Personal Geography

The world is falling apart at every turn as New York PI Giacomo Berg and missing-persons expert Bonita “B.C.” Boyd search desperately for old friend Peter Proust before he disappears from the face of the earth. Set in the months prior to the arrival of the last Millennium, Peter Proust is working intently to disappear into the landscape in Texas. Berg is joined by Texas-born friend Boyd, whose job is to document disappeared persons in Latin America and assist those political refugees who appear at her door.

Their search leads deep into the vulnerable underbelly of America where they encounter a cult hidden in the East Texas woods run by a messianic rock star, a survivalist waiting for the bomb, and people dodging falling space debris. All are trying to protect themselves in a world gone haywire. Berg and Boyd are pulled into this quicksand when they are recruited to assist a suburban Houston community being poisoned by local chemical plants.

The tortuous course of their quest is mirrored by the meandering course of the relationship between Berg and Boyd as they navigate the swamps, deserts, and mountains of the Southwest, working desperately to rescue Peter Proust before he vanishes completely.

Geoff Rips, former editor of The Texas Observer, wasawarded an AWP novel prize for The Truth. His UnAmerican Activities documented U.S. intelligence agency suppression of underground newspapers. He writes extensively about the Texas/Mexico Border. A member of PEN America and the Texas Institute of Letters, he lives in Austin, TX.