Everybody Wants to Rule the World
‘A comic thriller which reads like a mash-up of Elmore Leonard and The Goonies’ The Times, Book of the Month
‘This 80s-set yarn mixes fact and fiction in a winning comedy thriller. It’s totally ace’ The Sun
It’s 1985, what will soon become known at “The Year of the Spy,” and fourteen-year-old Peter Bennett is convinced his mom’s new boyfriend is a Russian agent.
“Gary” isn’t in the phone book, has an unidentifiable European accent, and keeps a gun in the glove box of his convertible Porsche. Peter thinks Gary only wants to get close to his mom because she works at Scientific Atlanta, a lab with big government contracts. But who is going to believe him? He’s just a kid into BMX and MTV.
But after another woman who works at the lab is killed, Peter recruits an unlikely pair of allies – a has-been pulp writer named Dennis Hotchner and his drag performer buddy and heavy, Jackie Demure. Both soon become the target of an unhinged Russian hitman (is it Gary? Maybe!) with a serious Phil Collins obsession.
Meanwhile, Sylvia Weaver, a young, Black FBI agent, investigates Scientific Atlanta in the wake of the employee’s murder and discovers a nest of Russian spies. Little does she know her investigation is being thwarted by a seriously compromised colleague in Washington, D.C., who is in league with a lovesick, hypochondriac KGB defector who is playing both sides of the Cold War to his benefit.
As Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev prepare for a historic nuclear summit in Geneva, what happens in Atlanta might change the course of the Cold War, the 20th Century, and Peter Bennett’s freshman year of high school.
‘Brilliantly plotted, with a nice streak of black comedy, a thoroughly enjoyable spy novel’ Mail on Sunday, Best New Fiction
‘This 80s-set yarn mixes fact and fiction in a winning comedy thriller. It’s totally ace’ The Sun
It’s 1985, what will soon become known at “The Year of the Spy,” and fourteen-year-old Peter Bennett is convinced his mom’s new boyfriend is a Russian agent.
“Gary” isn’t in the phone book, has an unidentifiable European accent, and keeps a gun in the glove box of his convertible Porsche. Peter thinks Gary only wants to get close to his mom because she works at Scientific Atlanta, a lab with big government contracts. But who is going to believe him? He’s just a kid into BMX and MTV.
But after another woman who works at the lab is killed, Peter recruits an unlikely pair of allies – a has-been pulp writer named Dennis Hotchner and his drag performer buddy and heavy, Jackie Demure. Both soon become the target of an unhinged Russian hitman (is it Gary? Maybe!) with a serious Phil Collins obsession.
Meanwhile, Sylvia Weaver, a young, Black FBI agent, investigates Scientific Atlanta in the wake of the employee’s murder and discovers a nest of Russian spies. Little does she know her investigation is being thwarted by a seriously compromised colleague in Washington, D.C., who is in league with a lovesick, hypochondriac KGB defector who is playing both sides of the Cold War to his benefit.
As Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev prepare for a historic nuclear summit in Geneva, what happens in Atlanta might change the course of the Cold War, the 20th Century, and Peter Bennett’s freshman year of high school.
‘Brilliantly plotted, with a nice streak of black comedy, a thoroughly enjoyable spy novel’ Mail on Sunday, Best New Fiction
Reviews
Everybody Wants to Rule the World blazes like a missile through Cold War spy games, KGB assassinations, the fiercest Tina Turner drag show ever performed by an Atlanta Falcons defensive end, and the nuclear passions of a 14-year-old boy's heart. Strap in and hold on for a fantastic ride.
This 80s-set yarn mixes fact and fiction in a winning comedy thriller. It's totally ace, Ace.
All of the drama is served up with a generous amount of humour, combining to create a thoroughly enjoyable adventure.
[It plays] smartly with historical events, while blending them with larky speculation. He never neglects the basics of intrigue, action, and misdirection, but one suspects he had the most fun conjuring up the novel's nostalgic Eighties ambience . . . A comic thriller which reads like a mash-up of Elmore Leonard and The Goonies.
I thoroughly enjoyed this fast-paced, darkly funny novel . . . This wry adventure unfolds like a classic blockbuster movie, encompassing a vibrant array of characters and 1980s cultural references to create an immersive, multi-layered story that never becomes overcomplicated. Instead, Atkins' 31st novel makes for an entertaining read with a fabulous, irreverent sense of fun.
Ace Atkins' Everybody Wants to Rule the World was an absolute joy to read. A thriller that is as hilarious as it is intense, containing a kaleidoscope of diverse and well-drawn characters, and infused with a sense of place and time that exquisitely capture the zeitgeist of the last decade of the Cold War. This thrill-ride of a novel would make one hell of a movie!
Ace Atkins delivers laughs aplenty that overlay a terrifying cold war thriller. Readers who grew up in the 1980s will smirk at many of the popular culture references that Atkins peppers in this page-turner . . . The complexity and darkness of the narrative are balanced by equal doses of gentle humour and farce that striate the novel, making it very moving and at times tragically sad. But it is thought-provoking at all times . . . A wonderful book filled with weird insights into the machinations of an absurd reality that masks the dangers of existence.
Brilliantly plotted, with a nice streak of black comedy, a thoroughly enjoyable spy novel.
With his boisterous and beguiling new novel Don't Let the Devil Ride, Ace Atkins confirms his status as the poet laureate of Southern hustlers and ne'er do wells. Full of wily humor and epic bad behavior, this is an ebullient, rollicking ride you don't dare miss.
Ace Atkins delivers laughs aplenty that overlay a terrifying cold war thriller. Readers who grew up in the 1980s will smirk at many of the popular culture references that Atkins peppers in this page-turner . . . The complexity and darkness of the narrative are balanced by equal doses of gentle humour and farce that striate the novel, making it very moving and at times tragically sad. But it is thought-provoking at all times . . . A wonderful book filled with weird insights into the machinations of an absurd reality that masks the dangers of existence.