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Everybody Wants to Rule the World

'As hilarious as it is intense' Mark Greaney

Ace Atkins

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English
Corsair
02 December 2025
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 and muckraker 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 in the Southern ""city too busy to hate."" 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.
By:  
Imprint:   Corsair
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 232mm,  Width: 154mm,  Spine: 34mm
Weight:   440g
ISBN:   9781472159267
ISBN 10:   1472159268
Pages:   368
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

One of the best crime writers working today, Ace Atkins has been nominated for multiple major awards in crime fiction, including the Edgar three times, twice for novels about former U.S. Army Ranger Quinn Colson. He's written eight books in the Colson series, with many more to come. He continued Robert B. Parker's iconic Spenser character after Parker's death in 2010, and has added seven best-selling novels in that series. A former newspaper reporter and SEC football player, Ace also writes essays and investigative pieces for several national magazines including Time, Outside, and Garden & Gun. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his family, where he's friend to many dogs and several bartenders. Find out more about Ace and his novels on his official website: aceatkins.com, on Facebook Ace Atkins, and on Twitter @aceatkins.

Reviews for Everybody Wants to Rule the World: 'As hilarious as it is intense' Mark Greaney

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. * Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of Beware the Woman * 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! * Mark Greaney, #1 New York Times author of The Hard Line, a Gray Man Novel * 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. * The Bookseller * 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. * Meg Gardiner, #1 New York Times bestselling author *


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