The Unknown Terrorist - Richard Flanagan

It's all in the dedication - "For David Hicks".

Flanagan is out to attack the Australian government's Orwellian attacks on our freedom and the mechanisms which make this possible - consumerism, a corrupt media, the constant stoking of fear. Whilst not disagreeing with his thesis, the shrill polemic is often simple-minded and, worse, it derails the book as a work of fiction.

The plot is a schematic tale of a pole-dancer known as "the Doll" who is inadvertently caught up in a terrorism investigation. The story requires her to be somewhat dim, but the political agenda requires her to express profound insights into her plight. As a result, neither character nor situation convince on any level.