Thriller novel idea

 Scenario:

Lots of conflict in international relations (as in here and now). All eyes are focused on a high-tech international yacht race, where corporate and national teams are showcasing (or secretly using to cheat) all the latest technology, much of which is bound up in international IP disputes that have become campaign slogans and diplomatic bargaining chips.  Support crews, news teams, naval vessels from many countries all hover at a distance around the periphery of lead boats on the blue water ocean, as they pass through a region  of international territorial dispute, watching the race go neck and neck in a competition that has gained worldwide attention and fixation. Lot of tension and finger pointing about how close observers are allowed to get. Virtually everyone in the world has a personal stake in the race, be it nationalism or fanatic brand identity. Hooligans trash talk and fight in the streets about the likely outcome. At least three different naval powers pace the boats with highly secret attack submarines, even as their nation’s leaders deny their existence. Their crews, deeply engaged in the competition playing out on the surface, silently and secretly notice and acknowledge each other’s presence.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, mysteriously and in plain view of everyone watching, a collection of UAPs emerge out of nowhere, in an unmistakably coordinated fashion, and shoot missiles surgically and precisely targeting all the boats in the competition one by one. Each of the boats are destroyed instantly. The UAPs then maneuver unbelievably and disappear without a trace.

Lots of high adventure dramatic description of heroic efforts to recover survivors (none), and remains & debris & evidence (plenty, but all very unsatisfying). Military forces, not having anything else to do, attack each other. Some of them expose classified capabilities unintentionally.

[third person omniscient exposition follows]

Nobody, but nobody, who sees/senses it firsthand, can really tell who done it. All signatures; heat, light, electromagnetic, radioactive, even sound, as well as the observed flight parameters, are completely unrecognizable/unimaginable to all observers. Nobody really knows who might possess such unknown and unforeseen capability. It could be somebody’s ultra-secret project, aliens, Decepticons, evil Timelord, whatever.

[end of third person omniscient exposition]

Photo, video, audio evidence emerges immediately, from everyone in a position to observe. Mutually contradictory open source information like public news releases abound. Secret stuff gets leaked. Self-proclaimed whistleblowers step forward. Everyone’s evidence implicates someone else. Conspiracy theories permeate social media. Deep fakes are revealed to be false, then disputed and adjudicated in the court of public opinion. Other deep fakes seemingly exonerate some of the deep fakes, but are quickly disputed.

Long-time allies double-cross each other in inexplicable ways that serve no one. Everyone is certain they know who is really behind it all, and nobody agrees. Someone points out similarities to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand that triggered WW1.

An argument even breaks out over which boat was the last to be destroyed, and thus the “winner” of the race.