Marlon James’ critically acclaimed new novel, The Disappearers, has officially arrived to bookshelves. And if the initial reaction is any indication, readers won’t want to miss James’ unforgettable new book.
Set in 1980s Jamaica, The Disappearers follows eight gay men who suffer an extreme act of violence while rehearsing a play one night. As they attempt to get their lives back on track, each of them deal with the trauma in different ways, with some attempting to move on, others contending with rage and pain and some disappearing entirely.
A return to the nuanced literary nature of James’ equally acclaimed A Brief History of Seven Killings from 2014, The Disappearers has quickly won renown among critics and mainstream readers.
“Why not just say it? With this novel about gay experience and murderous homophobia in Jamaica and elsewhere during the 1980s and ’90s, James has written a masterpiece, the novel of the decade and possibly of the century thus far,” deemed The New York Times.
In another illustration of just how greatly The New York Times felt about James’ new book, the outlet continued by writing, “It occurred to me around Page 350 that The Disappearers places him near the front of the line, a decade or two from now, for the Nobel Prize.”
Other reviews shared their similarly positive response when it came to The Disappearers.
“James makes room for the contradictions of queer life, its intimacies, estrangements and hungers, in utterly indelible ways,” wrote The Guardian. “His prose is a consistent triumph: bitter and hilarious, lyrical, bawdy, pugnacious and scorchingly, ravishingly queer. The Booker judges have described this novel as a ‘reckoning’; it is incontestably also a haunting.”
Further adding to the book’s acclaim is its recent addition to the longlist for the 2026 Booker Prize, the same award James won for his Bob Marley-centric thriller, A Brief History of Seven Killings.