severally harmed physically and mentally, and a virus situation that could be a bit too close to home.
There is also the potential for queer or transphobia. There are scenes of misgendering, but I felt that was only to show that character(s) and not to be negative towards queer or trans people, as the author himself is transgender. And there is a lot to do with religion and the zealot nature of the cult the main character/narrator, Benji, is from. Two of the things I liked is that Benji finds a group of queer teens and twenty-somethings when they escape the cult, but things are not “all wine and roses.” There are issues within this community, such as issues with some of the gay males not “into” the trans men as they are not “real” males; some trans people look down on those who do not bind their chests; even the terminology some people use is called out as “fake pronouns.” The second is we do learn Benji’s deadname, and that helps with the why Benji is important to his mother and the cult.
As said, it is a first novel; therefore, I am forgiving most of the bumps in it that I had while reading. There is much to appreciate. But also, much I did not like. I am not a horror reader, but due to the young adult nature, it is less “horror” than it could have been. But there is violence. We read the “crushing of a skull” or the “knife cutting the skin” and they are not shy about the characters who take ears from dead “Angels” (the cult members, in particular the military squads) or the descriptions of the “Graces” or “Abominations” depending on which side of the situation you are on. (Graces are humans turned into monsters by the virus and “service” the religious cult that created The Flood/the virus/them; Abominations are the Graces but are what the survivors of The Flood/virus call them.)
This is neither an easy nor hard read, but one you should take your time with. That is of course, if you decide to read.