Jackson Alone : From the winner of the Akutagawa Prize

A short, blistering gut punch of a novel, Jackson Alone is at turns satirical and deadpan, angry and tender - a frank exploration of identity, race, and queerness in contemporary Japan.

<p><b>A short, blistering gut punch of a novel, <i>Jackson Alone</i> is at turns satirical and deadpan, angry and tender - a frank exploration of identity, race, and queerness in contemporary Japan. </b><br><br>Nobody at the corporate offices of Athletius Japan knows much about the massage therapist, Jackson, but rumours abound. He used to work as a model. He likes to party. He's mixed race: half-Japanese, half-somewhere-in-Africa-n. He might be gay. Fuelling the gossip is the sudden appearance of a violent, pornographic video featuring a man who looks like a lot like Jackson.<br><br>When Jackson serendipitously meets three other queer mixed-race guys, he learns he's not the only one being targeted. Together they concoct a plan: find out who's responsible and, in the meantime, exploit the fact that nobody can seem to tell them apart to trick people who've wronged them.<br><br><b>From an Akutagawa prize winning author, <i>Jackson Alone</i> asks complex questions about how we see ourselves and how we see others, as well as what it really means to get revenge.</b></p>