2034

A Novel of the Next World War

By: Elliot Ackerman, Admiral James Stavridis USN

Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller, P.J. Ochlan, Vikas Adam, Dion Graham, Feodor Chin

From two former military officers and award-winning authors, a chillingly authentic geopolitical thriller that imagines a naval clash between the US and China in the South China Sea in 2034 - and the path from there to a nightmarish global conflagration.

On March 12, 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is on the bridge of her flagship, the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, conducting a routine freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea when her ship detects an unflagged trawler in clear distress, smoke billowing from its bridge. On that same day, US Marine aviator Major Chris "Wedge" Mitchell is flying an F35E Lightning over the Strait of Hormuz, testing a new stealth technology as he flirts with Iranian airspace. By the end of that day, Wedge will be an Iranian prisoner, and Sarah Hunt's destroyer will lie at the bottom of the sea, sunk by the Chinese Navy. Iran and China have clearly coordinated their moves, which involve the use of powerful new forms of cyber weaponry that render US ships and planes defenseless. In a single day, America's faith in its military's strategic pre-eminence is in tatters. A new, terrifying era is at hand.

So begins a disturbingly plausible work of speculative fiction, co-authored by an award-winning novelist and decorated Marine veteran and the former commander of NATO, a legendary admiral who has spent much of his career strategically outmaneuvering America's most tenacious adversaries. Written with a powerful blend of geopolitical sophistication and human empathy, 2034 takes us inside the minds of a global cast of characters - Americans, Chinese, Iranians, Russians, Indians - as a series of arrogant miscalculations on all sides leads the world into an intensifying international storm. In the end, China and the United States will have paid a staggering cost, one that forever alters the global balance of power.

Everything in 2034 is an imaginative extrapolation from present-day facts on the ground combined with the authors' years working at the highest and most classified levels of national security. Sometimes it takes a brilliant work of fiction to illuminate the most dire of warnings: 2034 is all too close at hand, and this cautionary tale presents the listener a dark yet possible future that we must do all we can to avoid.

* This audiobook edition includes an exclusive interview with co-author Admiral James Stavridis.

©2021 Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“It is hard to write in great detail about what ensues in this novel without giving away the drama of its denouement. Suffice it to say that there is conflict and catastrophe on a large scale, and it unfolds, as major conflicts tend to, with surprising twists and turns.... The strengths of the novel are anything but incidental to the background of one of its authors, Adm. Stavridis, a former destroyer and carrier strike group commander who retired from the Navy in 2013 as NATO Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.... Adm. Stavridis not only understands how naval fleets work; he has clearly given a great deal of thought to America’s biggest strategic risks, and at the top of the list is war with China, which, as this book seems designed to point out, could occur quite by accident and at almost any time.... One of the messages of this book is that war is utterly unpredictable and that opportunist adversaries of the U.S. are likely to play important roles in any widening confrontation.... 2034 is nonetheless full of warnings. Foremost is that war with China would be folly, with no foreseeable outcome and disaster for all. This is not a pessimistic book about America’s potential, but the picture of the world it paints before the central conflict will be a difficult one for many to accept, albeit one well supported by facts.” (Wall Street Journal)

"An unnerving and fascinating tale of a future.... The book serves as a cautionary tale to our leaders and national security officials, while also speaking to a modern truth about arrogance and our lack of strategic foresight.... The novel is an enjoyable and swiftly paced but important read.” (The Hill)

“This crisply written and well-paced book reads like an all-caps warning for a world shackled to the machines we carry in our pockets and place on our laps, while only vaguely understanding how the information stored in and shared by those devices can be exploited.... In 2034, it’s as if Ackerman and Stavridis want to grab us by our lapels, give us a slap or two, and scream: Pay attention! George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece, Nineteen Eighty-four: A Novel was published 35 years before 1984. Ackerman’s and Stavridis’s book takes place in the not-so-distant future when today’s high school military recruits will just be turning 30.” (The Washington Post)

Viable scenario for the next world war

Fast moving, well written, and well performed. Prescient view of what’s going on in the South China Sea and cyber security. Could well happen before 2034 if we don’t pay attention to history.

Disturbing, thought provoking

This is not Clancy, It is not utterly plausible, nor implausible. It is understated with regard to the hubris of the west underestimating the capabilities and motivations of ones allies and enemies. This is a story of men and women faced with unthinkable circumstances. I've studies the core subject matter for 40 years. I dare not compare my experience with that of a former Supreme Allied Commander NATO. His message is between the lines. There's a lot to be considered when contemplating the geopolitical future of in the Indian Ocean, So China Sea and the vital national interests of those nations bordering those waters. There is much to be thoughtful about with regard to our reliance and dependency on interconnected technologies.

While dubious the plot could develop in reality. Take away the subtext and warnings.

in the end, a riveting listen.

Tom Clancy redux lite

This future shock tale with many a mushroom cloud delivered is co-authored hence it is hard to ascribe who steered it down the path it took with the characters and voices it presented. Had I possessed to read 2034 in book form rather than listen while occupying myself with other chores simultaneously I would have put it down and left it.

The plot line has a tenable basis with some interesting tactical confrontations. Yet it is maudlin, over dramatic, repetitive and simplistic to an annoying degree. The strategic analysis and the aftermath denouement are tepid. As is the interview with the well decorated admiral as an epilogue.

Granted the admiral in both the novel and the wrap-up injects some well worn but generally welcome quotes, perspective asides and military philosophies. I strongly disagree with the author that fiction is required to find (and invent) interesting persons as protagonists for military/ historic narratives. As a USNA graduate with forty years as an officer he knows better than to say this. Great, gripping non-fiction abounds in libraries.

Alas, 2034 read like Clancy’s 1980s thriller “Red Storm Rising” without as much verisimilitude. I agree on its predicate enemy and theater of battle. As a futuristic Hail Mary pass ahead though, as a Cassandra notice it falls short of the end zone and is not a book of lasting merit.

A Successful Book About A Failure Of Imagination

Make no mistake, this book is a cautionary tale. Given the scope of the topic area, it’s also a spare book, dispensing with all the ways the story could have been expanded upon, the point driven home harder. To authors instead drive us to an almost inevitable conclusion that still surprises you when it flashes before your eyes. It’s not exactly “preachy”, although to a certain person it could feel that way. For me, I found it strangely affecting and—as a veteran of America’s most recent war—disturbingly close to home. I didn’t feel “good” at the end of the book. Not because it wasn’t possible to glean hope, but because the two learned, wise writers take the listener close to a vital truth: there are no victors in war. This maxim will only be more true in our next war, with whomever it is ostensibly fought against. The real losers will be anyone who values humanity, even with all our sins. As a novel, it’s not perfect and does not contain the kind of mic-dropping epiphany of say, Crime and Punishment. But how would it? The story is tasked with something more immediate if equally sobering, and on that score the hits land on target.

As the authors say, this will “scare the h&@? out of to”

So well written with insightful character development amidst a story that is oh so real. Exceptionally well done and needs to be read by our nations’ leaders.

Thought provoking.

Good. I found some of nations proposed positions and abilities to be somewhat iffy in my opinion, but it was a good read. The United States responses to provocation believable and frightening.

Unfulfilled

The book was enjoyable. However, beyond the conflict and it’s origins, some of the plot lines seemed implausible. I expected more. If you are interested in this theme, Ghost Fleet will leave you more fulfilled.

A compelling story

Stand by to feel uncomfortable with this compelling story that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

A fast paced story that is exceptionally well done.

One too many suspensions of disbelief

I really wanted to like this, but the authors ask the reader to suspend disbelief too many times. Whether it is the escalation of hostility, the capabilities on display, or the unbelievable amount of luck that seems to crop up too many times.

Great Read and Scary

Could not put it down. These scenarios seem too real and resonate with events in Europe today. We need more talented authors to to weave a story that is up-to-date like this one.