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A Dangerous Game
  • Published: 1 December 2026
  • ISBN: 9781784743208
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 656
  • RRP: $65.00

A Dangerous Game

Thomas Cochrane's Life on the Edge

Formats & editions
Hardback
1 Dec 2026
EBook
3 Sept 2026
Audiobook
3 Sept 2026
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Discover the extraordinary life of Thomas Cochrane, the 18th century naval hero and political radical, inspiration for the characters of Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower, whose sensational exploits at sea and on land shaped the course of history

'I wish Patrick O'Brian was alive to read this' NIKOLAI TOLSTOY
'A master historian and storyteller... an extraordinary subject' MATTHEW PARKER
'An extraordinary biography... brilliant, pacy and utterly enthralling' ANTONIA SENIOR

The astonishing true story of Thomas Cochrane – naval hero, political radical and inspiration for Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey – whose audacity at sea, scandals on land and battles across empires make for a tale as thrilling as any novel

Cochrane’s life was even more remarkable than the fiction it inspired. A hero of the Napoleonic Wars, known for destroying the French Atlantic fleet in one explosive attack, he was an equally aggressive force in British politics as the radical MP for Westminster.

Cochrane’s fortunes turned in 1814, when he was convicted of a fraud on the Stock Exchange. After escaping from prison, he later reinvented himself as a revolutionary admiral, helping the Chileans, Peruvians, Brazilians and Greeks in their struggles for independence.

In A Dangerous Game, the Sunday Times-bestselling historian Peter Moore draws on newly uncovered materials to bring Cochrane vividly to life. Bold, rebellious and uncompromising, he saw the world as a contest to be won – at sea, in politics, even in scandal – and played it more dangerously than any man of his era.

'A fitting tribute... unfolds the events of this amazing life with a verve worthy of the man' CAROLINE ALEXANDER, author of The Bounty

'Moore vividly captures the brilliant, brave and brooding naval hero in all his complexity... history and biography at its finest' EDWARD SHAWCROSS, author of The Last Emperor of Mexico
  • Published: 1 December 2026
  • ISBN: 9781784743208
  • Imprint: Chatto & Windus
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 656
  • RRP: $65.00

About the author

Peter Moore

Peter Moore is an itinerant hobo who is lucky enough to be able to support his insatiable travel habit (he has visited over 100 countries on his travels) through writing. He is the author of several acclaimed travel books – The Wrong Way Home, The Full Montezuma, Swahili for the Broken-Hearted (shortlisted for the WHSmith People's Choice Travel Book Award) and Vroom with a View as well as the classic alternative travel guide, No Shitting in the Toilet. When he's not on the road living out of his senselessly overweight backpack, he alternates between London and Sydney with his collection of souvenir plastic snow domes and Kinder Surprise toys.
portrait photo of Peter Moore

Also by Peter Moore

The Weather Experiment
Swahili For The Broken-Hearted
Vroom With A View
Endeavour
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
Damn His Blood
Vroom By The Sea
See all

Praise for A Dangerous Game

A meticulously researched, widely accessible, highly entertaining and, at times, shocking book. Cochrane was, most definitely, the best kind of hero: purged, loved, misunderstood, dangerous, humble, and, importantly, always for the people

LOUIS D HALL, author of In Green

I could only wish Patrick O'Brian was alive to have read this

NIKOLAI TOLSTOY

Thomas Cochrane’s life was almost absurdly eventful: a fearless warrior, a naval hero, a politician and an unlikely revolutionary, he was also a symbol of his turbulent and rumbustious age. Peter Moore’s gripping account perfectly encapsulates all of his vices and virtues. A triumph

RICHARD STRACHAN, author of Night Fire and The Unrecovered

The brilliant, dashing, outrageous Thomas Cochrane, who inspired so many works of thrilling fiction, has received a fitting tribute; Peter Moore’s A Dangerous Game unfolds the events of this amazing life with a verve worthy of the man.

CAROLINE ALEXANDER, author of The Endurance and The Bounty

A master historian and storyteller meets a truly extraordinary subject. The result is history that explodes off the page

MATTHEW PARKER, author of One Fine Day

With wonderfully balletic, graceful prose, Moore thrillingly brings Thomas Cochrane’s absurdly entertaining story to life. From the Napoleonic wars to Latin American revolutions, Moore vividly captures the brilliant, brave and brooding naval hero in all his complexity. A Dangerous Game is history and biography at its finest

EDWARD SHAWCROSS, author of The Last Emperor of Mexico

An extraordinary biography... a brilliant, pacy and utterly enthralling account of one of the greatest characters in naval fiction. If you are a Hornblower fan, or a Jack Aubrey obsessive, this account of the man whose real life exploits inspired the greatest Age of Sail novelists is unmissable. As a lifelong devotee of Patrick O'Brian and CS Forester, I read this true-life account of Lord Cochrane's exploits with deep pleasure and the occasional moment of delighted recognition as the fictional and the real collided

ANTONIA SENIOR, author of Stalin's Apostles