ESPIONAGE AND MTV: ACE ATKINS' EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD

Ace Atkins proves most entertaining when he pulls a lot from what entertains him. This can be seen in his Quinn Colson series that pay tribute to the Dixie set crime and action movies of the seventies. With Everybody Wants to Rule the World, he moves to the next decade.

He blends both the spy films and books of the eighties with the setup and protagonist of its teen horror and thrillers. In 1985, fifteen year-old Peter Bennett is not crazy about the latest dude his mother, Connie, is seeing. He goes by the name Gary Powers and Peter becomes suspicious of his strange accent that slips out and other behavior. When Connie's coworker is found murdered, Peter goes to the gym Garry plans to open and finds things that point to him possibly being a Russian spy.

For help, Peter tracks down one of his favorite writers, Dennis Hotchner, loosely based on Ralph Dennis who created the cult Hard Man series, now washed up and working as a bookseller. Hotchner first has his doubts, but as his story gels, he sees as an opportunity for a comeback, Backed up by his friend Jackie, a former player for the Falcons turned drag queen, he helps out Peter. The three uncover a plot dealing with a defecting Russian, the infamous "Star Wars" defense plan, and the first meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev, getting in the sights of a driven FBI agent, and a Russian assassin known as The White Fox.

As someone who was Peter's age in 1985, the book captures the moment. We get the macro of the collective cold war anxiety and the nuclear arms arms race as it teetered on esceluation or the path to an end as well as the micro of pop culture in music and movies. The theater marques and radio playlists all checked for me as well as the difference between what is popular and what is cool. I could have done without the Huey Lewis insult.

The story itself reflects the style of the time. You can easily picture Matthew Broderick, Michael J Fox, or any young actor at the time named Correy as Peter. It uses the template of the era of the son protecting the single mom from the bad boyfriend, then has fun going in a different direction. Some may notice echoes of the movie Fright Night where a teen teams up with a washed up B-horror actor to fight the vampire next door with the relationship with Peter and Hotchner while Hotchner and Jackie share the dynamics of Jim Hardman and Hump Evans in the Ralph Dennis' series. You can see the influences of the David Morrell spy novels where the detailed spy craft and politics of LeCarre met the bravado of Bond in the eighties.

Ace told me his aim for Everybody wants to Rule The World was to deliver the book version of the fun Blockbuster tape you would have rented in the eighties and he succeeds. Not only does it serve up nostalgia for the time, but the time's storytelling where slick storytelling was also smart and entertaining with its own personality and teens often found themselves in the dangerous world of adults. He applies a light touch to a plot that moves and keeps us locked in. If only Richard Donner could direct the film version.