The Drift

The Drift continues the adventures of the narrator from Parks' first book, Dust of the Earth. Now a middle-aged ne'er-do-well, he is rescued from boredom and debt by Andy, a streetwise Ubermensch, who takes him to an old mine south of Tucson -- Andy's refuge from society. They are joined by Andy's submissive girlfriend Vanessa, who befriends the narrator and, with Andy's permission, sometimes sleeps with him; and by Smeeg, an Asperger's genius who uses salvaged technology to make the mine livable. Nickie --a manipulative college girl from a wealthy family -- later joins the group of misfits, sowing discontent and jealousy. Allied with Andy is a trio of American Indians who have taken to raiding drug smugglers passing through the arroyos near the mine. Looming over all of them is the Entity, a primordial god-like being, who is discovered in a cave after an accident in the mine. The Entity uses the misfits and Indians for his own purposes and, in the process, sets them on the path to a new freedom.