The Water Knife is a science fiction novel written by Paolo Bacigalupi and was published by Alfred A. Knopf Inc. on 26 May 2015. The book is based on Bacigalupi's short story, The Tamarisk Hunters, which was published in the High Country News journal.
The book revolves around the effects of climate change in the near future. The water supply has drastically reduced and control of the supply has been taken over by corrupt business magnates. Angel Velasquez is the main protagonist and is a spy/assassin, known as a “water knife" – his job is to sabotage the water supply of his employer’s competitors. He encounters many conflicts on his journey and meets the mysterious journalist Lucy Monroe and refugee Maria Villarosa along the way.
The Washington Post wrote, "Bacigalupi is a grim, efficient and polished narrator” and that the book is a "vision of the near-future that borrows heavily from the strangeness and conflicts of the present". The Denver Post praised it for its “explosions and helicopters, breathless action and genuine suspense.”
