Red Ant House — Ann Cummins

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.