Hypnotic short stories of life in the Southwest that “emanate suspense, inspiring page-turning tension” (The Washington Times). A young woman is pushed, quite literally, to the edge on a desolate mountain pass. An orphaned brother and sister try to patch together an existence one stitch at a time. A cop suspects his kleptomaniac wife is stealing from other people—materially and emotionally. A girl waits to meet the sexual predator who has been calling her. A wily roadside hypnotist seems to possess a power both wonderful and strange. Set amid Indian reservations, uranium mills, and other locations across the American Southwest, these twelve stories by the author of Yellowcake—chosen as one of the best books of the year by Kirkus Reviews—create a kaleidoscopic view of family, myth, love, landscape, and loss in a place where infinite skies and endless roads suggest a world of possibility, yet dreams are deceiving, like an oasis, just beyond reach.

Hypnotic short stories of life in the Southwest that “emanate suspense, inspiring page-turning tension” (The Washington Times). A young woman is pushed, quite literally, to the edge on a desolate mountain pass. An orphaned brother and sister try to patch together an existence one stitch at a time. A cop suspects his kleptomaniac wife is stealing from other people—materially and emotionally. A girl waits to meet the sexual predator who has been calling her. A wily roadside hypnotist seems to possess a power both wonderful and strange. Set amid Indian reservations, uranium mills, and other locations across the American Southwest, these twelve stories by the author of Yellowcake—chosen as one of the best books of the year by Kirkus Reviews—create a kaleidoscopic view of family, myth, love, landscape, and loss in a place where infinite skies and endless roads suggest a world of possibility, yet dreams are deceiving, like an oasis, just beyond reach.