Everybody Wants to Rule the World: A Novel by Ace AtkinsPublication Date: December 2, 2025
Pages: 368
Add on: Goodreads
Buy the Book: Amazon
Rating: ★★★½
Source: From the Publisher
Genre: Fiction / Crime
Publisher: William Morrow / HarperCollins
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 Premier 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.
REVIEW
Ace Atkins’s Everybody Wants to Rule the World throws you headfirst into 1985 Atlanta, where Cold War paranoia and teenage imagination collide spectacularly and hilariously. The story centers on Peter Bennett, a fourteen-year-old who is convinced that his mom’s new boyfriend, Gary, is a Russian spy. Gary’s mysterious accent, his missing phone book listing, and the gun tucked in his Porsche aren’t helping Peter’s nerves. What unfolds is a wild mix of espionage, suburban angst, and Southern noir, all filtered through the anxious, hopeful eyes of a teenager.
The characters breathe with life. Peter is both clever and painfully vulnerable, his suspicions always teetering between farce and real danger. Gary keeps everyone guessing, readers included, while the supporting cast adds warmth and comic relief, rounding out a neighbourhood that feels as familiar as your own street.
Atkins nails the feel of the era with sharp dialogue and a brisk, witty style. Think Elmore Leonard’s snappy banter, but with the uneasy innocence of a coming-of-age story. The book never lets you forget the absurdity of Cold War America, yet it’s just as interested in the ordinary heartbreaks and joys of growing up.
The real strength here is the balancing act. Atkins captures the confusion of adolescence and the tension of spy games, all while maintaining a light tone and quick pace. The Atlanta setting is vivid and authentic, grounding the story’s wilder moments. If there’s a flaw, it’s that some might find Peter’s leaps of logic a stretch, but that’s half the fun. The blend of comedy and suspense might not please hardline fans of either genre, but it’s precisely what gives the novel its spark.
Everybody Wants to Rule the World is a Southern noir classic. It’s fast, funny, and sneakily moving, perfect for anyone who remembers the 1980s with fondness, or just loves a good comic thriller with heart. Atkins’s latest is a blast from start to finish.
