Thrillers & Suspense
![Elliot Ackerman - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B00MRH5MHA.jpg)
![Admiral James Stavridis USN - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001JP2IW8.jpg)
2034: A Novel of the Next World War
An instant New York Times Bestseller!
"Consider this another vaccine against disaster. Fortunately, this dose won't cause a temporary fever-and it happens to be a rippingly good read." -Wired
"This crisply written and well-paced book reads like an all-caps warning for a world shackled to the machines we carry in our pockets and place on our laps . . ." -The Washington Post
From two former military officers and award-winning authors, a chillingly authentic geopolitical thriller that imagines a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea in 2034-and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration.
On March 12, 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is on the bridge of her flagship, the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, conducting a routine freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea when her ship detects an unflagged trawler in clear distress, smoke billowing from its bridge. On that same day, US Marine aviator Major Chris "Wedge" Mitchell is flying an F35E Lightning over the Strait of Hormuz, testing a new stealth technology as he flirts with Iranian airspace. By the end of that day, Wedge will be an Iranian prisoner, and Sarah Hunt's destroyer will lie at the bottom of the sea, sunk by the Chinese Navy. Iran and China have clearly coordinated their moves, which involve the use of powerful new forms of cyber weaponry that render US ships and planes defenseless. In a single day, America's faith in its military's strategic pre-eminence is in tatters. A new, terrifying era is at hand.
So begins a disturbingly plausible work of speculative fiction, co-authored by an award-winning novelist and decorated Marine veteran and the former commander of NATO, a legendary admiral who has spent much of his career strategically outmaneuvering America's most tenacious adversaries. Written with a powerful blend of geopolitical sophistication and human empathy, 2034 takes us inside the minds of a global cast of characters--Americans, Chinese, Iranians, Russians, Indians--as a series of arrogant miscalculations on all sides leads the world into an intensifying international storm. In the end, China and the United States will have paid a staggering cost, one that forever alters the global balance of power.
Everything in 2034 is an imaginative extrapolation from present-day facts on the ground combined with the authors' years working at the highest and most classified levels of national security. Sometimes it takes a brilliant work of fiction to illuminate the most dire of warnings: 2034 is all too close at hand, and this cautionary tale presents the reader a dark yet possible future that we must do all we can to avoid.
"Consider this another vaccine against disaster. Fortunately, this dose won't cause a temporary fever-and it happens to be a rippingly good read." -Wired
"This crisply written and well-paced book reads like an all-caps warning for a world shackled to the machines we carry in our pockets and place on our laps . . ." -The Washington Post
From two former military officers and award-winning authors, a chillingly authentic geopolitical thriller that imagines a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea in 2034-and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration.
On March 12, 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is on the bridge of her flagship, the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, conducting a routine freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea when her ship detects an unflagged trawler in clear distress, smoke billowing from its bridge. On that same day, US Marine aviator Major Chris "Wedge" Mitchell is flying an F35E Lightning over the Strait of Hormuz, testing a new stealth technology as he flirts with Iranian airspace. By the end of that day, Wedge will be an Iranian prisoner, and Sarah Hunt's destroyer will lie at the bottom of the sea, sunk by the Chinese Navy. Iran and China have clearly coordinated their moves, which involve the use of powerful new forms of cyber weaponry that render US ships and planes defenseless. In a single day, America's faith in its military's strategic pre-eminence is in tatters. A new, terrifying era is at hand.
So begins a disturbingly plausible work of speculative fiction, co-authored by an award-winning novelist and decorated Marine veteran and the former commander of NATO, a legendary admiral who has spent much of his career strategically outmaneuvering America's most tenacious adversaries. Written with a powerful blend of geopolitical sophistication and human empathy, 2034 takes us inside the minds of a global cast of characters--Americans, Chinese, Iranians, Russians, Indians--as a series of arrogant miscalculations on all sides leads the world into an intensifying international storm. In the end, China and the United States will have paid a staggering cost, one that forever alters the global balance of power.
Everything in 2034 is an imaginative extrapolation from present-day facts on the ground combined with the authors' years working at the highest and most classified levels of national security. Sometimes it takes a brilliant work of fiction to illuminate the most dire of warnings: 2034 is all too close at hand, and this cautionary tale presents the reader a dark yet possible future that we must do all we can to avoid.
Editorial Reviews
"It is hard to write in great detail about what ensues in this novel without giving away the drama of its denouement. Suffice it to say that there is conflict and catastrophe on a large scale, and it unfolds, as major conflicts tend to, with surprising twists and turns . . . The strengths of the novel are anything but incidental to the background of one of its authors, Adm. Stavridis, a former destroyer and carrier strike group commander who retired from the Navy in 2013 as NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. . . . Adm. Stavridis not only understands how naval fleets work; he has clearly given a great deal of thought to America's biggest strategic risks, and at the top of the list is war with China, which, as this book seems designed to point out, could occur quite by accident and at almost any time . .. One of the messages of this book is that war is utterly unpredictable and that opportunist adversaries of the U.S. are likely to play important roles in any widening confrontation . . . 2034 is nonetheless full of warnings. Foremost is that war with China would be folly, with no foreseeable outcome and disaster for all. This is not a pessimistic book about America's potential, but the picture of the world it paints before the central conflict will be a difficult one for many to accept, albeit one well supported by facts." -Wall Street Journal
"An unnerving and fascinating tale of a future . . . The book serves as a cautionary tale to our leaders and national security officials, while also speaking to a modern truth about arrogance and our lack of strategic foresight . . . The novel is an enjoyable and swiftly paced but important read." -The Hill
"This crisply written and well-paced book reads like an all-caps warning for a world shackled to the machines we carry in our pockets and place on our laps, while only vaguely understanding how the information stored in and shared by those devices can be exploited. . . . In 2034, it's as if Ackerman and Stavridis want to grab us by our lapels, give us a slap or two, and scream: Pay attention! George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-four: A Novel was published 35 years before 1984. Ackerman's and Stavridis's book takes place in the not-so-distant future when today's high school military recruits will just be turning 30." -The Washington Post
"Stavridis and Ackerman have combined their talents-the former's detailed operational knowledge of military strategy and tactics and the latter's narrative skills-to come up with a realistic, detailed and highly readable account of how the next world war might begin . . . 2034 is thought-provoking reading for military and diplomatic professionals dealing with China, and for the generalist co...
"An unnerving and fascinating tale of a future . . . The book serves as a cautionary tale to our leaders and national security officials, while also speaking to a modern truth about arrogance and our lack of strategic foresight . . . The novel is an enjoyable and swiftly paced but important read." -The Hill
"This crisply written and well-paced book reads like an all-caps warning for a world shackled to the machines we carry in our pockets and place on our laps, while only vaguely understanding how the information stored in and shared by those devices can be exploited. . . . In 2034, it's as if Ackerman and Stavridis want to grab us by our lapels, give us a slap or two, and scream: Pay attention! George Orwell's dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-four: A Novel was published 35 years before 1984. Ackerman's and Stavridis's book takes place in the not-so-distant future when today's high school military recruits will just be turning 30." -The Washington Post
"Stavridis and Ackerman have combined their talents-the former's detailed operational knowledge of military strategy and tactics and the latter's narrative skills-to come up with a realistic, detailed and highly readable account of how the next world war might begin . . . 2034 is thought-provoking reading for military and diplomatic professionals dealing with China, and for the generalist co...
Readers Top Reviews
Jim
This is a novel that provides an all too realistic view of how conflict in the not too distant future (2034!) could be fomented and what a likely outcome may be. It has a similar aim to Clancey's Red Storm Rising, but this book deals much more with the geo-political angles rather than delving into tactical details (although there are enough of these to provide drama). The analysis that led to the chosen scenario is very sound and, as a graduate of the British Staff College, I found it all very plausible. Indeed, the current hiatus (mid-Aug 21) playing out in Afghanistan lends even more credence to the underlying thesis. Highly recommended, both as a novel and a vision of how the world order may change and in whose favour.
Nick BakerJim
This novel is not what I expected, and all the better for it. In a crowded field of novels about future wars, this stands out for its strong characterisations and believable plotting. This novel has much to say about how war can be a zero-sum game and about the position of the US in the 21st Century. My one criticism would be that with the exception of one closing dig fight, the authors tend to use a 'fade to black' approach in relation to tactical level situations. I am sure that this intentional to keep the focus on a small number of characters and the strategic ''big picture' rather than glory in the arrest military tech. This is a brave approach and will disappoint some readers looking for a classic techno-thriller. I have given four stars because I feel the authors have taken their self-denying ordinance too far and could have given the paying reader another fifty to one hundred pages exploring some of the tactical situations without losing the strengths of the novel. In the opening chapters particularly, not doing this leaves the introduction of a new game-changing Chinese technology feeling a bit too much like an undeveloped plot device with the impact only really seen in retrospect through one characters eyes. The reliance on the impact of this technology therefore does not feel fully considered. For example it would seem unlikely to impact on the US submarine fleet who are never mentioned.
Mr. P.J.PplaypigA
This book seems to be trying to achieve two things. The first is to be a 'wake-up' call to the general public about how unprepared America is for a confrontation with a technologically superior, determined China, its probably designed to help stimulate thought about cyber-warfare, smart-weapons and our dependence on technology. The second thing this book is trying to be, is an entertaining thriller story, with interesting characters, action and so forth. Unfortunately it achieves neither particularly well. In terms of the former, in the 'post-Trump' era its a little hard to feel 'too' sorry for the Americans (sorry). The thought of WW3 beginning over some poxy islands in the middle of nowhere is a tragic one, and the book does explore well how a series of tit-for-tat escalations, misjudgments and mis-communications could lead to straight up nuclear warfare. There was (I feel) a lack of detail on the actual nuance of cyber-warfare, smart weapons and self-flying planes. There is certainly almost no focus on NATO and Europe other then some background noise about Russia running rampant. India plays a fairly major part but the whole Pakistan thing is (I kid you not) mentioned on a side paragraph. As a story...well its no Tom Clancy 'Bear and the Dragon' (similar thing), lets put in that way. The characters are 'broadly' unlikable military archetypes. I'm not sure why a pilot that gets kidnapped, tortured and goes through all those horrible things somehow ends up in charge of a nuclear bomb plane at the end - gee I wonder what could happen? Same for the military admiral lady - I mean - she keeps loosing ships but keeps getting promoted up and then loosing more ships? I don't get it... I liked the White House character, he was interesting. I had a chuckle about how the American president was both a woman and an independent. The idea of American having an independent as a president is almost as laughable as them sorting out a working health system. Anyways, it was a fairly rapid page turner, but the ending was a bit of a lame duck. Probably fairly realistic (I guess) but a bit of a lame ending, it sort of just peters out. If you want a big military thriller, pick a Tom Clancy style 'story' - if you want to explore how WW3 could start and what could be done politically about it, there are a huge number of texts in these areas. I have no doubt that the idea for this story came from a good place, people need to be more aware of how things could spiral out of control fast. But this...just isn't that interesting a book, failing to make the military engagements thrilling, nor the political machinations, interesting.
Short Excerpt Teaser
1
The Wén Rui Incident
14:47 March 12, 2034 (GMT+8)
South China Sea
It surprised her still, even after twenty-four years, the way from horizon to horizon the vast expanse of ocean could in an instant turn completely calm, taut as a linen pulled across a table. She imagined that if a single needle were dropped from a height, it would slip through all the fathoms of water to the seabed, where, undisturbed by any current, it would rest on its point. How many times over her career had she stood as she did now, on the bridge of a ship, observing this miracle of stillness? A thousand times? Two thousand? On a recent sleepless night, she had studied her logbooks and totaled up all the days she had spent traversing the deep ocean, out of sight of land. It added up to nearly nine years. Her memory darted back and forth across those long years, to her watch-standing days as an ensign on the wood-slatted decks of a minesweeper with its bronchial diesel engines, to her mid-career hiatus in special warfare spent in the brown waters of the world, to this day, with these three sleek Arleigh Burke–class destroyers under her command cutting a south-by-southwest wake at eighteen knots under a relentless and uncaring sun.
Her small flotilla was twelve nautical miles off Mischief Reef in the long-disputed Spratly Islands on a euphemistically titled freedom of navigation patrol. She hated that term. Like so much in military life it was designed to belie the truth of their mission, which was a provocation, plain and simple. These were indisputably international waters, at least according to established conventions of maritime law, but the People's Republic of China claimed them as territorial seas. Passing through the much-disputed Spratlys with her flotilla was the legal equivalent of driving donuts into your neighbor's prized front lawn after he moves his fence a little too far onto your property. And the Chinese had been doing that for decades now, moving the fence a little further, a little further, and a little further still, until they would claim the entire South Pacific.
So . . . time to donut drive their yard.
Maybe we should simply call it that, she thought, the hint of a smirk falling across her carefully curated demeanor. Let's call it a donut drive instead of a freedom of navigation patrol. At least then my sailors would understand what the hell we're doing out here.
She glanced behind her, toward the fantail of her flagship, the John Paul Jones. Extending in its wake, arrayed in a line of battle over the flat horizon, were her other two destroyers, the Carl Levin and Chung-Hoon. She was the commodore, in charge of these three warships, as well as another four still back in their home port of San Diego. She stood at the pinnacle of her career, and when she stared off in the direction of her other ships, searching for them in the wake of her flagship, she couldn't help but see herself out there, as clearly as if she were standing on that tabletop of perfectly calm ocean, appearing and disappearing into the shimmer. Herself as she once was: the youthful Ensign Sarah Hunt. And then herself as she was now: the older, wiser Captain Sarah Hunt, commodore of Destroyer Squadron 21-Solomons Onward, their motto since the Second World War; "Rampant Lions," the name they gave themselves. On the deck plates of her seven ships she was affectionately known as the "Lion Queen."
She stood for a while, staring pensively into the ship's wake, finding and losing an image of herself in the water. She'd been given the news from the medical board yesterday, right before she'd pulled in all lines and sailed out of Yokosuka Naval Station. The envelope was tucked in her pocket. The thought of the paper made her left leg ache, right where the bone had set poorly, the ache followed by a predictable lightning bolt of pins and needles that began at the base of her spine. The old injury had finally caught up with her. The medical board had had its say. This would be the Lion Queen's last voyage. Hunt couldn't quite believe it.
The light changed suddenly, almost imperceptibly. Hunt observed an oblong shadow passing across the smooth mantle of the sea, whose surface was now interrupted by a flicker of wind, forming into a ripple. She glanced above her, to where a thin cloud, the only one in the sky, made its transit. Then the cloud vanished, dissolving into mist, as it failed to make passage beyond the relentless late-winter sun. The water grew perfectly still once again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the hollow clatter of steps quickly and lightly making their way up the ladder behind her. Hunt checked her watch. The ship's captain, Commander Jane Morris, was, as usual, running beh...
The Wén Rui Incident
14:47 March 12, 2034 (GMT+8)
South China Sea
It surprised her still, even after twenty-four years, the way from horizon to horizon the vast expanse of ocean could in an instant turn completely calm, taut as a linen pulled across a table. She imagined that if a single needle were dropped from a height, it would slip through all the fathoms of water to the seabed, where, undisturbed by any current, it would rest on its point. How many times over her career had she stood as she did now, on the bridge of a ship, observing this miracle of stillness? A thousand times? Two thousand? On a recent sleepless night, she had studied her logbooks and totaled up all the days she had spent traversing the deep ocean, out of sight of land. It added up to nearly nine years. Her memory darted back and forth across those long years, to her watch-standing days as an ensign on the wood-slatted decks of a minesweeper with its bronchial diesel engines, to her mid-career hiatus in special warfare spent in the brown waters of the world, to this day, with these three sleek Arleigh Burke–class destroyers under her command cutting a south-by-southwest wake at eighteen knots under a relentless and uncaring sun.
Her small flotilla was twelve nautical miles off Mischief Reef in the long-disputed Spratly Islands on a euphemistically titled freedom of navigation patrol. She hated that term. Like so much in military life it was designed to belie the truth of their mission, which was a provocation, plain and simple. These were indisputably international waters, at least according to established conventions of maritime law, but the People's Republic of China claimed them as territorial seas. Passing through the much-disputed Spratlys with her flotilla was the legal equivalent of driving donuts into your neighbor's prized front lawn after he moves his fence a little too far onto your property. And the Chinese had been doing that for decades now, moving the fence a little further, a little further, and a little further still, until they would claim the entire South Pacific.
So . . . time to donut drive their yard.
Maybe we should simply call it that, she thought, the hint of a smirk falling across her carefully curated demeanor. Let's call it a donut drive instead of a freedom of navigation patrol. At least then my sailors would understand what the hell we're doing out here.
She glanced behind her, toward the fantail of her flagship, the John Paul Jones. Extending in its wake, arrayed in a line of battle over the flat horizon, were her other two destroyers, the Carl Levin and Chung-Hoon. She was the commodore, in charge of these three warships, as well as another four still back in their home port of San Diego. She stood at the pinnacle of her career, and when she stared off in the direction of her other ships, searching for them in the wake of her flagship, she couldn't help but see herself out there, as clearly as if she were standing on that tabletop of perfectly calm ocean, appearing and disappearing into the shimmer. Herself as she once was: the youthful Ensign Sarah Hunt. And then herself as she was now: the older, wiser Captain Sarah Hunt, commodore of Destroyer Squadron 21-Solomons Onward, their motto since the Second World War; "Rampant Lions," the name they gave themselves. On the deck plates of her seven ships she was affectionately known as the "Lion Queen."
She stood for a while, staring pensively into the ship's wake, finding and losing an image of herself in the water. She'd been given the news from the medical board yesterday, right before she'd pulled in all lines and sailed out of Yokosuka Naval Station. The envelope was tucked in her pocket. The thought of the paper made her left leg ache, right where the bone had set poorly, the ache followed by a predictable lightning bolt of pins and needles that began at the base of her spine. The old injury had finally caught up with her. The medical board had had its say. This would be the Lion Queen's last voyage. Hunt couldn't quite believe it.
The light changed suddenly, almost imperceptibly. Hunt observed an oblong shadow passing across the smooth mantle of the sea, whose surface was now interrupted by a flicker of wind, forming into a ripple. She glanced above her, to where a thin cloud, the only one in the sky, made its transit. Then the cloud vanished, dissolving into mist, as it failed to make passage beyond the relentless late-winter sun. The water grew perfectly still once again.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the hollow clatter of steps quickly and lightly making their way up the ladder behind her. Hunt checked her watch. The ship's captain, Commander Jane Morris, was, as usual, running beh...
