God Clobbers Us All

It's impossible not to be charmed by the narrator of Poe Ballantine's comic and sparklingly intelligent God Clobbers Us All. Edgar, a surfing fanatic and orderly at a San Diego rest home, whiles away the evenings with drugs, booze and plenty of wacky fellow employees, ""not only because we are poor and our futures are dull, but also because we see every night first hand the terrible and heartbreaking things that are going to happen to us when we grow old."" An affair with a married co-worker nine years his senior seems like a big deal-that is, until a mousy nurse's aide disappears after one of Edgar's LSD parties, and he and his best friend, a mannish Blackfoot Indian named Pat, are held responsible.