A chance encounter with a police sniffer-dog puts gonzo investigator Amber Marks on the trail of strange developments in olfactory surveillance. Armed with finely-honed legal training, razor-sharp wit and a keen sense of the absurd, she sets off into the wonderland of contemporary surveillance technology, where dog-handlers, bee keepers, scientists and security bigwigs are harnessing the capabilities of Mother Nature to build a `secure world’ of bio-intelligence.

As Amber delves deeper into the science of smell, she discovers that security research is not limited to gathering information. The direct link between the brain and the sense of smell has potentially sinister applications in the subliminal conditioning of human behaviour. As her emerging status as a security expert brings her into closer contact with representatives from business and policy development, she asks: who stands to benefit from the New World Odour?

The question sends her on a bizarrely hilarious and ultimately terrifying journey to the dark heart of the security-industrial complex.