Dislocation: A savage climate, millions of refugees. Embrace them...or turn them away? A story of Australia's future in a post-climate change world

by Tim Butler

India is in chaos. Giant storms destroy their coastal cities, and searing droughts cripple their agriculture. The country is degenerating into civil war along ethnic lines. Millions want out. People smugglers repurpose massive junked cargo ships as refugee vessels, and hundreds of thousands begin to wash up on Australia’s shores.Australia and India quickly descend into war; Australia has to protect its borders and identity, India to protect its citizens who are fleeing a disintegrating nation. Jacqueline Laffite, Prime Minister of Australia has to solve the crisis, but the Indian’s are escorting the freighters with warships; it seems that nothing will stop the flow. How can she protect her country without sacrificing her humanity?Glen Robertson is a vaunted naval commander. On the front line, he becomes a pawn in Laffite’s war and sacrifices everything for his country. But will it be enough?Dislocation is a thought-provoking novel that resonates with excitement. It explores the distinct possibility that Australia will soon be at war with its neighbours in a post-climate-change world, and the incredibly difficult moral choices our leaders will have to make as a result.

391 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 6, 2020

Reviews

[David Hambling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dislocation is a thriller genuinely ripped from the headlines: as climate change bites, large numbers of refugees fleeing from disaster areas run into the brick wall of national interest while trying to reach another country. The armed forces are sent to stem the flow by a government implacably hostile to immigrants. The result is an action-packed adventure with conflict from bar-room brawling through assassination attmpts to full-on naval battles.

The thousands of refugees in Dislocation are escaping from a near-future India ravaged by monsoons running wild, and the place they are trying to get to is Australia. Their vessels are creaky-patched up cargo ships, slated for scrapping but patched up for one last journey by ambitious people-traffickers. They are up against the Australian navy, with state-of-the-art warships, missiles and stealth fighters, but no easy means of stopping the massive freighters loaded with human cargo.

The story follows naval commander Glen Robertson, tasked with stopping the refugees, and how his unenviable decisions lead to a larger conflict. When the Indian navy is sent to defend its citizens, things escalate into a conflict with a dizzying array of big boys’ toys on both sides.
In a parallel narrative we get the viewpoint of Fadi Madoj, a young Indian on one of the refugee ships, who is caught up in the action and ends up playing a much bigger role than anyone could have guessed.

The machinations of intelligence agencies and criminal cartels, the dynamics of international realpolitik (other countries take a hand too), and the use of Special Forces for desperate missions which might stave off conflict, or might provoke it, generate an exciting narrative right down to the final twist.

Dislocation is a timely and well-researched read which manages to be an entertaining thriller and a warning about the future.