The Barrier is a fast-paced literary thriller, set in a world destroyed by a virulent strain of Ebola and religious wars. It is 2040 and the surviving nations have been reorganized into the Western and Eastern Alliance. One side subjugates the other, using a vaccine, a virus and religion as its means of control.
Virologist, Dr. Noah Williams has been sent by the Department for Biological Integrity in the West, to investigate a rogue scientist in the East. Is the scientist undermining the global vaccination programme? Is he planning another disastrous Ebola epidemic?
Noah finds his scientific, interrogation, and diplomacy skills are tested in this complex post-conflict landscape where Western hegemony masquerades as political stability – and religious fundamentalism distracts us from far more insidious forces at play.
Recovering from the death of his young daughter and the breakdown of his marriage, Noah agrees to one last mission for the Western Alliance. It will take him from Chennai to Washington DC to London to Colombo – but also on an inner journey that challenges his faith in the deities of our time: God, country and corporations.
The Barrier explores how the history of our species is the history of war and contagion. It asks: what would happen if both attacked us at the same time? What kind of future would we be left with?
The Barrier was published by Pan Macmillan Australia in June 2017 and was chosen by iBooks as one of its Books of the Month for June 2017.
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