Vorab-Rezensenten

Mark Haines—a cynical and hermetic San Diego burnout who spends his days surfing and nights as a security guard in a quiet strip mall—is content in his solitary lifestyle until he chances upon a kindred spirit, a hustling drifter named Cindy (or is it Emily?), trying to hitchhike her way up to Seattle. Thinking about making the drive up himself, he convinces her to crash at his place until he’s ready to go. After a few days Cindy disappears, and, for some reason, Mark feels compelled to track her down, help her out—she seemed to be in some sort of trouble. Perhaps it’s that, in an odd way, she reminded him of his estranged daughter, Aracely. As Haines starts investigating, his search puts him back in touch with southern California’s darker elements, including the drug trade, greedy real estate developers, and especially its Evangelical megachurches, at one of which—in a former life—he had been a pastor, before abandoning his beliefs along with his family.