“Was there a pang of remorse for his actions in his mind? Possibly, but what choice did he have? If he wanted to survive, he had no room for weakness.

Max Nowaz’s science fiction novel, The Arbitrator, follows the story of 153-year-old Jim Brown, a former highly successful administrator who is now rotting in jail, for tax fraud. However, in reality, he is there for taking revenge and killing several people on the planet Levita after meeting the beautiful Narissa.
After ten years in jail, he is suddenly given a reprieve and offered a chance to redeem himself. He is sent as the ‘Arbitrator’ to ‘Pirrus’ in another solar system, to try to stop a rebellion and bring matters under control.

This novel tries to portray the darker side of colonisation, where a population is ruthlessly exploited in the guise of bringing them civilisation. Brown, a well-oiled cog in such a system, prides himself on being ruthlessly efficient in his tyrannical task of keeping the population under control. However, he has a change of heart driven by remorse after meeting Gina, a girl he uses as his plaything while under the influence of drugs to satisfy his compulsive addiction, which he is trying to control without success, as it is slowly killing him.

He then slowly embarks on a path of self-emancipation in trying to better the lot of the people under his charge. He is not only up against his own government, the EPA, but also against other forces trying to overthrow him. He also discovers a plot by some external powers trying to invade the planet and is hurled into an epic adventure in a game of survival.

In prison, he was coerced into a drug habit, which was meant to kill him, but he has somehow survived. His only chance of survival is a very expensive renewal process, which will make him young again and cure his drug habit. Will he complete the mission successfully to earn enough funds for his regeneration? Only time will tell.