The Water Knife

by Paolo Bacigalupi

Set at an undetermined point in the near future, the American Southwest has been ravaged by drought, brought on by rising heat and extreme water shortages due to the debilitating effects of climate change. The Colorado River and its tributaries, which are an essential source of water for the region, has decreased to a mere trickle. In Nevada, Arizona, and California, corrupt business magnates control the severely depleted water supply, and routinely battle in armed conflicts for dwindling portions of the river.

Angel Velasquez, a detective, assassin and spy “cuts” water for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, controlled by his boss Catherine Case. Angel's job, as a "water knife", is to infiltrate and sabotage the water supplies of competing states, and to make sure that Case can keep her luxuriant arcology developments thriving in Las Vegas. Case wants to ensure that the rich stay wet, while the poor get nothing but dust.

When reports of a game-changing water source arise in Phoenix, Angel is sent south to investigate in his customized Tesla. Upon arriving in the blistering heat of Arizona, he encounters Lucy Monroe, an award winning journalist harboring her own agenda and secrets, and Maria Villarosa, a young refugee from Texas, surviving on her instincts and shrewdness. The three find themselves being manipulated in a corrupt game, larger and dirtier than any of them could have ever imagined.

Angel soon discovers that California is trying to monopolize the tiny current of the river, and with Phoenix on the verge of collapsing into chaos and violence, the bodies begin to stack up. As time starts to run out for the three, they discover their only hope for survival rests in one another's hands. But when water is such a precious commodity in the desert region, and where partnerships can change in the blink of an eye, the only thing for certain is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink.