A fictional African state of little consequence becomes suddenly more consequential when a local warlord disdains dressing like a hip-hop star and proclaims himself to be the descendent of the prophet Mohammed. Iran immediately dispatches an adviser, while Britain sends in the SAS in order to protect hi-tech mineral assets worth more than their weight in mobile phones. Goddard's comic thriller starts out well, with a timely nod to insurgencies in the Arab world, and features a venal Ayatollah who asks whether "it is always in God's interest to have people who believe in him running the world"? The Iranian ambassador has a good grasp of the situation: "The British were here and it was not like them to come without a reason. The plot was not going to get any thinner and he did not want it to."

 THE MESSAGE is a remarkable and timely novel which deals, in fictional form, with the global consequences of the so-called Arab Spring in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya.

One of Tariq Goddard's great successes is his technique of devising representative characters from all sides of the religious and ideological divide. The result is a kind of international dialogue, true to the complexities of the contemporary world it describes.

Goddard's novel is played out on a wide canvas which takes in contemporary Britain, Iran and Africa. The writing is compelling, and the subject-matter is both urgent and well-defined.

I do not expect to read a more important or rewarding novel this year.