In his career till now, he has argued more cases in the Supreme Court than any other minority attorney. His legal knowledge and experience is wide ranging – from patent, constitutional, technology and securities to criminal, employment and tribal law.

He is currently Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of Law at Georgetown University and also a partner in a well-known law firm, Hogan Lovells. Hauntingly memorable and unnerving to read.Neal Katyal is a famous American lawyer who has formerly served as Principal Deputy Solicitor General as well as Acting Solicitor General of the United States in President Obama’s administration. Punchy, fast-paced and full of fun little quips, Shusterman and Shusterman have done an excellent job crafting a novel based on relevant and timely concepts. If you’re looking for a book that will keep your middle-teenaged person in your life glued to the pages, then I can recommend Dry to whet their appetite. Hidden within this uncomfortable tale, is a lesson that we need to care for our resources because they are not infinite. I also commend their use of a very real issue to drive the story, something that teenagers are finding themselves concerned about. I commend the authors on having both male and female protagonists, which may not seem important but helps make the book more universally appealing. The book is action-driven and exciting, enough the sate even the most unwilling of teenage readers.

Perhaps the worst part of this story is the behaviour of the adults themselves, some of which will have adult readers shaking their heads in disbelief. Shusterman and Shusterman have their young characters face challenging, but not unlikely scenarios that leave them wondering if the adults really know what is going on… and perhaps that they don’t know best when it comes to the end of the world. Stylistically, this plays out in a series of first person, chapter by chapter accounts of what is going on. For this reason, I would consider this tale almost a horror story, one that leaves readers reeling from the possibility of this happening to themselves. The best part of this fiction is that it could quite possibly be the truth in an increasingly climate-aware world, running out of water is a real possibility (you only have to look at South Africa). Alyssa watches her whole world fall apart as life’s most important resource disappears almost instantly from her life and the fallout, both to her and California, is catastrophic. Much like the likes of George Orwell’s 1984, Jarrod and Neal Shusterman have written the future of California when the water runs out and the taps run dry. Good dystopian books always detail the impossible from a possible series of events and this young adult novel is an ideal example of this.

Neal & jarrod shusterman