Louse
By: David Grand.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Arcade Pub.; Distributed by Little, Brown
Published: 1998
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 255
Subjects: Eccentrics and eccentricities -- Fiction.; Recluses -- Fiction.
Description: In the penthouse of a casino high above America's vast desert, an eccentric Howard Hughes-like mogul, Herbert Horatio "Poppy" Blackwell, has created an insulated world of maids and footmen, physicians, accountants, and engineers - all catering to his nostalgic dreams and paralyzing fear of infection.

Herman Q. Louse is Poppy's valet, unwilling confidant, and unlikely protector. As Louse performs his intricately ritualized and increasingly bizarre duties, he discovers that Poppy's carefully constructed paradise is poisoned by a conspiracy that threatens to destroy it - while giving Louse the opportunity to meet the man he once was.