Lowboy by John Wray

These excerpts from John Wray’s novel, Lowboy, follow the intertwined journeys of a mentally ill teenager named Will and the people searching for him across the New York City subway system. Will, who refers to himself as Lowboy, navigates the underground tunnels driven by a messianic delusion that he must prevent a global environmental catastrophe through a specific physical act. Meanwhile, a specialist detective named Lateef questions Will's mother, Yda Heller, whose complex reflections reveal a history of her son's psychological breaks and erratic behavior. The narrative contrasts Will's vividly distorted perceptions and interactions with strangers against the bureaucratic clinical reality of his diagnosis and disappearance. Throughout the text, recurring themes of stifling heat, coded communication, and the fragmentation of identity highlight the disconnect between Will's internal world and the city above. Final scenes emphasize the desperation of the search as characters converge on the transit hubs that define Will's narrow, subterranean reality.