The Drifter: A Novel

Megan Abbott meets MO Walsh in Christine Lennon's compelling debut novel about a group of friends on the cusp of graduating from college when their lives are irrevocably changed by a brutal act of violence.

Present Day

For two decades Elizabeth has tried to escape the ghosts of her past, tried to erase the painful memories, tried to keep out the terrifying nightmares. But 20 years after graduating from the University of Florida, her carefully curated life begins to unravel, forcing her to confront the past she's tried so hard to forget.

Gainesville, Florida, 1990s

Elizabeth and her two closest friends, Caroline and Ginny, are having the time of their lives in college - binge-watching Oprah, flirting for freebies from Taco Bell, and breaking hearts along the way. But without warning, their world is suddenly shattered when a series of horrific acts of violence ravage the campus, changing their lives forever.

Sweeping listeners from the exclusive corners of sorority life in the South to the front lines of the drug-fueled slacker culture in Manhattan in the '90s and early '00s, when Elizabeth is forced to acknowledge her role in the death of a friend in order to mend a broken friendship and save her own life, The Drifter is an unforgettable story about the complexities of friendships and the secrets that can ultimately destroy us.