Lowboy

* A twenty-first century Holden Caulfield. Observer * Lowboy is exceptionally tender and acute ... John Wray is a daring young writer. -- James Wood The New Yorker * A smart, moving thriller, and a deeply imaginative one, too. Time Out * Uncompromising, gripping and generally excellent ... Immensely satisfying. -- Charles Bock The New York Times Book Review * One of our most astonishing and relevant young writers. Esquire * America's most original young writer has given us a book for the ages. Compelling, compassionate, and deeply unsettling, Lowboy introduces us to the brilliant sixteen-year-old Will Heller, a Holden Caulfield for our troubled times. -- GARY SHTEYNGART, author of Absurdistan * The novel has a thriller-like pace, and Wray keeps us riveted and guessing ... The opening pages recall Salinger's Holden Caulfield, but the denouement and haunting aftertaste may make the stunned reader whisper "Dostoevsky." Yes, it really is that good. Kirkus * Sucks you into the tunnels under New York and doesn't let you go until its perfect ending. Wray effortlessly portrays the cracked and distorted mind of his teenage hero. What a beguiling novel. -- TIM PEARS, author of In the Place of Fallen Leaves * A psychotic, subterranean, environmentally conscious coming-of-age novel. It is also an affecting and affectionate love letter to New York. -- NATHAN ENGLANDER, author of The Ministry of Special Cases * John Wray is the Next Wave of American fiction, and Lowboy, his crazy excavation of New York's underground, is brilliant. -- Jonathan Letham