Yes, the drifter IS real (I never said I didn't think he was a real person) but hasn't been named in MSM. He wrote the book to CLEAR HIS NAME? The book suggests the drifter/narrator may be RESPONSIBLE. The REAL drifter doesn't NEED to clear his name, he hasn't been named and wasn't even THERE that night and was never even SUSPECTED by SCPD. Who was questioned by police? Not the drifter.
On the contrary. The drifter "with a penchant for strippers" DID need to clear his name. There were many sleuthers (myself included) who have always felt that the drifter was a prime suspect for foul play related to SG's demise or that the drifter held some key information that could help us better understand what happened that evening in JB's home.
You might be missing the point when it comes to books or memoirs that deal with
confessions. The drifter's motive for writing his particular confession book was to come clean and be honest and upfront with the world about all of the dirt in his life. With a
confessions style of writing, the author brings it all to the table (not a single bad act left out). The idea is for the author to come clean (with the absolute understanding by the reader that the author is telling the truth in hopes that the act of confession will cleanse his soul). There are no lies with a confession. There are no secrets that are hidden. In this particular case, the writer is asking us (as the readers) to accept that he was no longer living at JB's home by the time SG went missing (and, in turn, accept that he should no longer be a suspect in our minds).
His confession has given us the gift of knowledge in several ways. For one, he was straightforward about the stench of death from the basement of JB's house. He repeated it again when he spoke with JJ. This is crucial information that we would have never known without his assistance. Secondly, he has given us some character insight about JB. We learn more about JB from the drifter's confessions than from any other source we have at our disposal. Thirdly, sometimes it is what we are able to dismiss that is more important than what we learn. In other words, there is now a very long list of items we were speculating about JB, about the neighborhood and about the drifter that we can now eliminate as possibilities. For instance, some people have speculated that May 1, 2010 was not the first time JB had ever met MP or SG. Well, I honestly believe that if the drifter had ever witnessed MP or SG at JB's home at any time he was living there he would have confessed that in his book (it not only would have made his confessions complete; it would have also made for some best-seller juicy kind of reading that could have surely boosted book sales tenfold).
The book of confessions DOES NOT suggest that the drifter is responsible for SG's death. It also doesn't suggest that he could be the LISK (the real LISK is far too intelligent, careful and skillful to be some drugged-up hippie who repeatedly blacked out on the beach). Just reading the dialogue of the book is a sure tell-tale that there is absolutely no way the author is the LISK or (as you suggested) a person educated enough to become a licensed physician and a member of the OBA board of directors.
Sorry. The drifter did need to clear his name and after reading his book I do think he did an excellent job accomplishing his goal of doing so.