Nuked – a compelling but depressing read – is a deeply researched and strangely suspenseful account of the AUKUS agreement struck between Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and United States President Jo Biden and announced in September 2021; a deal that included supplying Australia with a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines at the staggering cost of $368 billion. Nuked should be compulsory reading for all Australian citizens.

A tale of ambition, betrayal, duplicity, and deceit, Andrew Fowler’s account unfolds as a tragedy replete with treacherous villains and guileless heroes brought undone. The cast includes political cowards and corporate go-getters. Christopher Pyne was ‘not alone in seeing the possibilities of making money from the heightened concerns of a resurgent China’. As an example of national policy making, AUKUS, Fowler suggests, moves between ‘fiasco’ and ‘debacle’. His account concludes in despair, but there is still a hopeful question mark: ‘No way out?’