The Water Knife

Similar to The Windup Girl, Bacigalupi writes his dystopian futures so gritty and realistic, full of minor details and visceral descriptions, that you're easily pulled into this scorching heat of a dried up mad-max-esque hell where crime flourishes and everyone fights about the hottest commodity: water. The higher-ups send their killers after suddenly surfaced water-rights claims, while regular people need to work/fight/sell to receive the few cups of water for their everyday survival.