"Herbert Horatio Poppy Blackwell was once a daring aviator, an illustrious movie producer, and a brilliant businessman. A Howard Hughes-like mogul, Poppy has become a recluse with paralyzing fears of infection. Cloistered in the penthouse high above his desert gambling empire, Poppy's maids and footmen and lawyers and physicians live in a state of constant surveillance, catering to his eccentric, paranoid demands. Herman Q. Louse is Poppy's valet, one of many indentured servants who have racked up an insurmountable debt in his casino (and whose long-term memories have subsequently been erased). Louse's primary duty is to administer Poppy's medication: near-lethal injections of heroin. But as he goes about his carefully monitored business, he becomes aware of a growing conspiracy against Poppy, forcing him to act as Poppy's unlikely protector--that is, until people start pointing fingers at Louse. Dark, disturbing, yet acerbically funny, Louse is an unforgettable tale by a terrifically imaginative writer.- A New York Times Book Review Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year"--
