Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone. Starting with Alas, Babylon and The Water Knife.

I'd actually heard a snippet of an interview with Paolo Bacigwhatever about The Water Knife on NPR when it came out. Didn't catch his name or the title of the book, so had been wondering what the heck it was as the bit I heard sounded interesting.

Alas, Babylon starts out describing a scene with which I am very familiar (rural Florida). Looking forward to continuing it.