To The Last Page

The setting of Paolo Bacigalupi's The Water Knife is near-futuristic with a speculative SF idea behind it, but essentially it's more of an action thriller. On both accounts it's very good indeed, if not outstanding or particularly original in either. Essentially, it's another disaster scenario, one that is increasingly evident in fiction, a rather worrying trend that suggests that is all the more concerning when the scenarios depicted are all too credible. Climate changes are already rocking parts of the United States, so imagine how vulnerable the south-western States would be to any disruption or drying up of the water supply. In Bacigalupi's novel, set in the not too distant future, much of the South is a dustbowl. Texas is gone, Arizona isn't far behind with Phoenix in turmoil. The other States have strict border controls, refugees aren't welcome, and natural water supplies and dams are jealously guarded. Inevitably powerful agencies have sprung up, wit...