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The size of the book is noticeably smaller than the core rulebook and the Urban Arcana setting - I feel the difference is exaggerated as a hardcover. The layout follows the format of the last two books in the line, grey cover with characters on it, many color illustrations of bad guys.
Basically, the Menace Manual offers an interesting collection of baddies - not goodies - for the d20 Modern game line, with plenty of NPCs, monsters, and insidious organizations for GMs to throw at other players. Despite the title of this book, many potential encounters may end up as cautious (and dangerous) allies for a party. There are no plot or story hooks as such, but a GM can run his finger down the table of contents (or the index - thumbs up!) and throw something at a party with minimal effort.
The first section contains monsters, with an introductory section detailing stat blocks and template information. A lot of this material appears in the core rulebook as well, which is bad, except for a nice addition of monster weaknesses, which is good. Alternity fans will recognize many entries: from the Dark Matter core book (etoiles, kinori, sandmen), the Xenomorphs supplement (Montauk monster, revenant), and the Alien Compendia from Star Drive (N'sss). This section runs about 85 pages, and has about 70 monsters (5 are actually templates to graft onto other monsters).
Next we have GM characters: thirty types of characters that may be met in the course of play. They seem perfectly adaptable for use by players in a pinch (they would need talents, since they are ordinaries and not heroes, and max hit points at first level) as well as quick NPCs. They range from heroic types like paramedics, spies and firefighters to lowlifes like hitmen, burglars, grifters and cultists. Some of the stranger ones include Vatican investigators and fringe scientists. There are some odd overlaps, like both "lawyer" and "attorney," as well as "government agent," "government bureaucrat," and "government investigator." After the ordinaries are a couple of NPC groups with heoric characters - anarchist group, a militia group, a thief ring, mob killers, and an a nightclub with a sinister secret. Other than the fact that they contain ready-to-play NPCs, I don't see why these are not in the "Factions" section.
Speaking of the Factions section, it contains about twenty (25 if you count the ones mentioned above) groups to integrate into an encounter, adventure or campaign. Some organizations are refugees from Dark Matter, including the Hoffman Institute, which was the driving force behind that game (the Final Church no longer conducts its activities from the Bohemian Grove, I guess the conspiracy got to them...). There are writeups on the Department of Defense, CIA, FEMA, and the FBI, but the rest are fictional (personally I would have liked all without federal baggage, but I certainly could envision PCs running afoul of the government). We have the standard drug cartel, hacking group, ecosaboteurs, and Middle Eastern terrorists (had this group appeared in a third party publication, I could see WotC applying its new decency standards to this group's interesting variations on Islamic theology), as well as a global news corporation with a secret agenda, a league of ex-Soviet baddies, and plenty of others.
Great idea in this section: the tables of campaign information that players can get with relevant skill checks (Gather Information, Knowledge, Computer Use) broken down by DC. This makes it easier to integrate these groups into a campaign. Bad idea in this section: three groups have a luxury boat as a hideout - and there are maps for each vessel! After the second take-out-the-boat adventure my players would catch on.
In total, I was pleased with the content of the Menace Manual. I feel that the book strikes an uneasy balance between presenting Alternity d20 and completely new material. If they were going for the former, official conversion notes for other creatures in Alternity material would have been nice. Still, any GM looking to challenge a party on short notice will find one or two things for inspiration or more.
