Lost People is a follow-up to Perry's acclaimed collection of stories entitled Street People. Like that book, Lost People deals with the menial existences of characters caught up in everyday struggles for survival. Although, the stories work by themselves, they are more powerful as a whole. Abraham Maslow identified Food, Clothing, and Shelter in his Hierarchy of Needs. Yet, these people, like we all, need far more than that. For starters: how about love and affection, safety, and a sense of self and self worth? Inside these pages, Mexicans try desperately to cross the border; and people live in buses, in parks, prisons, half-way houses, and under bridges. One man calls home a cardboard box. A profound sense permeates these stories that the author is grateful for the gift of life, for roofs over his head, and for the ability of good and ordinary people to care for others. In a wonderfully secular way, without being preachy, these tales are a metaphor for good works. There's a lot of befriending here and the endings are hopeful, contemplative, introspective, and courageous, like many of the characters.