A Dangerous Game cover art

A Dangerous Game

Thomas Cochrane's Life on the Edge

Audible Premium Plus 30-day free trial

Pre-order free with Premium Plus
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Unlimited access to our all-you-can-listen catalogue of 15K+ audiobooks and podcasts.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

A Dangerous Game

By: Peter Moore
Pre-order free with Premium Plus

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Pre-order for $17.77

Pre-order for $17.77

Brought to you by Penguin.

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. 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, 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 age.

© Peter Moore 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026

 Historical Military Military & War Politicians Politics & Activism
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1

Critic Reviews

I could only wish Patrick O'Brian was alive to have read this (NIKOLAI TOLSTOY)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.