Far Out Man by Chuck Snearly

If Elmore Leonard and Kurt Vonnegut had a '60s love child, it would be... Far Out Man Jack Crost is a professor of sixties literature with a painful past who teaches the ideals of peace and love. His beliefs are tested when a series of vicious attacks cost him his job and his life – and then things get worse. After a near-death experience in the emergency room that includes an encounter with a famous TV puppet, his resuscitated life takes off in a wild new direction as he tries to figure out what's going on with the help of Murphy, a retired Detroit cop who served as an Army Ranger in Vietnam. From ruins to raves to the rooftops of Detroit, his pursuit of the truth leads him to a final deadly confrontation.