The Water Knife

By: Paolo Bacigalupi

Narrated by: Almarie Guerra

Paolo Bacigalupi, New York Times best-selling author and National Book Award finalist, dives once again into our uncertain future with his first thriller for adults since his multi-award-winning debut phenomenon The Windup Girl.

In the American Southwest, Nevada, Arizona, and California skirmish for dwindling shares of the Colorado River. Into the fray steps Angel Velasquez, detective, leg breaker, assassin, and spy. A Las Vegas water knife, Angel "cuts" water for his boss, Catherine Case, ensuring that her lush, luxurious arcology developments can bloom in the desert, so the rich can stay wet while the poor get nothing but dust.

When rumors of a game-changing water source surface in drought-ravaged Phoenix, Angel is sent to investigate. There he encounters Lucy Monroe, a hardened journalist with no love for Vegas and every reason to hate Angel, and Maria Villarosa, a young Texas refugee who survives by her wits and street smarts in a city that despises everything she represents.

With bodies piling up, bullets flying, and Phoenix teetering on collapse, it seems like California is making a power play to monopolize the life-giving flow of a river. For Angel, Lucy, and Maria, time is running out, and their only hope for survival rests in each other's hands. But when water is more valuable than gold, alliances shift like sand, and the only thing for certain is that someone will have to bleed if anyone hopes to drink.

©2015 Paolo Bacigalupi (P)2015 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"[A]fresh, genre-bending thriller....Bacigalupi weaves an engrossing tale all his own, crackling with edgy style." ( Los Angeles Times)

"An ambitious, genre-dissolving thriller and a timely cautionary tale....this epic, visionary novel should appeal to a wide audience." ( Publishers Weekly)

"There is a savage beauty to the novel, which makes it one of the best books of 2015 I have read so far." ( SFF World)

Great Story Until It Got Graphically Violent

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I loved the premise of the story. A world in which water is such a precious commodity that technology and politics revolve around the control of it. I liked the characters, too. I lost interest, however, when there were a couple of torture scenes that were, in my opinion, over the top graphic and violent. Just not my thing, so I didn't finish the last 1/4 of the book.

Narrator Needs Better Editor

Any additional comments?

Although the narrator's voice was pleasant and pronounced Spanish correctly, she made some howling mispronunciations of English words, e.g., "Wished he could have wownded him."

Intense and realistic, amazing performance

I started thinking this was too bleak for me, but then I fell in love with all the characters. Suddenly it was less about the bleakness of the story, and more about the characters.

Plus, the performance was incredible. I'm casting the movie in my head. Haunting.

If your life depends on water, this is a MUST READ

the narrator does an astounding job bringing this uniquely intriguing and terrifying apocalyptic scenario to life. What happens to the American southwest when the lakes evaporate and rivers and water become war zones? What happens when the drought never ends? Can you imagine Americans as refugees within our own borders, not allowed to move between states?

Excellent thriller with twist after twist

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If I had been a blind folded and didn't know who had written the book, I would have guessed Gillian Flynn. The book is somewhat like the format of Gone Girl but even more complicated. The plot goes back and forth through time and I usually don't like those kind of books. But what I find myself doing was going back to previous chapters and starting over from that point. You can't go to sleep on this one. I really liked having four different voices for each of the main characters. It made the plot follow much easier and believe me you'll need it. You never know what's going to happen next. Really. The characters are all so creepy and amoral but are completely believable. I liked The Water Knife better than The Windup Girl but Paolo Bacigalupi is one of my favorite authors now.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Water Knife?

The last revelation