Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta's oil rush-part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can't find it in the homeland they love so much. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands, where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet is never discussed. Beaton's natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime...

There is less oil than the world requires, and that will make some people rich and others dead. Career CIA field operative Bob Barnes is sorting out his midcareer issues--his bosses want him quietly confined to a desk job. Bryan Woodman, an expatriate in Geneva, becomes the financial adviser to idealistic Gulf Prince Nasir. Corporate lawyer Bennett Holiday is finessing the questionable merger of two powerful U.S. oil companies. In Prince Nasir's country,...