Rotten Gods (HarperCollins, $36.99, pbk) is set in Dubai where world heads of state gather to try to resolve a global environmental catastrophe.
As extremists hijack the conference and start assassinating the heads of state found "guilty" of various environmental and humanitarian crimes, attempts are made by a team of elite operatives to not only find the wife of a key extremist who has a bomb strapped to his chest, but also to get inside the conference venue.
Family betrayals, kidnapping, rescues and some tough decisions about how far to push the supporters of the extremists who are hiding in Somalia make for some intriguing reading.
Readers can afford to take sides, knowing nothing happening in the book is real, but it could be.
Readers need to read the book now, as the events being written about are currently in our headlines. It is not hard to transpose some of the concerns being written about now regarding Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Jordan to this book.
Barron says his writing reflects his interests in political, social and environmental change. This book has it all.
• Dene Mackenzie is a Dunedin writer.
