The Disappearers

De: Marlon James

Brought to you by Penguin.

MARLON JAMES'S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING A BRIEF HISTORY OF SEVEN KILLINGS

‘Darkness is a mood in Jamaica . . .'

The Disappearers is Marlon James’s triumphant return to the Jamaica of A Brief History of Seven Killings – a place of heat and chaos, and of danger for anyone outside the heteronormal.

So when eight gay men meet for the first time, in Kingston in 1988, answering the casting call for an openly queer play, they are already taking a big risk. But that is nothing compared to what rains down on them when a mob descends on one of their rehearsals.

By the end of this night, one man is dead, all are injured, and two subsequently disappear.
As the survivors heal, each man finds he must confront the bigotry and homophobia that the attack laid bare. Some try to forget; some embrace their rage; and some simply vanish – but all are forever scarred.

As one of the victims puts it, ‘there’s a difference between when something ends and when something stops’. And this story won’t stop until both the disappearers and the perpetrators have been tracked, along trails both hot and cold, and an ending reached.

Epic and intimate, violent and forgiving, The Disappearers is a tour de force which only Marlon James could have written – both an unflinching portrait of the hatred and shame faced by gay men in a society which refuses to accept them, and a deeply human story of acceptance and insight.

© Marlon James 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

Reseñas de la Crítica

This seething, hot, violent, action-packed novel is enormous in every sense. The ambition is huge, but [James] pulls it off with huge style, confidence, imagination and wit . . . Extraordinary

The way James uses language is amazing . . . Vigorous, intricate and captivating, [it] is hard to put down

Extraordinary . . . James’s writing can be at once punchy and lyrical; can alternate strange, dreamy poetry with visceral action; and can bring persuasive life to a kaleidoscopic range of characters

A vivid plunge into a crazed, violent and corrupt world . . . executed with swaggering aplomb. The most original novel I’ve read in years (Irvine Welsh, 'Praise for A Brief History of Seven Killings')

Epic in every sense of that word’