Overview

'A comic thriller which reads like a mash-up of Elmore Leonard and The Goonies' The Times, Book of the Month 'Brilliantly plotted, with a nice streak of black comedy, a thoroughly enjoyable spy novel' Mail on Sunday, Best New Fiction 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.

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9781472159274

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Reviews

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 *

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 *

Author Information

Ace Atkins is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author who started his writing career as a crime beat reporter in Florida. Everybody Wants to Rule the World is his thirty-first novel. His previous novels include eleven books in the Quinn Colson series, multiple true-crime novels based on infamous crooks and killers, and 2024's Don't Let the Devil Ride. In 2010, he was chosen by Robert B. Parker's family to continue the iconic Spenser series, adding ten novels to the franchise. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his family.

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