The BangBang Boys
A Novel
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The BangBang Boys
Pre-order Now for €21.99
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Narrated by:
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Alec Mapa
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Christopher James Tamayo
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Joshua Carandang
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Roy Flores
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Yan Yuzon
After the brutal drug raid of a back-alley gay spa in Manila, the boys who make it out alive must decide what kind of men they want to become—and what they’ll risk—in this steamy crime saga.
In 2016, the body of a masseur from Manila’s BangBang Touch men’s spa is pulled from a sewage drain. The spa’s young male staff, known as the BangBang Boys, believed they were safe on-site and savvy enough to be shielded from the chaos and conflict in the streets. But now, their friend is dead and they’re in the crosshairs of an escalating drug war. Soon after, a busy night shift is cut short by a brutal police raid that claims the lives of clients and masahistas alike. The scattered survivors attempt to comprehend the tragedy and loss while searching for answers, desperate to understand how and why they became targets.
Tough guy Benjie is captured by the police, broken, and reshaped into a professional killer. Gentle Manuel finds safety at an upscale spa where he reunites with a lost love, the kept woman of a corrupt congressman. And Lola, the bakla owner and manager of the massage parlor, is sent to the notorious Bilibid Prison, where she earns the attention of a dangerous gang leader. As their stories fracture and collide, each is forced to sacrifice who and what they love just to survive.
Blending propulsive drama, sleazy thrills, and poetic intensity, Peter Zaragoza Mayshle’s polyphonic debut unwinds via a chorus of drug pushers, hit men, crooked cops, and rough trade. A wild, sweat-drenched literary crime novel, The BangBang Boys interrogates the costs of pleasure, addiction, and survival in a world imperiled by authoritarian rule.
Reviews
"[A] smashing debut, a rollicking tale of crime, punishment, and queer survival . . . This illuminating and titillating novel is a winner."
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"The BangBang Boys is alive and fresh and—especially in the way it shows the everyday terrors of the political—full of the best kind of mischief. Who doesn’t love a chorus of hustlers?"
—Justin Torres, author of Blackouts
"I’ve been waiting for this novel for twenty years and it was more than worth the wait. Peter Zaragoza Mayshle’s kinetic debut follows a found family of 'boys' caught up in the violent raids of the Duterte era and the choices they make to protect what they hold most dear. The BangBang Boys offers profound wisdom about the strain of living under a strongman—and how to survive a ruthless world with your humanity and hope intact."
—Celeste Ng, author of Little Fires Everywhere and Our Missing Hearts
"An unforgettable novel centering the very people who are often forgotten. The BangBang Boys asks us to contend with their stories and humanity. We cannot avert our eyes. A stunning debut."
—Grace Talusan, author of The Body Papers
"Intimate and dissonant, Zaragoza Mayshle captures a generation marked for death yet aching for love, dignity, and various reinventions. A mad and unforgettable portrait of Manila at the edge of collapse. A brilliant debut."
—Zain Khalid, author of Brother Alive
"The BangBang Boys is the most propulsive book I've read in some time. Zaragoza Mayshle has written an epic, heartwrenching tale that winds through the authoritarianism of Duterte's Philippines, capturing the pain, the loss, and the beauty of resistance and survival. He does all this while balancing a tremendous cast of characters with humorous, tender, and wickedly smart prose. Everyone says this, but I freaking mean it: I couldn't put this book down."
—Alejandro Varela, author of Middle Spoon
"Zaragoza Mayshle’s novel may seem small on its surface—the spare prose, the brevity of the volume, the vignettes that comprise its structure—but these words strike with the force of a jackhammer. The BangBang Boys is a pulsating, terrifying, eviscerating, resonant, musical work that I won’t forget."
—Addie E. Citchens, author of Dominion
"Set against a noirish backdrop of authoritarian violence and corruption, The BangBang Boys is a thriller at once pulse-pounding and heartbreaking. Zaragoza Mayshle's vibrant debut finds poignancy in the profane, and tenderness amid the terror."
—Peter Ho Davies, author of A Lie Someone Told You About Yourself