The Disappearers

From Marlon James, author of the Booker Prize-winning In 1988, eight men in Kingston, Jamaica, begin rehearsals for a play. The men are strangers to one another and each has a different reason for being involved. But they all share one inescapable truth: All of them are gay -- a "batty man" in Jamaican argot -- and all of them must contend with the dangers that such a truth lays bare. One night when the men are together a mob savagely attacks them, killing one of the men. For the survivors, their recovery is as much emotional as it is physical: As their bodies heal, each man grapples with the violence, the hatred, and the rage that the attack made plain.;Some try to ignore what the attack unearthed, while others double down on retribution. In <The Disappearers<, Marlon James has written a riveting and deeply human story of men forced to make compromises to survive that the society they live in demands. It is both a dramatic page-turner and an unflinching exploration of queer life in Jamaica during the 1980s and 1990s.

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Marlon James

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**AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2026 BOOKER PRIZE

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION

“This masterpiece is the novel of the decade, if not the century... The Disappearers places [James] near the front of the line, a decade or two from now, for the Nobel Prize.” –The New York Times

“Harrowing, hilarious, magnificent …this novel will be read decades from now, pored over in seminars and bookmarked on subway commutes … [James’] defiant queer epic belongs to us all.” –The Boston Globe

“Among Marlon James’s most ambitious and history-making works… James is a singular literary talent.” –Booker Prize judge's citation

From Marlon James, author of the Booker Prize–winning A Brief History of Seven Killings: the electrifying story of the murder of a gay man in 1980s Jamaica and its far-reaching consequences**

In 1988, eight men in Kingston, Jamaica, begin rehearsals for a play. Though strangers to one another, they share an inescapable truth: All of them are gay. And they live in a world that refuses to accept them.

One night the men are savagely beaten and one of them is killed. As their bodies heal, the survivors begin to face the hatred and contempt that the violence laid bare. Some try to ignore what happened. Others double down on retribution. Some disappear completely.

In this spellbinding novel, Marlon James has written a propulsive crime story that is also a deeply human account of connection and acceptance. Full of fascinating characters, biting humor, and unapologetic sex, The Disappearers is both a thrilling page-turner and a finely etched portrait of queer life.