P. W. Singer: Ghost fleet (2015)
404 pages
English language
Published April 4, 2015
"What will the next global conflict look like? Find out in this ripping, near-futuristic thriller. The United States, China, and Russia eye each other across a twenty-first century version of the Cold War, which suddenly heats up at sea, on land, in the air, in outer space, and in cyberspace. The fighting involves everything from stealthy robotic-drone strikes to old warships from the navy's "ghost fleet." Fighter pilots unleash a Pearl Harbor-style attack; American veterans become low-tech insurgents; teenage hackers battle in digital playgrounds; Silicon Valley billionaires mobilize for cyber-war; and a serial killer carries out her own vendetta. Ultimately, victory will depend on blending the lessons of the past with the weapons of the future. Ghost Fleet is a page-turning speculative thriller in the spirit of The Hunt for Red October. The debut novel by two leading experts on the cutting edge of national security, it is unique in …
"What will the next global conflict look like? Find out in this ripping, near-futuristic thriller. The United States, China, and Russia eye each other across a twenty-first century version of the Cold War, which suddenly heats up at sea, on land, in the air, in outer space, and in cyberspace. The fighting involves everything from stealthy robotic-drone strikes to old warships from the navy's "ghost fleet." Fighter pilots unleash a Pearl Harbor-style attack; American veterans become low-tech insurgents; teenage hackers battle in digital playgrounds; Silicon Valley billionaires mobilize for cyber-war; and a serial killer carries out her own vendetta. Ultimately, victory will depend on blending the lessons of the past with the weapons of the future. Ghost Fleet is a page-turning speculative thriller in the spirit of The Hunt for Red October. The debut novel by two leading experts on the cutting edge of national security, it is unique in that every trend and technology featured in the novel -- no matter how sci-fi it may seem -- is real, or could be soon. "--
The first new naval warfare novel since Clancy.
Multiple reasons for that comparison, the story is tightly crafted with a strong techno thriller bent.
Moves quickly, doesn't get mired in tech, but managed to convey interesting details when they make the story work.
A modern take on the genre that Tom Clancy did best with Red Storm Rising. The authors here get the technology right but the various character threads are underdeveloped, as is the broader political picture.
An entertaining 400 pages, but it makes me nostalgic for the sort of thing Clancy and Larry Bond would do with the same scenario and 1000 pages.
