Description

‘Don’t venture into the future without having read this book’ ANDREW ROBERTS

It is twenty years on from the nuclear war between the US and China that brought down the old world order, and the American president has held power for over a decade. Suddenly, he collapses in the middle of an address to the nation. A cover-up ensues, the administration announces his death and the country descends into civil war.

Everything points to a remote assassination made possible by a radical leap forward in artificial intelligence. The trail leads to an outpost in the Amazon rainforest, the last known whereabouts of the tech visionary who predicted this world transforming breakthrough. As the world’s great powers struggle to outmanoeuvre one another in this Great Game of scientific discovery, an American crisis threatens to spiral into a global one.

2054 is an explosive thriller and a real-world cautionary tale about the path we are on, from two former military officers and award-winning authors who have seen the future.

‘A compelling, terrifying and totally plausible thriller of future world history and calamity’ SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE

‘This kind of fiction can induce a kind of sublime awe at the complexity of the global networks in which we’re enmeshed’ HARI KUNZRU, THE NEW YORK TIMES

‘A satisfying combination of two very different things: “chilling vision of things to come” and “page-turning beach read”‘ DAILY TELEGRAPH

Publisher Review

This kind of fiction can induce a kind of sublime awe at the complexity of the global networks in which we're enmeshed . . . 2034 and 2054 are near-future tales, extrapolating from the present to a carefully imagined next five minutes, designed to elicit a little spark of recognition, the feeling of being shown a possible path from "here" to a utopian or dystopian "there" -- Hari Kunzru * New York Times * This book tells us more about the present than the future, it does so with dry wit, and offers philosophical insights into our relationship with technology . . . a satisfying combination of two very different things: "chilling vision of things to come" and "page-turning beach-read" -- Jake Kerridge * Daily Telegraph * As well as being a pacy, gripping page-turner of a thriller, 2054 has the advantage of being written by two men who have seen the future, and have thought profoundly about it. It would make a sensational sci-fi movie, with powerful modern-day overtones. Don't venture into the future without having read this book -- Andrew Roberts 2054 is a compelling, terrifying and totally plausible thriller of future world history and calamity - not so far away - crafted into a sophisticated geopolitical narrative superbly handled by this unique partnership of retired admiral/NATO supremo, and a prize-winning literary writer of beautiful novels who also happens to be a decorated Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Excellent - and a worthy sequel of their thriller 2034 -- Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: A Family History In 2054, the US President dies unexpectedly, the 'Dreamers' and 'Truthers' are at odds across America and a second Civil War beckons. A terrifying glimpse into the near future -- Lawrence James Another top-shelf thriller about near-future geopolitical turmoil . . . Ackerman and Stavridis paint a sweeping and resonant portrait of a world faced with a powerful technological advancement it doesn't fully understand. The results are genuinely chilling * Publishers Weekly * Gripping and imaginative . . . an enjoyable techno-thriller that explores the chaotic, self-destructive potential of human ingenuity An enjoyable, intelligent and ultimately frighteningly plausible version of a future -- James Crabtree * FT *