Marlon James's upcoming novel, The Disappearers, set to be published in 2026, has already drawn significant praise, with The New York Times calling it "the novel of the century." The story is set in Jamaica from 1988 to 2005 and centers on the lives of men who love and have sex with men in a society marked by intense homophobia. The novel delves into the hidden history of queer men in Jamaica, examining the harm they face, the impact on traditional notions of masculinity, and the complex interplay between vulnerability and exploitation. The narrative begins with the diary entries of Eddy Porteous, as eight men gather to rehearse John Herbert’s 1967 play Fortune and Men’s Eyes, a work that explores homosexuality and power dynamics. The rehearsal room is portrayed as a rare space where they can live out their identities and challenge Jamaica’s oppressive norms. The novel’s tension escalates when a homophobic mob interrupts the rehearsal. The violence is depicted through the voices of the attackers, capturing their twisted sense of righteousness and the exhilaration that comes with their hate. By the end of the night, one man is killed, another is blinded, and all are left with wounds that can never fully heal. Soon after, two of the men, Matt Chin and Orrin Turner, vanish without a trace. The story then shifts six years later, following the search for the disappeared through the perspectives of multiple characters. The novel highlights how gay men in Jamaica often disappear long before anyone realizes they are missing. One imagined scenario, a "Day Without the Gay," where none of the men show up for work, satirizes the societal denial of their existence. The only way for them to be seen is to disappear, but survival often depends on remaining invisible and passing as straight, as one character notes, "a battyman has a sign on his back that says 'Kill us any which way then move on.'" This is not new territory for James, whose third novel, A Brief History of Seven Killings, explored the complexities of Jamaican hypermasculinity and the coexistence of its homophobic and queer aspects. In The Disappearers, he delves deeper into the varied and intimate realities of gay men, their histories, and their futures. The novel challenges the flatness of slurs and stereotypes, aiming to humanize its characters on a large scale. However, the novel does not offer comfort to the reader. It does not shy away from depicting the external torment and internal struggles of its protagonists. The resolution it offers is not one of explanation or redemption but of defiance, rejecting the respectability that middle-class Jamaican heterosexuality often prizes. Aesthetically, the novel showcases James’s signature style—intense scenes, multiple voices, literary references, and a rich soundtrack. It is not only a masterful literary achievement but also a deeply personal and angry act of restitution. When one of the characters, Jordan Brown, praises a journalist for documenting the brutal mob attack, he underscores the novel’s importance: "Jamaica don’t get to beat us, kill us, then vanish us. And we don’t get to stop paying attention. This is important." James has acknowledged that this story could have been part of his own experience had he not sought refuge in the church that forced him to hide, and later in the U.S., where he found the distance needed to write with the depth and intensity that define his work.