The Disappearers - by Marlon James (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

Praise for The Disappearers

"Like such towering modern novelists as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Toni Morrison, Roberto Bolano and Elena Ferrante, James uses physical violence to explore social violence, the structures of oppression that its victims must fight to survive."--NPR Fresh Air

"Among James's best work alongside A Brief History of Seven Killings and Moon Witch, Spider King... another sprawling, visceral epic." --Esquire

"It's part page-turning crime novel, part touching ode to queer friendship and absolutely stunning. James's latest masterpiece should be required reading." --People

"Told through a number of different media, including journals, letters, and a chorus of frenzied voices that are punctuated by slang, the effect is evocative and chilling. An explosive read, brimming with rage." --Elle

"Epic, immersive, and devastating ... The Disappearers isn't without hope, and not everyone who reckons with its central injustice will be destroyed by it. How could a novel so crammed with the painful messiness of identity and rage and carnality ever reach a satisfying resolution? The masterstroke of The Disappearers is that James lands the finish, a feat of generosity, compassion, and, as with the rest of this unforgettable book, unconquerable bravado." --Slate

"Marlon James's story of gay experience and murderous homophobia in Jamaica is a maximalist's banquet -- and the Booker Prize winner's finest book yet... The Disappearers places him near the front of the line, a decade or two from now, for the Nobel Prize." --The New York Times

"The Disappearers uses the tricks of fiction to pull off something extremely difficult: giving full weight to tragedy and injustice without implying that some lives are over before they've begun." --The New Yorker

"A harrowing, hilarious, magnificent novel that will stand the test of time... Like Whitman, James is a lover of detail and a poet of the body: he dwells on lips, shoulders, chests, and all points south. He ranks among our greatest vernacular authors, rendering most of The Disappearers in an English creole thick with lewd jokes and profanity... This novel will be read decades from now, pored over in seminars and bookmarked on subway commutes... As the disappearers emerge in human form, James mourns those lost to plague and violence while offering sprigs of hope. His defiant queer epic belongs to us all."--The Boston Globe

"The unrelentingly raw and profane vision is enlivened by the energy of the writing, and in particular its infusions of Jamaican slang. Mr. James does not simply reproduce the island's singular patois; he uses it to create abrasive auditory rhythms."-The Wall Street Journal

"Few books have mapped the beleaguered realities of queer existence with such psychological depth, harrowing realism and searing condemnation ... James makes room for the contradictions of queer life, its intimacies, estrangements and hungers, in utterly indelible ways. His prose is a consistent triumph: bitter and hilarious, lyrical, bawdy, pugnacious and scorchingly, ravishingly queer." --The Guardian

"The Disappearers is a harrowing book, to be sure, but never nihilist, or defeatist, or cynical. Its joy in ultimate survival comes through." --The Atlantic

"James is also determined to unwind the cliches of gay fiction... he in part evokes Alan Hollinghurst... The strength of the novel -- and the source of its melancholy tone -- is in its scope."--Los Angeles Times

"Wickedly funny, at times sexy, and full of longing."--Harper's Bazaar

"Hard to put down... A good book can lift your spirits, brighten your day or add some spice to a dull life, but the truly great books change how you think, what you see and, hopefully, how you live. The Disappearers is one of those." --Book Page (starred review)

"Breathtaking ... an ambitious and astonishing portrait of queer life." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"This language-rich novel is filled with vivid slang ... As always, James writes exceptionally well....This book may remind readers of works by John Rechy, Jean Genet, William Burroughs, and Hubert Selby, but James is his own man." --Library Journal (starred review)

"Galvanizing ... Equal parts detective story and sociocultural history, James' new novel takes a deep, harrowing dive into the tragic consequences of violent homophobia ... with random, frantic voices that leave unsettling echoes." --Kirkus (starred review)

"Captivating and epic... James renders his characters' tumultuous inner lives with striking imagery and energy; their dialogue is rapid, keen, and hard-hitting. In all, a gritty, powerful, and gripping read." --Booklist

About the Author

Marlon James is the Booker Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of A Brief History of Seven Killings; the bestselling and National Book Award finalist Black Leopard, Red Wolf; as well as the bestselling Moon Witch, Spider King; The Book of Night Women; and John Crow's Devil. In addition to the Booker Prize, James's novels have won the Amer­ican Book Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, and the Los Ange­les Times Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, and have been finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the NAACP Image Award. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellow­ship and named in 2019 one of Time magazine's one hundred most influential people in the world, James lives in New York City.