In John Wray’s novel, Lowboy, William Heller, a paranoid schizophrenic teenager, has stopped taking his medication and has escaped from his school (asylum) into the New York subway system. William, also known as Lowboy, is on a mission to save the world from destruction which according to him is on a short timetable. Will has a plan but to fully execute it he needs to find the one girl that will “cool him down” and save the world from global warming.

The story is mainly narrated by Will, who in this case, tells it from the fugitive’s point-of-view. Most of Will’s journey takes place on the subway and in the tunnels, only going out of the subway system when absolutely necessary. The chapters narrated by Will takes the reader into the mysterious thinking of the brain of someone who is sinking deeper and deeper into mental illness. Mr. Wray has done a very good job of making Will a very likeable hero. The alternate chapters are narrated by a missing person’s detective assigned to the case, Ali Lateef, who is accompanied by Will’s mother, Violet Heller. As this is a different type of missing person case, Violet helps provide information to assist in finding Will before he becomes violent as the experts predict. These chapters have the feeling of a police procedural, as Ali races against time. But, as Ali puts the pieces of the puzzle together, he realizes that there is much more to Violet and her perceptions of the story than she is telling him and may not be the help that he needs.

This story is both tragic and, at times, almost comical as we get to see the world through Will’s eyes. Will is aware of the medications leaving his system and from past experiences knows that others sometimes just do not hear him when he speaks, so he is relieved when others acknowledge him unaware that they are usually people who are also mentally ill. One of the most memorable scenes for me is when Will attempts to purchase cupcakes and the store clerks and Will could not effectively communicate with each other for what is a simple task for most of us.

This is a much needed story as mental illness is still a taboo subject in the United States and you will see that we have not made much progress besides making people who suffer from mental illness invisible when they make us uncomfortable. Once I started reading this story I could not put it down as I became engaged with the characters and I was riding the subway along with Will hoping that he would outwit the authorities. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy stories that allow them to explore topics from a different angle. Readers who are interested in the topic of mental illness will also enjoy this story.

Reviewed by Beverly
APOOO BookClub

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