"As American Desert opens, the novel's hero, Theodore Street, is driving toward the ocean, where he plans to walk into the waves and drown himself. But on his way, he is hit headlong by an oncoming van. He sails through the windshield, and although his face is unscratched and his bones unbroken, his head is sliced cleanly from his body." "At his funeral three days later, he sits up in his coffin, the sloppy stitching that binds his head and body together clearly visible. The mourners are horrified by his resurrection, and the story makes instant headlines throughout the world. He becomes a source of fear and embarrassment to his daughter, an object of derision and morbid curiosity to the press, a prized specimen for scientists, and Satan incarnate to an obscure religious cult."--BOOK JACKET.