Is there an audiobook of The Disappearers?

Yes. The Disappearers has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Brandon Miles, Michael Sean Harris, Solomon Peck, Andrew Clarke, Karl O'Brian Williams, and Ano Okera.

How long is the The Disappearers audiobook?

The The Disappearers audiobook runs 22 hr 55 min.

Is The Disappearers on Kindle+?

No. The Disappearers was not included with Kindle+ when we last checked on October 26, 2026.

What formats is The Disappearers available in?

On Amazon, The Disappearers comes as a Kindle ebook, a paperback and a hardcover.

Our review

The Disappearers

Name: The Disappearers
Author: Marlon James

Marlon James

4.2/ 5 · Excellent

The Disappearers is Marlon James's literary crime novel, shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize, about eight gay men in 1988 Kingston, Jamaica, whose rehearsals for a play end in a beating and a death. Savage, profane, funny and 633 pages long, it follows the survivors across years.

Narrated by Brandon Miles and 5 more

Audiobook · 22 hr 55 min

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The Review

Our take

In The Disappearers, Marlon James gives eight gay men in 1988 Kingston, Jamaica, a play to rehearse and then pulls the stage out from under them. They start as strangers. One night they are savagely beaten, and one of them dies. What follows is the long accounting: some men try to pretend it never happened, some chase retribution, some vanish from their own lives. It is a literary crime novel, shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize, but the case is the smaller subject. The larger one is a country that has decided these men don't count, and a book that refuses to agree.

James won the Booker once already with A Brief History of Seven Killings, and this novel stands on its own, so nothing earlier is required. He hands the story around instead of choosing a hero. Several of the men get a turn, and the form keeps shifting under them: letters, a diary, interview transcripts, a final section that breaks the pattern. The timeline starts in 1988 and keeps going for years, with AIDS arriving in Jamaica and making a hostile world worse. The prose is musical, profane and often very funny, and the humor is what sharpens the pain. The references run from club music to the literary canon, worn lightly and always tied to what is happening on the page. You laugh, then feel the floor go.

It asks a great deal of you. The violence is relentless and the sex is explicit, sometimes tender and sometimes abusive, and James uses it to show who holds power over whom and how these men see themselves. The dialogue is thick Jamaican Patois, so expect to look words up or simply let them wash over you. The cast is large, and a few of the men blur together early on; jotting down names helps. The opening stretch is slow to gather, and across 633 pages parts do flag. Some will find it longer than the story needs. I think the length is partly the point, since a short book would let you leave the room sooner.

Why you should read

Literary fiction with real crime-story momentum
Big, voice-driven novels with many narrators
Queer fiction that softens nothing
Readers curious about Jamaican Patois on the page

What to expect

Graphic violence and explicit sex throughout
Rotating narrators and shifting forms, from letters to interviews
Heavy Jamaican Patois that rewards patience
Dark humor running between the blows
A long, dense read with a large cast

What keeps it from being merely punishing is how much life James gives these men: vanity, appetite, jokes, love, a dense layer of books and music in their heads. I finished it flattened and, oddly, lifted. The violence is unbearable because the people it lands on were so thoroughly alive.

Reviewed by Avery · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.2/ 5

Excellent

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Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of The Disappearers?: Yes. The Disappearers has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Brandon Miles, Michael Sean Harris, Solomon Peck, Andrew Clarke, Karl O'Brian Williams, and Ano Okera.
Listen free with Audible
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
How long is the The Disappearers audiobook?: The The Disappearers audiobook runs 22 hr 55 min.
Is The Disappearers on Kindle+?: No. The Disappearers was not included with Kindle+ when we last checked on October 26, 2026.
What formats is The Disappearers available in?: On Amazon, The Disappearers comes as a Kindle ebook, a paperback and a hardcover.

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Common questions

What is The Disappearers about?: In The Disappearers, Marlon James gives eight gay men in 1988 Kingston, Jamaica, a play to rehearse and then pulls the stage out from under them. They start as strangers. One night they are savagely beaten, and one of them dies. What follows is the long accounting: some men try to pretend it never…
Is The Disappearers worth reading?: We scored The Disappearers 4.2 out of 5. The Disappearers is Marlon James's literary crime novel, shortlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize, about eight gay men in 1988 Kingston, Jamaica, whose rehearsals for a play end in a beating and a death. Savage, profane, funny and 633 pages long, it follows the survivors across…

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