Unmanned

As an F-16 fighter pilot, Darwin Cole was a family man on top of his world. Now he's a washout - drunk and alone in a trailer in the Nevada desert, haunted by the memory of an Afghan child running for her life from the Predator drone he 'piloted'. Reluctantly, Cole teams up with three journalists seeking to discover the identity of the anonymous intelligence operative who called the shots in that ill-fated mission. But in a surveillance culture, even the well-intentioned must sometimes run for their lives. Especially when they're tracking leads to the very heart of that culture - in intelligence, in the military, and among the unchecked private contractors who stand to profit richly from the advancing technology... Technology not just for use 'over there', but for right here, right now.

A first-class thriller that explores how drones may spell the end of privacy... Unmanned reads as the real world of Edward Snowden pollinated with the fictional world of Dave Eggers's novel The Circle. There is no escape., Fesperman writes topical thrillers that probe beyond the headlines, and he asks questions about future developments: not just the ethics of long-range, video-game-like warfare, but the danger of rogue spooks using drones for their own ends., Part first-class techno thriller, part intriguing spy novel, Unmanned is a timely reminder of the dangers of deadly new technology when it falls into the wrong hands., Fesperman builds the prospect of a seriously scary future that's starting right now. Unmanned is a fine thriller which will have you staring at the skies a lot more than you would have done before you started it., A new book by Dan Fesperman is becoming a major literary event

Dan Fesperman is a former reporter for the Baltimore Sun and a published author of several thrillers. The plots were inspired by the author's own international assignments in countries such as Yugoslavia and Afghanistan.