paperback, 384 pages
Published May 26, 2015 by Alfred a Knopf.
In the near future, the Colorado River has dwindled to a trickle. Detective, assassin, and spy, Angel Velasquez “cuts” water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, ensuring that its lush arcology developments can bloom in Las Vegas. When rumors of a game-changing water source surface in Phoenix, Angel is sent south, hunting for answers that seem to evaporate as the heat index soars and the landscape becomes more and more oppressive. There, he encounters Lucy Monroe, a hardened journalist with her own agenda, and Maria Villarosa, a young Texas migrant, who dreams of escaping north. As bodies begin to pile up, the three find themselves pawns in a game far bigger and more corrupt than they could have imagined, and when water is more valuable than gold, alliances shift like sand, and the only truth in the desert is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink.
A good cli-fi thriller. It was a bit slow going at first, with a few expressions and abbreviations that needed a bit more explaining. Otherwise, a chilling look into a not-so-distant future of desertification, corporate dystopia, and structural / interpersonal violence that necessarily follow the privatization of the basics of life.
wow. the writing is at times artless and sometimes shockingly gory, but the story and the POV characters are so on point. I tore through it, glad I read this. a great book for our present climate, politically and environmentally, and IMHO a worthy follow up to THE WIND-UP GIRL and THE DROWNED WORLD.
