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Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War Hardcover – June 30, 2015
| P. W. Singer (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
| August Cole (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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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.
- Print length416 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherEamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- Publication dateJune 30, 2015
- Dimensions6 x 1.39 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100544142845
- ISBN-13978-0544142848
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"A harrowing, realistic future of world war...Ghost Fleet also comes with hundreds of footnotes explaining how every single military technology, 'sci-fi' weapon and geopolitical trend mentioned in the book is grounded in reality. That's why, rather than simply a good read, Ghost Fleet can come across as a 400-page warning."--Wired
"Ghost Fleet brings back memories of Tom Clancy's technical savvy with the human touch of Herman Wouk.”--Max Brooks
"If you’ve been looking for a smart update to Tom Clancy, this is for you." —Foreign Policy
"When two experts on modern warfare get together to write fiction I get in line to read it...summer is fading fast and August approaches. Get Ghost Fleet to read on the beach."--Forbes
"Its often jaw-dropping explorations of how new technologies might be used should make this book required reading for all military personnel...Ghost Fleet is the best techno-thriller since Red Storm Rising."--War on The Rocks
"A ripped from the headlines novel about war that’s just around the corner...Exciting."--Buzzfeed
"If colleges ever decide to offer courses on first-person shooter video games like Call of Duty and Battlefield, they should use the novel Ghost Fleet as the primary textbook.”--Forbes
“It’s easy to see why “Ghost Fleet” has captured the imaginations of foreign policy experts in the U.S. and abroad. The techno-thriller, by P.W. Singer and August Cole, not only tells a crackling-good story but also casts light on the warnings that have come from many quarters about the risks of offshoring U.S. defense procurement....A perfect summer read. If what you like is edge-of-the-seat action, you’ll have trouble putting it down. And even if thrillers aren’t your thing, the book will well repay a read, if only for the disturbing questions it raises.”--BloombergView
"Ghost Fleet is a strangely satisfying blend of storytelling and strategy, of fiction and non-fiction. In an era where most people prefer not to think about all the horrible things that could go wrong in the world, it's good to know that there are writers like Singer and Cole who not only think about them, but also do so in a readable and enjoyable style."--Huffington Post
"Beyond fast and fun reading, Ghost Fleet’s biggest draw is its unified, multi-domain vision of future warfare...the result is a vibrant vision of conflict in the information age—and hopefully the closest we’ll get to the real thing."--Business Insider
"A highly realistic portrayal...a tremendous book"--Defense News
"The First 'Post Snowden' Technothriller"--the Intercept
"Fascinating...Though it is fiction, the authors have taken great pains to keep their storytelling realistic....Ghost Fleet has a certain weight. Cole and Singer are so steeped in future wars that they depict the fighting — on the ground, in space and on the Internet –with an air of indisputable authority....Ghost Fleet is full of wonderful moments. It’s got space pirates, drug-addled hackers out of a William Gibson novel and American insurgents fighting occupation in Hawaii. Cole and Singer make these fantastical elements work, and weave them into the story."--Reuters
“Its like the Battlestar Galactica reboot meets Band of Brothers meets Hunt for Red October meets Call of Duty.”--Yahoo! News
"A novel that reads like science fiction but bristles with rich detail about how the next World War could be fought."--Vice
"With their new techno-thriller, Ghost Fleet, Peter Singer and August Cole take an unexpected twist on the classic Clancy formula, producing a book that is equal parts science fiction and science fact...The book is a ‘must read’, the kind of book you read in a day and relentlessly turn page after page."--Medium.com
"Ghost Fleet is not only a riveting novel, it is science fiction at its best. It helps us ask the right questions about our future - questions the answers to which might help us take advantage of technology while minimizing risk to humanity."--H. R. McMaster, Author, Dereliction of Duty, Lt General, US Army, Director, Army Capabilities Integration Center and Futures, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command
"It's a page turner...Thoughtful, strategic and relevant." --Admiral Jonathan Greenert, 30th Chief of Naval Operations, US Navy
"It’s Tom Clancy for the twenty-first century, a rip-roaring, “near-futuristic” thriller...The book is peppered with real-life military facts and figures, but it moves so briskly you may hardly notice that you’re learning as you go."--Council on Foreign Relations
"Ghost Fleet Nails The Perfect Vision of World War III...a futuristic techno-thriller that’s as plausible as it is entertaining. Make no mistake, however, this is no technical slog — it’s a highly readable and engaging thriller that sets a new standard for techno-thrillers."--io9
"An engaging, ‘near-futuristic’ war-thriller packed with cutting edge technologies...[Yet] also pays homage to the works of master military strategists Sun Tzu, Carl von Clausewitz and Alfred Thayer Mahan."--Real Clear Defense
"Singer and Cole have crafted an eminently readable novel, which is both highly entertaining and sobering. If you have ever wondered how today's tech trends might affect future conflicts there is no doubt about it; you will want to read this book."--Small Wars Journal
"Ghost Fleet is a great book." --Kevin Mauer, author of the New York Times Bestseller No Easy Day
"An absolute pleasure to read. It contains much of the same storytelling as a work by someone like Tom Clancy, but with an intensity, depth of knowledge, and vision infrequently found in those books. It is an expansive work in its scope, and one that will undoubtedly retain its relevance for years to come....Ghost Fleet is an enjoyable book. It is a fun book. What’s more, it is an insightful and prescient book, without forcing the reader to ever acknowledge that fact."--Medium.com
“Ghost Fleet is a gripping account of an all-too-possible future where America has lost its technological edge and US-China relations have deteriorated to the point of war. Although American decline and US-China conflict are by no means inevitable, this exciting techno-thriller provides an ominous warning of what might be coming our way if the forces of disorder get the upper hand.” -Jamie Metzl, author of Genesis Code and The Depths of the Sea
"Tom Clancy fans will relish Singer and Cole’s first novel, a chilling vision of what might happen in a world war launched by a Chinese sneak attack on America’s eyes and brains in outer space. Singer, a military strategist, and Cole, a former defense-industry analyst for the Wall Street Journal, easily wed their knowledge to a fast-moving plot and characters who make an impression, even the minor characters who appear briefly. After the global economy tanks, urban workers’ riots sweep China, but instead of repressing the workers themselves, the military ousts the Communist leaders, clearing the way for a new government. When the Chinese strike, the Americans fight back.
Among the many heroes is Cmdr. James Simmons, who assumes command of the USS Coronado when its captain is killed. Detailed endnotes documenting the real-world technologies and trends behind the book make the fiction even more plausible."--Publishers Weekly
"It is the kind of book that can educate and provide food for thought to a national security geek (not to mention the general public) as to some of the latest technical developments and their warfighting implications - and provide an excellent tool to research them, to boot. In lawyerly professional terms, it’s the sort of book that helps a lawyer understand the ‘client’s’ thinking."--LawFareBlog.com
"Ghost Fleet is a page-turner filled with thrills and chills, but it is also more than that. Drawn from real world trends in cyber tech, intelligence, and defense, it offers a haunting glimpse into our future that you'll find hard to forget." —Nina Jacobson, Producer of The Hunger Games
“I couldn’t put this one down. Reads like the very best of classic Tom Clancy, updated for the 21st century, persuasive in its detail, simultaneously thrilling and terrifying.” —Phillip Meyer, author of The Son
"Global war between China and the United States — unimaginable? Hardly. In Ghost Fleet, Peter Singer and August Cole lay out a plausible, frightening, and pitch-perfect vision of what such a war could look like in the near future. This page-turning marvel is the best source of high-tech geopolitical visioneering since Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising and Sir John Hackett's The Third World War. A startling blueprint for the wars of the future and therefore needs to be read now!" —Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret); Supreme Allied Commander, NATO, 2009-2013; Dean, The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
"Ghost Fleet is a thrilling trip through a terrifyingly plausible tomorrow. This is not just an excellent book, but an excellent book by those who know what they are talking about. Prepare to lose some sleep." —D.B. Weiss, Writer and Executive Producer of HBO's Game of Thrones
From the Inside Flap
Higher in Canada
What will World War III 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. But what if it ever turned hot? Ghost Fleet tells the story of World War III, following a global cast of characters fighting at sea, on land, in the air, and in two new places of conflict: outer space and cyberspace. Warship captains battle through a modern day Pearl Harbor; fighter pilots duel with stealth drones; teenage hackers battle in digital playgrounds; American veterans are forced to fight as low-tech insurgents; Silicon Valley billionaires mobilize for cyberwar; and a serial killer carries out her own vendetta. Ultimately, victory will depend on who can best blend the lessons of the past with the weapons of the future.
Ghost Fleet is a page-turning 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 book no matter how sci-fi it may seem is real.
From the Back Cover
Phillip Meyer, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Son
Global war between China and the United States unimaginable? Hardly. Singer and Cole lay out a plausible, frightening, and pitch-perfect vision of what such a war could look like. This page-turning marvel is the best source of high-tech geopolitical visioneering since Tom Clancys Red Storm Rising and Sir John Hacketts The Third World War. A startling blueprint for the wars of the future that needs to be read now.
Admiral James Stavridis, US Navy (Ret.); former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, and Dean of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
A thrilling trip through a terrifyingly plausible tomorrow. This is not just an excellent book, but an excellent book by those who know what they are talking about. Prepare to lose some sleep.
D.B. Weiss, writer and executive producer of HBOs Game of Thrones
"Ghost Fleet is a page-turner filled with thrills and chills, but it is also more than that. Drawn from real world trends in cyber tech, intelligence, and defense, it offers a haunting glimpse into our future that you'll find hard to forget."
Nina Jacobson, producer of The Hunger Games
What makes GHOST FLEET so scary and so compelling is how real it feels. Want to see the future of national security? Get ready.
Brad Meltzer, author of The Fifth Assassin
About the Author
P. W. SINGER is an expert on twenty-first-century warfare. His award-winning nonfiction books include the New York Times bestseller Wired for War.
AUGUST COLE is a writer and analyst specializing in national security issues, and a former defense industry reporter for the Wall Street Journal.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
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Product details
- Publisher : Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First Edition (June 30, 2015)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 416 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0544142845
- ISBN-13 : 978-0544142848
- Item Weight : 1.35 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.39 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #325,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,474 in Technothrillers (Books)
- #1,534 in Political Fiction (Books)
- #3,477 in Political Thrillers (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors

Hi! My formal biography and links to all my books and articles are at www.pwsinger.com but the short version is that I am someone who loves to read, and hopes to write books that people love to read too.
You can also follow me on twitter @peterwsinger

August Cole is a writer, analyst and consultant specializing in national security issues.
He is a nonresident senior fellow at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council. He is the director of the Art of Future War project, which explores narrative fiction and visual media for insight into the future of conflict. He is also writer-in-residence at Avascent, an independent strategy and management consulting firm focused on the defense and aerospace sectors.
His fiction writing tackles themes at the core of American foreign policy and national security in the 21st Century, including the privatization of military and intelligence operations and the future of American power in the Pacific.
August is represented by John Taylor “Ike” Williams and Katherine Flynn of Kneerim, Williams & Bloom.
From 2007 to 2010, August reported on the defense industry for the Wall Street Journal. From Washington, he covered companies ranging from Boeing to Blackwater, as well as broader defense policy and political matters. He helped break many major national security stories, including foreign cyber spies hacking into the U.S. Joint Strike Fighter program, major defense contractors doing “Smart Power” development work in Africa, U.S. sales of F-16 fighters to Iraq and a Blackwater civilian shooting incident in Afghanistan. He has discussed his reporting on CNBC, The John Batchelor Show, PRI’s The World, To The Point With Warren Olney and NPR’s Day to Day.
From 1998 to 2006, he worked as an editor and a reporter for MarketWatch.com, a financial news Web site, where he began covering defense issues, including private military contractors. He also has extensive experience writing about the automotive and airline industries, as well as the Internet economy. He was a regular guest on CBS affiliate radio stations around the country, and has appeared as an expert commentator on KPIX TV in San Francisco.
August was named to The Journal of Financial Reporting’s Top 30 Journalists Under 30 in 2002 and 2003.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master in Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
He is also a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
August lives in the Boston area, where he is an avid rower and cyclist.
Customer reviews
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2016
Top reviews from the United States
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Why? The plot is choppy and confusing, the characters are totally implausible and wooden, and the writing style leaves much to be desired. In short, this book disappointed me immensely. I had read only positive reviews. Perhaps I should have checked more thoroughly. Indeed, I only wish I had done so.
Do not read. Better value to be had almost anywhere else.
...Long story short: This book treats its readers like idiots. Something which is hammered home with the endless footnotes that are completely unnecessary. (Peter Watts does it right; these guys do it very wrong indeed.)
For a much better book on the same topic, see Twilight's Last Gleaming by John Michael Greer.
Reading Tom Clancy, military members will think "yeah, that seems about right..." Reading Ghost Fleet, the flow of a good story is consistently interrupted by an inner voice crying out "that's stupid - it would never happen that way."
Example: (spoiler) The book's opening hook is an astronaut getting locked out of the space station. It ends with "...his remaining oxygen. Would it be enough time for the Eastern Seaboard to come into view? His wife and grown boys were vacationing on Cape Cod, and he wanted to look down at them one last time."
I found this image fascinating and kept thinking about it, but my thoughts were "This is a good story gone stupid. There is absolutely no way the personality type of this character is going to spend his last minutes of life mooning over his family on Earth. He is 100% locked in on getting back in that space station...or bringing it down with him."
The whole book reads as if written by a Hollywood screen writer (or Washington DC think tankers) with no real sense of military attitudes or culture. It's too grating to ignore.
I enjoyed this, but it's scary. I really truly hope our military never fall prey to the scenarios portrayed in this novel.
The only thing preventing me from given this book 5 stars was, for me, the ending seemed a bit rushed. After the huge amount of detail given the lead-up to the final battle, the actual battle seemed a bit perfunctory - I want to relish how the baddies were at last given their just deserts and the final denouement was too brisk.
Top reviews from other countries
The political setup makes no sense : come on, a major reversal of alliance by a great power because, a vice-admiral meets a governing body in a submarine base built in a cave inside an island ? He would be lucky to speak to the Chief of Naval Operations or the defense minister, and he would go to them, not the opposite, especially not the whole government...
This is really painful to read as it mixes actual correct details (far too many) with horse crap. For instance take this short scene : a Chinese missile is shot at a F-35 and the pilot takes evasive action to avoid it. However unbeknownst to him, the Chinese have managed to introduce a 1mm antenna into the design of 6 chips and the missile is homing on it. He understands he is doomed and spends his last few seconds staring at his girlfriend picture before going kaboom.
So what's correct ?
1/ The introduction of subtle bugs or hidden functionalities in chips is a real concern, these are not usually conceived from scratch but by buying licenses for different functionalities to different suppliers (an ARM core design, a broadcom controller and whatnot) and bundling that in a single chip to have all the features you need. So at one point somebody could introduce something and you'd never know (or keep a bug they have discovered secret to exploit it, I'm looking at you NSA). That's a problem.
2/ We can (kinda) build antennas directly inside the die of a processor, using the same process at least.
Now, the horsecrap :
1/ That problem exists pour subtle bugs and limited functionalities. 1mm² is the size of the whole L2 cache on a modern server core. This is enormous. It will be noticed. It's not like adding a few gates to introduce a subtle bug.
2/ I've not even dared to compute what power it could emit, because it is dwarfed even by the chip Vcc, and the whole stuff is shielded anyway. An there are two big generators behind, driven by the engines and the whole plane is EM shielded anyway. If you have electronics to detect that, you could just pick up the plane itself from Alaska without this convoluted scheme...
3/ Were I a F-35 pilot, knowing I have a missile I can't escape incoming in two sec, I would not spend them looking at my gf picture : I would pull the bloody handle of my MB US16E and eject immediately. Dude.
You also have navy officer proud of saying that they forged ahead after the two class Nimitz aircraft carrier they protected were destroyed exactly were the Chinese had drawn the line (to total annihilation of course, but here they don't seem to expect to be court-martialed).
Etc, the whole book is like that, with a list of materials and techniques used incorrectly. It reads like the name dropping of an half digested list of weapons and techniques, used incorrectly at every page, and without serving the story...
Maybe it was technical detail, or just overflowing of technology ‘of the future’ in general
Story-line interesting, funny at times (Polish element)
....but you can’t shake the feeling that this ‘bright’ technological, smart future - which frankly we already see grabbing us by throats - the Internet-of things - will be most likely the source of our undoing...
Troops on constant drugs, outsourced high-tech, trans humanism... scary
you might find it hard to stitch everything together that is going on unless you have the time to read it in one long sitting.
Yet another exiting climax that fizzled out unfortunately.
Ah well back to the library










