Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War
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.
My Review
So this looks like a novel written by defense analysts. By the writing style, probably their first shot at fiction. It reads well enough (finished in 2 days), but it has some problems. It does read like a policy paper, or more like a blog post. The story is basically divided up into small posts on technology the authors like or dislike, and proceed to put that technology in the situation where they see it prevail or fail. It must feel good to write it like this, and not to have to quote numbers or other things for a change. The plot is flimsy, the pretext for war ridiculous. The bad guys are almost cartoonish. There is no character development. But it's a fun, comical read for anyone up to speed on the latest defense-tech gossip. So 5 points for fun, 1 point for the actual writing.