In a blowout, the BOP has the ability to guillotine-slice through the pipe and seal the well.

FORBES: BP Oil Spill Investigation Will Focus On Blowout Preventers

While the plot may recall other allegorical crossings (such as the one that the Knight, the Squire and the circus family undertake in Ingmar Bergman's film "The Seventh Seal"), the power of Blackburn's book lies in her language and in her ability to conjure images that are at once spooky and heart-rending.

CNN: 'The Leper's Companions'