With no prospects, except for murder mystery evenings, an actor accepts the only role he can get: Black Bag. The job, offered to him by a university professor, requires him to attend university lectures and seminars dressed in a black bag. He must walk around campus barefoot, remain anonymous, and ask minimal questions about the so-called ‘experiment’. As time progresses, Black Bag and its wearer begin to merge, and people are intrigued – another university professor wants to find out if she can have a romantic relationship with ‘it’, and Claudio, a gaming streamer and the wearer’s best friend, wants to cash in on its absurdity. In a ‘Fleabag’-esque way, this book is equal parts comedic, profound, and odd. It holds important musings about modern masculinity, the digital economy, and what happens when a person is both gifted and confronted with anonymity. There’s no surprise it’s in the running for The Booker Prize. IM

Published by John Murray