P.W. Singer & August Cole 2015. Ghost Fleet. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 416 pp.

Another somehwat plausible near-future disaster scenario. A bit of a page-turner, albeit highly predictable.

This time China making war on — not a nearby soft target — but the US. Pearl Harbour revisited, if you please. Easy to tell this is written by a couple of Washington defense analysts (they declare this is fiction, not prediction, but one wonders). Other ingredients include Chinese takeover of the digital environment thanks to hacked Chinese microchips now almost ubiquitous in the latest US military hardware; revival of analogue military hardware (the “Ghost Fleet”) and some retired personnel; a Hawaiian guerrilla force fighting the occupying forces; Russia a largely passive ally of China; US-sponsored privateer retaking the space station. The rest of the NATO world barely exists in this US-centric tale, beyond passing mention of the UK and Australia.

Likely to be taken up by Hollywood with Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones trotted out yet again.