Everybody Wants to Rule the World
- Authors: Ace Atkins
- Series:
- Type: Novel
- Genres: Mystery
- Rank:Top 1000 in Best Science Fiction Crime & Mystery on Amazon
- Rating:
- Release Date: December 2, 2025
- Print length: 368 pages (Hardcover)
About the book
Elmore Leonard meets Robert Ludlum in a rollicking comedic thriller set in 1985 from acclaimed author Ace Atkins, in which a suburban teen suspects his mom's new boyfriend is the ultimate bad guy - a KGB agent.
It's 1985, what will soon become known as '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 and muckraker 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 in the Southern 'city too busy to hate.' 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 general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev prepare for a historic nuclear summit in Geneva, what happens in Atlanta might change the course of the Cold War, the twentieth century, and Peter Bennett's freshman year of high school.
Praise for Everybody Wants to Rule the World
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!
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.
Ace Atkins is the Southern noir king. I’ve been reading him since his debut, and I am consistently wowed by the layers and depth of his characters, the crackling authenticity of his dialogue, and the elegance of his prose. Edgy, richly atmospheric, and often darkly funny, Don't Let the Devil Ride is the work of a master storyteller at the top of his game. A must-read!
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.
Anyone who has read Ace Atkins knows he’s diabolically talented, but his latest goes beyond crackling wit and whip-smart storytelling. Don't Let the Devil Ride combines meaty questions about the lies we build to protect ourselves-and what happens when those lies collapse-with a masterfully crafted plot and seductive Southern setting to create a novel that sings.
Thriller writers are a dime a dozen, but Atkins’ skills at character and dialogue make him priceless.
Don't Let the Devil Ride rumbles and rocks like the bottom beat in a Memphis blues tune played by a master. Ace Atkins has crafted an instant Southern noir classic that embodies the best aspects of the genre. Larger than life characters, wry humor, deep pathos and storytelling that embrace both the sacred and the profane.
Don’t Let the Devil Ride is great work by Ace Atkins. It’s clever, intricate and moves with unstoppable momentum and twists to the very last page.
(Atkins) is into something different with Don’t Let the Devil Ride. It reminds me most-and this is high praise-of Elmore Leonard’s books, with its colorful cast of characters, sharp observations, bursts of violence and whipcrack banter.
Another outstanding, gripping, and atmospheric thriller that packs a mean punch. Ace Atkins delivers a rollercoaster of suspense, blending Southern charm with a global conspiracy in Don’t Let The Devil Ride, his biggest, most daring novel to date.
About the author
