Jackson Alone

ONE OF DUA LIPA'S SERVICE95 'MUST READ BOOKS FOR 2026'

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.

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. Fueling the gossip is the sudden appearance of a violent pornographic video featuring a man who looks a lot like Jackson.

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.

From an Akutagawa prize winning author, Jackson Alone asks complex questions about how we see ourselves and how we see others, as well as what it really means to get revenge.