I was finalising my ‘Favourites
of 2025’ crime and mystery fiction for Jeff Peirce’s The Rap Sheet, when like an unexpected incoming ICBM, Ace Atkins’ EVERYBODY
WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD landed on my desk from Little Brown UK [via an
Advanced Readers Copy from William Morrow Imprint of HarperCollins US].
This changed everything –
Sometimes black humour is the only way to cope with the horrors of a possible nuclear war. Ace Atkins delivers laughs aplenty that overlay a terrifying cold war thriller. Readers who grew up in the 1980s will smirk at many of the popular culture references that Atkins peppers in this page-turner.
The novel elegantly traverses the American cities of Atlanta and Washington. The year is 1985 where the Cold-War will reach its icy conclusion in Geneva. America and Russia’s Nuclear Arms Race pivots on a meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. The veracity of the so-called American ‘Star Wars’ program [S.D.I.] will be determined at that meeting. The conclusion will be an escalation or a de-escalation of the nuclear stockpile as each side will decide if ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ is likely or does America’s Strategic Defence Initiative give Washington the upper-hand?
A deadly game of cat-and-mouse is in play as the Geneva Meeting looms heavily on both the Russian and American secret services.
Atkins peppers his hefty thriller with an oddball assortment of players.
The complexity and darkness of the narrative are balanced by equal doses of gentle humour and farce that striate the novel, making it very moving and at times tragically sad. But it is thought-provoking at all times.
Not unlike the recent Travis Kennedy comedic thriller [The Whyte Python World Tour], Atkin’s latest is equally life affirming.
A wonderful book filled with weird insights into the machinations of an absurd reality that masks the dangers of existence.
Read More HERE
So, Ace Atkins’ extraordinary novel sat high up on my top crime / mystery thrillers of 2025 – at The Rap Sheet
To be totally honest, it was Ace Atkins continuation of Robert B Parker’s Spencer novels many years ago that brought his work to my eye. I had been a reader of Parker’s Spencer novels for many years, and paid my dues to him and his wife Joan at Bouchercon Albany in 2013, when I moderated a panel discussion about his work, and the shadow he cast over the genre. It culminated with me reading a letter I received from Joan Parker – which is archived at Jeff Peirce’s The Rap Sheet
After putting Ace Atkin’s EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD down, I had a few questions. Despite being ultra-busy, on a promotional tour, he kindly agreed to a chat for his British Readers – which we present here -
Ali: Welcome to Great Britain’s Shot Magazine. Before we talk about your EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD can you tell us a little about your youth, and were your family ‘bookish’ people?
Ace: Not very bookish at all! My father was a professional (American) football coach, and we moved around quite a lot. He mainly had books about football strategy, but my mother kept a decent book collection that followed us around from city to city. I recall one house – in Buffalo, New York – where the previous owner left us a sizable library. Some good stuff that I have still with me today. Later on, I became a used bookstore regular. My sons will inherit a massive book collection whether they want them or not.
I was very involved in sports. But I would have much rather been reading. I started collecting books at a very early age.
AK: ……..and what lead you into journalism?
AA: I always knew I wanted to be a novelist and being a journalist seemed like the best training ground. I was very fortunate that I got into the last days of solid print journalism in the States. I started at the very bottom and worked my way up the beat I always wanted – crime. I learned most of what I know about cops and investigations during those years. I also had some terrific editors who helped shaped my voice and style. Mainly I learned how to get to the point and tell a decent story.
AK: And so what led you to start your own writing? And what books influenced you to pursue writing as a career?
AA: I blame it all on Ian Fleming! I had always liked books, and I read all that was required by school. But nothing captured my attention like Fleming. I recall being in middle school and a kid in my class was reading Goldfinger. He said if you like the Bond movies, the books are one hundred times better. And he was he right! Once I finished with Fleming, I read John Gardner, John le Carré, Len Deighton, Clive Cussler, and Frederick Forsyth.
Spy novels led the way to classic crime, and I later got into Robert B. Parker, Elmore Leonard and George V. Higgins. And of course, Chandler and Hammett.
AA: I had a college professor who introduced me to the Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle scandal of 1921. I was absolutely fascinated by the early days of the film business and old San Francisco (my family also lived in San Francisco when I was very young). But it was years later when I heard that Hammett had been a Pinkerton detective assigned to the Fatty Arbuckle case. There wasn’t much to go on. A bit here and there from Hammett and a rare interview with his detective partner. But I’m a huge Hammett fan and found him to not only be a brilliant writer but a wonderful character.
I was very lucky to have become friends with a man named David Fechheimer. David was a real-life private eye in San Francisco and the very first to do serious research on Hammett. He knew Hammett’s wife Jose and interviewed Hammett’s partner at the Pinkerton’s. He was a huge help to me while working on the novel.
AK: …and what led you into continuing the Spenser novels by the late Robert B. Parker?
AA: I give all the credit to my longtime editor at Putnam, Neil Nyren. For whatever reason, Neil tossed my hat into the ring when it was known the Parker family wanted the Spenser books to continue. Even though I was from the South and not Boston, Neil saw something in my work that reminded him of Parker. Or just knew how much I loved – and knew – those books.
When Parker’s editor reached out about me working on sample chapters, she offered to send me several of his books to get more familiar. I told her I had all of them, even first editions wrapped in Mylar. And I didn’t need any prep! I started into the first fifty pages and that became Lullaby.
AK: While penning the Robert B. Parker Spenser novels – in what appears to be your most prolific period, you also penned the Quinn Colson novels – can you tell us about that time.
AA: Whew. It’s all a bit of a blur. My children were very young and I welcomed the work and the challenge of writing two novels a year. I had a lot of fun switching up rural Tibbehah County, Mississippi, and gritty Boston. I would write half the year about my own backyard and then fly up to Boston to switch gears.
The location and characters were never an issue. But it was important for me to write Spenser in Parker’s voice. If I didn’t do that, I felt the series wouldn’t last. But it adds another level of difficulty to write a story in another person’s voice and style. So I had to make decisions based on what Parker would do. Not always how I might have told the story.
I had fun. But it was a lot of work. A book a year is much more manageable schedule for me right now.
AK: So coming back to today, tell us what made you embark on such a complex narrative as EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD? Was it an initial idea - and you followed the muse; or did you plot extensively?
AA: When I started to make a list of novels I wanted to write after the series, EWTRTW was at the very top. It’s set in a time and a place I knew very well: 1980s Atlanta. I was exactly the age of one of the main characters, Peter Bennett, who was deeply fascinated by spy fiction. Once I had the key premise of a boy who believes his mom is dating a KGB assassin, the narrative started to roll.
AK: How did you manage to keep track of the vast array of characters that populate the narrative? Ensuring they remain distinct in the reader’s mind?
AA: Before I dug into writing, I figured out who all would be telling this story. Peter was the start because, essentially, he was me as a young teen. And then Dennis X. Hotchner, the disenchanted pulp writer. Hotch is heavily based on the late, great Ralph Dennis, who wrote wonderful crime novels set in 1970s Atlanta. And then came Vitaly Yurchenko, the real-life KGB defector who was big news in 1985. I found his true story extremely interesting.. He defected to the U.S. and then escaped his CIA handlers and went back to the Soviet Union. It’s always been a mystery of what he was really doing.
Each of these characters were sharply defined in my mind from the start and ended up dictating how the story would flow.
AK: There is humour in your work, sometimes it’s deftly placed but in EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD, there is broad farce, can you tell us a little about striating humour in a thriller narrative?
AA: I’ve always liked writers who find can balance comedy with drama. I’m a big fan of Kate Atkinson. She’s a brilliant comedic writer who can also tear your guts out. I also was greatly inspired by my late friend Elmore Leonard who never gave much credit to writers who “couldn’t write funny.”
I think humor is always around us. Even in dark or desperate times. For me finding the balance is key. And I think a great deal of it comes from my newsroom background. Newspaper writers could often find comedy in the darkest situations.
AK: You have a cynical eye with the multi-faceted ‘people’ that populate EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD, would that cynicism stem from your journalistic background?
AA: Ah, this led right into this question. Yes! Absolutely. For most of my journalism career I worked the crime beat for The Tampa Tribune. I wrote stories about grifters and thieves, morally compromised public officials. One of my stories was about the district attorney in Tampa who was addicted to betting on dog races. His spokesperson later became the current U.S. Attorney General! Our government is so endlessly corrupt and morally twisted these days, you have to laugh. If not, as someone who looks for truth, it will drive you insane.
AK: What books and films have you recently enjoyed?
AA: The Big Empty by Robert Crais. Hatchet Girls by Joe Lansdale. I read the new Kate Atkinson, Death at the Sign of the Rook, earlier this year. Also Saint of the Narrows Street by William Boyle and King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby. As far as film, I loved One Battle After Another, another story that balances comedy and social commentary. I also really enjoyed Blue Moon with Ethan Hawke about songwriter Lorenz Hart. A very smart, very sharp film. And of course, Sinners. A brilliant film set right here in Mississippi.
Above: 25 Minute Video interview at Square Books 2nd December 2025
AK: And what’s next for Ace Atkins?
AA: That is the big question! I’m simultaneously working on a nonfiction true crime project based in Tennessee and Mississippi and a new novel set in Florida. I think Florida is the epicentre of modern American corruption and insanity. It’s a place that constantly calls me back as a writer.
AK: Thank you for your time and insight – we loved EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD.
AA: Thank you very much! So glad you enjoyed the book. So much fun to return to the ‘80s.
Shots Magazine would like to thank Amy Richardson of Little Brown UK for organising this interview, and Ace Atkins for his time and insight.
If you haven’t finalised your Christmas Gift buying. I’d urge you to pass Ace Atkins’ EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD to your friends.
More information on the work of Ace Atkins is available HERE and an excellent [and detailed] interview by the legendary Texan Bibliophile and Writer Scott Montgomery is available HERE it delves deep into the background to Ace Atkins’ latest novel. It is well worth your time.
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