William R. Herr

"Utopia doesn't come easy... and it takes a monster to enforce it."

Juan is a disabled vet, a recovering addict, and a professional extractor in Arizona's drug tourism trade. He is also a man with too many challenges. His only real friend in the world, Sammy, just turned up dead, apparently by a too-convenient suicide. His most recent client has disappeared into Tucson's drug-fueled sadist subculture, and a drug-immune infection is devouring his face...

To survive, Juan must threaten the most taboo of class boundaries, defend a mindless child, and somehow solve the murder of the only person who ever wanted him to live. And to do it, he'll have to become more than just a monster.