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Hawke (Alex Hawke, Book 1)

Hawke (Alex Hawke, Book 1) at Amazon.com


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ISBN: 1416537783 - Hawke (Alex Hawke, Book 1)  
Title:Hawke (Alex Hawke, Book 1)
Author:Ted Bell
Publisher:Pocket Star
Type:Book / Paperback
Publication Date:31 October, 2006
ISBN / ISBN-13:1416537783  /  9781416537786
List Price:$9.99
Amazon Price:$9.99

*  This book is also available, brand-new, from 3rd-party marketplace sellers at Amazon.com, from $5.66.



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Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:

Product Description
While sailing in the Caribbean, young Alex Hawke witnesses an act of unspeakable horror as modern-day pirates brutally murder his parents. It is a tragedy that will haunt him forever, and shape his destiny....

As a direct descendant of a legendary English privateer, Lord Alexander Hawke is skilled in the ways of sea combat -- and one of England's most decorated naval heroes. Now, Hawke returns to the Caribbean on a secret mission for the American government. A highly experimental stealth submarine is missing. She carries forty nuclear warheads, and is believed to be in the hands of an unstable government just ninety miles from the American mainland. In a race against time, Hawke must locate the sub before a strike can be launched against the U.S. -- and, after a lifetime of nightmares, finally avenge himself upon the men who slaughtered his family....

Featuring electrifying action, international intrigue, and a hero worthy of the finest adventure fiction, Hawke heralds the exciting debut of a bold new talent.

Amazon.com Review
A James Bond for the 21st century, Alex Hawke is suave, sexy, smart, wealthy, and deadly. And he's got the bloodlines to prove it--the direct descendant of a famous English pirate, the British secret agent is back in the Caribbean where his ancestor once amassed a legendary fortune and where, decades ago, his own parents were brutally tortured and murdered for a secret Alex, to this day, doesn't know he has in his possession. What brings Alex back to the scene of a crime he only vaguely remembers witnessing as a child is a mission to find and recover a stealth submarine that's gone missing less than a hundred miles from the American mainland, complete with 40 nuclear warheads and a rogue terrorist's finger on the countdown button. It's a hoary premise, but Bell makes it work with skillful plotting, quick characterizations, and a lively hero who deserves a sequel, not to mention the big screen treatment. --Jane Adams

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Customer Reviews:

 • Chaotic, Disjointed Mish Mash Of Characters
11 November, 2009

I really feel bad about giving this book two stars, it probably should be one, but then again ... it is a tweener. Not quite bad enough for a one, but not good enough for a two. Here we meet James Bond, I mean Sherlock Holmes, I mean Batman. Alexander Hawke is a billionaire playboy who happens to be a part time spy who clandestinely fights bad guys in the dark. His good friend Congreve is a semi retired inspector from Scotland Yard with a small penchant for deductive reasoning. Through the adventures we meet a whole cast of characters. Hawke's lady friends, one a author and psychiatrist, the other a high ranking US government official, his bodyguards, all ex military. Then a host of bad guys, the de Herreras brothers, a worthless nothing of a person Gomer, cliched shadow villains (Russian weapons profiteers and smarmy Cuban thugs) and the weakly named super crazy bad guy "Scissorhands". Very quickly, the general plot is: Crazy guys perform a coup in Cuba, buy a super submarine from the Russians, plant a bio weapon on gitmo, kidnap people and threaten the US. Hawke swoops in to save the day using his arsenal of private yachts, sailboats, seaplanes, and mercenaries for hire. The dialog is poorly written, the characters are not ones you truly feel for. Even the titular Hawke has, for me, degrading qualities of being a loudmouth, spoiled rich guy, and a borderline drunken womanizer. The bad guys are over the top narcissists, or pathetic losers. It is hard to get emotionally connected to any of the characters when the novel is setup and executed so poorly. You can clearly tell that this is Ted Bells first novel. I heard GREAT things about his fifth novel, Tsar, but I cannot start in the middle of the series, so I started at the beginning. That may have been a mistake. As reading this I kept wanting to give up and throw it away, but I paid money for the book and I kept waiting for it to get better, and it almost did. Almost. I guess I gave it the two stars because I plan on picking up the sequel, Assassin, and I don't want to feel "dirty" about putting in the effort and money on the a trashy novels sequel. Who knows, maybe Scissorhands daddy will turn out to be Eraserhead. T

- Amazon Customer Review

 • Juvenile At Best.
20 December, 2009

Seriously, the target market for this book is adolescent boys between 15 and 18. I'm not in this category and thought this book was childish. The hero "Alex Hawke" would make a better villian character. I didn't couldn't bring myself to finish this book but I hope the hero was killed in the end.

- Amazon Customer Review

 • Dumb
20 January, 2010

This book is totally brainless to the point that I began to feel insulted while reading it. The author clearly hasn't realized the cold war ended long ago, as he repeatedly refers to Russia/former USSR as the "evil empire", and Russian characters are referred to, I am not making this up, as "Godless Commie sodden degenerates". You have that simplistic a worldview, really?? And this brainless (not to mention grammatically atrocious) statement: "In Alex's world there was right. And there was wrong. And there were no shades of gray." What?? There are shades of gray in grammar school, let alone the worlds of high finance and covert ops that our hero Alex Hawke somehow pursues simultaneously. The characters are 2-D cardboard cutouts in the classic "tell, don't show" school of writing mediocrity. Although I must say the character of Gomez was pretty well done. The whole book (the 100 or so pages I read at least) is laughably amateurish. It is way over the top, and I wouldn't mind that if it had the panache to pull it off, like the better Bond movies. But this book is more along the lines of Moonraker, only worse. I was looking for a Ludlum-esque thrill ride, guess I'll have to keep looking. If I had to give this book a compliment, I'd say it's no worse than the average James Rollins offering.

- Amazon Customer Review

 • A Few Good Aspects, But Too Unbelievable To Be Worthwhile
18 February, 2010

I probably had too high of expectations for this one, so I'll try not to be overly critical. I'll start by saying that I did enjoy parts of this book (particularly the beginning and the end), and can see promise for the rest of the series. Ted Bell's writing style is mostly agreeable, having a smooth and easy-to-read prose that can induce emotion but allows the reader to blow through this novel very quickly. He displays skill in penning the few action scenes here, and is quite capable of portraying the often-twisted mentalities of his diverse characters (particularly the villains). However, as many of the other reviewers have pointed out, much of this book's plot and most of the characters are simply too over-the-top ridiculous to make this "thriller" thrilling in any way. Getting past the implausibility of the multi-billionaire war hero Lord Hawke, how believable was any of this novel?? From major elements like the enormous Russian-made stealth submarine (which would be mostly visible in the clear waters of the Caribbean, BTW) to supporting characters like the maniacal Scissorhands (does prolonged exposure to complete darkness really result in the disappearance of eye color?), there is just too much that escapes rationality for this book to be taken seriously. I'm sorry, but being rescued by a blind pig? Just silly! Turning down phone sex with the Secretary of State? What?? Finally, the author's evident ignorance about some of the subject matter is irritating. Maybe he hasn't spent a lot of time in the Caribbean, but there really aren't 20-foot great white sharks all over the place. Sharks of the "nurse variety"? Shooing a man-eating shark out of the way by whacking it on the nose? Just irritating. His portrayal of the ex-SEAL Stokely is insulting instead of amusing, as is his descriptions of two ignorant-sounding, NCAA championship-winning, rich-as-hell football players before their destruction. I had hoped that much of what I found unpleasant about this novel might be attributable to this being Bell's first, but judging from the Amazon reviews of this other books (average 3-stars) that doesn't seem to be the case. Personally, I've had enough of Bell, but obviously others seem to love him. To each his own.

- Amazon Customer Review

 • Ted Bell Blows Me Away Every Time!
19 February, 2010

Ted Bell writes like a world class chef! He prepares the various plots by adding immense detail while keeping the reader interested and not overwhelmed. He allows the main character to not only be rich enough to go after anyone and anything he desires, but gives him the assets and skills of his pirate history and a modern day ace fighter pilot, and then adds in that he is also an accomplished sailor and scuba diver. This give Ted Bell a wide range of possibilities that are seemingly endless. I have read all of his books in this series and they are indeed page-turners, leaving me anxious to turn off the television and head to bed to knock out the next one hundred pages. Unlike Stuart Woods and his same price but much shorter books, leaving you a desire to enjoy the experience far longer, Ted Bell spends the time to give his readers a worthy book that is filled with the best adventure possible. I suggest everyone eat before reading, or you'll end up hungry!

- Amazon Customer Review


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