The Hour of the Predator: Encounters with the Autocrats and Tech Billionaires Taking Over the World

A CHILLING ASSESSMENT OF THE DISINTEGRATING WORLD ORDER: the rise of autocratic regimes, erosion of traditional diplomacy, and growing influence of tech billionaires and unregulated AI

"The one book you absolutely need to read in order to understand current politics" -- Anne Applebaum, author of the New York Times bestseller Autocracy, Inc.

Blending the internationally bestselling author's personal insight with startling historical comparisons to the days of Machiavelli and the Spanish conquest of Mexico, Giuliano Da Empoli's The Hour of the Predator is a timely and incisive examination of the shifting power dynamics in global politics, where traditional government institutions find themselves increasingly outmatched by technology tycoons and autocratic strongmen: geopolitical predators who shape the world through brute force, ceaseless deception, and chaotic disruption.

Drawing on his experience as a political advisor to a former Italian Prime Minister, Da Empoli takes the reader on an eye-opening journey around the international political circuit--from New York to Riyadh, and from the United Nations to Mohammed bin Salman's Ritz-Carlton-- and through the looking glass to a world of ruthless power struggles, where the tech lords already seem to inhabit another world and AI is already out of control.

The Hour of the Predator is the latest book from the internationally bestselling author of The Wizard of the Kremlin, which has been translated into thirty-five languages and is now being adapted for a major movie by Olivier Assayas starring Jude Law as Vladimir Putin.

Author: Giuliano Da Empoli
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Published: 10/07/2025
Pages: 160
Binding Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781805680161


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 09/15/2025

About the Author
Giuliano da Empoli is an Italian and Swiss writer and political scientist living in France. He was once a senior advisor to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. His debut novel, The Wizard of the Kremlin, has sold more than half a million copies in France, where it also won the Grand Prix du Roman and was a finalist for the Goncourt Prize. It has since gone on to become an international bestseller, being translated into thirty-five languages across the world.

Sam Taylor is a British prizewinning translator, author and former journalist. His translations include HHhH and Civilisations by Laurent Binet, Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop, The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker and The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos. He lives in Texarkana, Texas in the USA.