cover image Drift

Drift

Sharon Carter Rogers, . . S&S/Howard, $12.99 (337pp) ISBN 978-1-4165-6653-3

Rogers's murky, downbeat supernatural thriller introduces Drifters, supernatural beings with cross marks in their eyes who become “tethered,” that is, psychically bound, to people. Neither an angel, a demon, nor a ghost, a Drifter is “something God created in his spare time and then forgot on the fringes of reality.” In Lehigh, W.Va., a Drifter, Boy, becomes tethered to Baby Doll Murphy, a 20-year-old college student, after the apparent suicide of Baby Doll's adoptive father, Charles Franklin Murphy, the head of “the Organization,” an evil outfit that's falling apart. Only Baby Doll can see Boy, who acts as her eerie protector. In particular, Boy helps Baby Doll with her dead father's assistant, Maurits Girard, who covets Charles's ring of power, which Maurits believes Baby Doll has stolen. Rogers (Unpretty ) cleverly plays with the deus ex machina theme, but Baby Doll's quest for justice concludes in a depressingly robotic resolution. (Apr.)