It's a harsh tale about surviving during a water shortage, and the lengths people will go to in order to guard what they've got. The narrative is told through the experiences of Lynn, who was born after the water crisis began and was raised alone by her mother on a small farm overlooking a pond. They protect the pond fiercely, shooting anything and anyone who wanders too close. 
 Her mother has borderline mental-paranoia, which Lynn spends a good deal of the novel overcoming. The pacing in the beginning is slow and a bit boring, but it picks up about 1/3rd in. I didn't feel any real connection to Lynn as a character, but I liked Eli and Stebbs. The ending... Well, I think it fit the grim nature of the book, but it still came as a shocking and unwanted turn.