The Mercy Trap

In the dying town of Cinder Flat, Alderney, widower and retired water-flow technician Orin Beckett lives on a ranch that hasn't seen rain in seven years. When the landmark decision in Beckett County v. Tulsani Nation rules that the federal government owes no duty to provide water to the reservation, a spate of home invasions follows. Sheriff Cady offers only platitudes. Armed with wrenches, pressure valves, and a lifetime of hydraulic know-how, Orin begins turning his farmstead into a maze of grotesque, blood-drenched snares. But when he drags a bleeding Tulsani youth from a pit of broken glass, he must confront a truth his traps cannot contain: compassion that stops at one man's door is just another kind of cruelty, and the thirst for justice can be as dehydrating as the dust.