scabby

Something is genuinely off about the goings-on at the conference, from strange deaths and elevators that suddenly aren’t elevators, to a rash of scabby infections afflicting guests and the discovery of a subterranean tunnel.

"My daughter has a rash across her leg, which is scabby and itchy, and my eldest has anxiety and worries constantly about the mould."

Their life together is tinged with the absence of Lily’s mother, who only occasionally appears, thin-armed and scabby.

"It was a busy weekend and there were a lot of people ready for a day out. There was me, absolutely stinking, wheeling this box and eating bits of scabby old sandwich."

Thus begins Jack’s odyssey through the last vestiges of New York’s scabby demimonde — the dives and drug corridors where he might find what he’s lost.