Spy-thriller from local author Mark Abernethy which is set in East Timor in the days leading up to the independence vote. Very realistic (albeit fictional I hope!) scenario about a plan for mass genocide. I really like Mark's books because they are pure spy thriller style but they have a very Australian voice, and they are set in places that mean something to us in our own recent history.
From the Blurb:
Aussie super-spy Alan McQueen is pulled out of a deep-cover assignment to find an agent who's missing. It sounds like a straightforward operation but, as he digs deeper, the man they call 'Mac' discovers a faction of Indonesia's army plotting against the East Timorese.
Opening Lines:
Forty-seven minutes after flying out of Tembagapura, Alan McQueen looked across at the second military helicopter as they descended through the pre-dawn to the vast Lok Kok copper mine. A blond mercenary to his left unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up and aimed a ceiling-mounted machine-gun out the helo's open door at the lunar despoliation that stretched five kilometres to the rainforest.