2054

October 1, 2023

As depicted in the New York Times best-selling 2034, war between the United States and China radically reordered U.S. politics. It's now two decades hence, and when the beleaguered U.S. president falls dead during an address to the nation, computer science, intelligence, and business interests quickly recognize that it was a remote assassination effected by AI. A literary/speculative/thriller blend, BISACed political; from National Book Award finalist Ackerman and navy veteran Stavridis. Prepub Alert.

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Starred review from January 8, 2024
Former Marine Ackerman and retired Navy admiral Stavridis follow up 2034 with another top-shelf thriller about near-future geopolitical turmoil. The decade-long rule of American president Angel Castro, whose American Dream Party has weakened both the Democratic and Republican parties to the point of near-extinction, ends suddenly after he collapses during a public speech. At first, Castro’s administration covers up the incident, digitally altering images to make it seem as if he only stumbled. When Castro dies a short time later, however, the deception is exposed, exacerbating political tensions across the country. As the U.S. teeters on the edge of civil war, tech leaders privately struggle with concerns that Castro’s death—the result of a mysterious growth on his heart—may be connected to a nascent biotechnology that can alter human cells via remote gene editing software. If so, the incident may mean that humanity is approaching “the Singularity” long predicted by technologist Ray Kurzweil, in which human and machine merge “into a single consciousness.” White House aides, doctors, tech experts, and military personnel attempt to track down Kurzweil for guidance while keeping the existing shards of American democracy intact. Spreading the narrative’s focus over many characters and nations, 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. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency.

January 1, 2024
This duo's previous work, 2034 (2021), imagined how technological developments could cause a global conflict; the sequel considers how currently fanciful concepts such as "remote gene editing" and achieving the singularity could actually wreak havoc within the U.S. Cycling through the perspectives of some characters from 2034--Hendrickson is now a central governmental figure, and Dr. Chowdury is looking for a cure for his ailing heart--while also introducing a raft of new characters, the novel opens with an image of a nation descending into authoritarianism. President Castro is looking for an unprecedented fourth term, and the country is split between "Dreamers" and "Truthers" (the latter being an unlikely alliance between Republicans and Democrats). When Castro mysteriously dies, his replacement, Smith, desperately tries to cling to power and conceal the technology that may have killed his running mate. However, a mysterious website, Common Sense, suggests what really happened, upping the temperature across the nation. Gripping and imaginative, if perhaps not as viscerally impactful as 2034, this is an enjoyable techno-thriller that explores the chaotic, self-destructive potential of human ingenuity.

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February 1, 2024
The Singularity may become the new ultimate weapon in the aftermath of a nuclear debacle. If the page-and-a-half prologue doesn't stop the reader cold, nothing will. It begins: "If a beam of light / energy / open + / close-- / reopen == / repeat / stop..." Stop, indeed. This will prompt only the geekiest among us to move on to Chapter 1. But do turn the page. In 2054, the U.S. is in turmoil. Two decades earlier, China nuked San Diego and Galveston while the U.S. inflicted the same on Shanghai and Shenzhen. In the aftermath, the two countries no longer dominate the world, and traditional U.S. political parties are no more. The current action begins when the physically fit President �ngel Castro collapses while giving a speech, prompting "malicious rumors that the president had suffered some sort of health crisis." He had, and he dies. Of course, there are profound suspicions over his sudden demise. Was the president's aorta inflamed by a sequence of computer code, � la the prologue? Is he a victim of "remote gene editing" by an unknown entity? Hence the inklings of the 21st century's new existential threat, a race to achieve the Singularity, where--to oversimplify--technology and humanity become one. The cast includes some holdovers from the authors' last book, 2034, including Dr. Sandy Chowdhury and Julia Hunt, a woman born in China with allegiance to the U.S. But key is the elusive (and nonfictional) Dr. Ray Kurzweil, thought to be living in Brazil. Meanwhile, American society threatens to explode into civil war between Dreamers and Truthers. But if the ultimate threat to humanity is the Singularity, it doesn't come through convincingly on these pages. In 2034, the stakes were brutally clear, with millions of lives on the line. Two decades hence, they're mushier--serious to be sure, but tougher to wrap up into a thriller. With apologies to T. S. Eliot: This is the way the book ends / Not with a bang but a whimper. A game effort at a tough theme.

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