Hawke
By Ted Bell Thorndike Press - Large Print Edition (2003)
ISBN: 0-7862-5797-0
Genre: Thriller
Reviewed by Auggie Moore - July 11, 2005
Lord Alexander "Alex" Hawke is a swashbuckling hero descended from a real life English pirate named Blackhawke. A man of the times, Hawke is both educated in the ways of the book, and the sword. Working as a covert agent, Hawke travels to the Caribbean to hunt down an experimental Soviet submarine before it can be used to launch an attack upon the United States mainland. To complicate matters, this new sub incorporates the most up-to-date stealth technologies, and it carries a full compliment of nuclear weapons. In addition, Hawke's visit to the Caribbean stirs up old, horrific memories from his childhood.
As a child, Hawke witnessed the gruesome murder of his parents. They had been on their yacht, sailing in the Caribbean when they were boarded by modern day pirates. Hidden away, Hawke survived, but always bore the psychological scars from what he had seen. His return to the Caribbean has caused these old memories to resurface, and these memories lead him to an inescapable encounter with the three men who took his parents' lives.
Hawke, by Ted Bell is a fast-paced, high energy novel that unforgettablly delivers a fair share of unexpected twists and turns. Hawke is comparable to James Bond in that he is suave, debonair, rich, a womanizer, and British. He also uses an assortment of intriguing gadgets and weapons. Bond is always Bond, but he doesn't come across as a flesh and blood being. Hawke, however, comes across as is a fully actualized being. He is a wonderfully three-dimensional, flawed, and highly intelligent man who makes an ideal avatar for a modern-day hero.
Hawke is a well-plotted and detailed thriller that is will delight readers of books by such writers as Ian Fleming, Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler. The story is action packed, full of testosterone, and well paced. Like Bond and his predecessors, when there is a nasty job to be done and the fate of the world waits in the balance, Hawke is the man to get the job done. An excellent recreational read with which to spend a few hours following the adventures of Alex Hawke, super-spy.
Related Reviews:
Assassin, by Ted Bell.
American diplomats are being murdered, a megalomaniac is playing around with germ warfare, and a group of terrorists are out to destroy the United States. The only man who can stop this escalating spiral of violence is the British born super-spy, Alexander Hawke whose wife was recently murdered minutes after their wedding. Can he deal with his grief and save the world? Only time will tell...
Spy, by Ted Bell.
In this, the fourth book in the Hawke series, British Super Spy Alex Hawke and his comrades must once again do battle against the forces of evil to save the United States from a horrific terrorist's attack - and at the same time try to prevent a war from starting between the U.S. and Mexico!
