Customer Reviews

WARLORD

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Wasted. That's the only way to describe the way we first find our favorite British spy in Ted Bell's exciting sixth Alex Hawke adventure. After all, what could one expect from even the strongest, most disciplined of men when he's lost everything that had any meaning for him? In Alex's words, "My parents were murdered before my eyes when I was seven years old. I met a wonderful woman, the first I'd ever wanted to marry. She died in my arms on the steps of the chapel where we'd just been wed." Then as he puts it "The truly unbelievable happened - he fell in love again and they were to be married, but she died carrying his child, a son.

Alex no longer wants to right wrongs or defend the innocent; he simply wants to die and is choosing to kill himself with alcohol and cigarettes. That is until he received a middle of the night phone call from Prince Charles. The two men have been friends since boyhood, and now Charles asks Alex to return to England because the royal family is in danger, all of them Charles, his mother, Wills, Harry.

Threats have been made in notes signed by The Pawn. Charles believes the threat to his family is from the IRA, those responsible for killing of Lord Mountbatten in 1979. Of course, Alex promises to be in England as soon as possible.

Once there he'll be joined in tracking the would-be killer or killers by his good friend Ambrose Congreve. Former Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. Readers of Hawke books know this is an estimable pair. They're more than challenged when the chase also involves trying to find a missing nuke in the wilds of Afghanistan. The challenges before him are the best medicine Hawke could find unless, of course, he dies in the process.

As is his wont Bell serves healthy bits of humor with his suspense. Plus he adds great doses of realism with information gathered when he participated in a special ops program sponsored by the Secretary of Defense. WARLORD is compelling adventure led by a one-of-a-kind thriller fiction hero. Alex Hawke leads the pack.

- Enjoy.

- Gail Cooke

Looking for an easy way to escape into the nasty, harum-scarum world of big-time, modern terrorism? If so, look no further than Ted Bell's latest Alex Hawke novel, "Warlord". Every so often I have to break away from my heavy-duty reading to capture a bit of the fantastic as embodied in the efforts of cape crusaders like Dirk Pitt and Alex Hawke. Here are some quick observations as to why I consider this novel a good read for anyone wanting to curl up in front of a fire during a winter storm:
a) Bell once again presents Hawke as a plausible international warrior who is well suited for handling and overcoming danger. He knows how to use his social and political connections from the past to make the world a safer place in the future;
b) Never count Hawke out as not being able to rise to the occasion when the call comes through from friends in high places;
c) The story, while wide-spread in scope, is intensively active. There is enough interconnectivity of events in the plot to sustain the reader's interest;
d) As usual, the author supplies a sufficient real-life background of modern-day events to allow the reader some sense of realism to counter the many 'flights into danger' scenarios at work in the plot;
e) Bell's writing style is both very entertaining and informative. Considerable research has gone into making this book a journey into the lessons of the past in preparation for the future when terrorism could possibly have a stronger grip than ever on our world. We are all vulnerable to a force of evil that does not play by the rules of civility and tradition;
f) Ever the promoter of mobile anti-terrorist units, Bell portrays a world forever vulnerable to nuclear attacks, assassinations, insurgencies, and security leaks that require an ever-growing diligence on the part of the experts to foil;
g) Bell sees Russia as the great unknown in this whole brave-new-world scene of good versus evil. As the book concludes, we are left contemplating the 'Anatasia' factor as a possible point of departure in his next novel in the series.
h)While I would recommend this book as a lively, fast-paced, easy-to-absorb adventure with some food for thought, I wouldn't view it as offering any great insights into how people live in this hugger-mugger world of espionage. There is just not enough moral dilemma and conflict in Alex Hawke's life to allow me to form a long-standing identity with him. He is, undoubtedly, cast as a white knight meant to save the British monarchy from going under and protect the vestiges of tradition from being further eroded by evil men, but I can think of infinitely more pressing concerns facing a future world than keeping royalty safe.