About the Book
In Ted Bell's scorching follow-up to his "New York Times" bestseller Assassin, intrepid intelligence operative Alex Hawke must thwart a secret, deadly alliance between China and France before they annihilate everything and everyone in their headlong rush toward world domination. Aboard the "Star of Shanghai" in the south of France, an American spy is held captive. He possesses vital, explosive intelligence linking two nations and one horrifying plot. If he is not rescued, he faces certain torture and inevitable death. Nearby, in a seaside hotel, a man still haunted by the loss of his wife two years earlier finds comfort in the arms of a beautiful Chinese actress--but is she to be trusted? So begins Pirate, an electrifying thriller marking the return of international counterterrorist Alex Hawke. In Paris, a ruthless descendant of Napoleon has risen to power, hell-bent on restoring France's former glory. His fiery ambitions are cynically stoked by a coterie of cold-blooded Mandarins, plotting behind the gates of Beijing's Forbidden City. Cloaked in secrecy, this unholy alliance devises a twisted global plan, backed by China's growing nuclear arsenal, that will send America and the world to the brink of a gutwrenching showdown.
With the aid of his old friend and former Navy SEAL, Stokely Jones, Hawke sets out to investigate the deadly connections that bind the French-Chinese axis. Together, they discover that a powerful German industrialist may hold the key, somewhere inside the walls of his Bavarian mountain lair. Meanwhile, clues to an old and gruesome murder in Paris lead to New York City, where horrifying evidence could finally bring a madman to his knees. In the end, as Americanand British forces prepare to defend a sovereign and oil-rich Gulf nation against unwilling occupation, the terror is all too real. The world is once more balanced on the knife-edge of a full-blown nuclear confrontation.
Hawke must once more prepare to hurl himself deep into the nightmare visions of madmen. He must garner every ounce of strength, courage, and useful pain from his past. He must defeat this enemy or else forfeit the lives of untold thousands, including his own, to an axis of evil no historian could have ever predicted.
Packed with unrelenting action, glamour, and high style, and featuring the spectacular Alex Hawke, who time and again transports readers to the edge of danger, Pirate is a spellbinding thriller. Be prepared for Alex Hawke's most daunting and heart-pounding mission yet. Here is an author who gets you in the palm of his hand...and then clenches his fist!
Review :
It is probably too late, but I've decided that when I grow up I want to be Ted Bell. You can tell from the opening page of any of his Alex Hawke thrillers --- be it HAWKE, ASSASSIN, or the newly published PIRATE --- that the guy is a marvelous, unique talent: he has a canny understanding of how apparently disparate events and facts are connected, and a unique way of providing explanations for them --- so much so that his novels, taken collectively, could be subtitled "How The World Works." He is also married to a woman who, while not a household name, is possessed of one of the most brilliant minds on the planet. Lest you need any further endorsement, keep in mind that "10s" don't marry "2s." Bell's most significant literary asset, however, is that he understands people, so that while his excellent novels are plot-driven, there is always a set of living, responsive hands firmly at the wheel.PIRATE is the third and best of the Hawke novels, an already brilliant series of derring-do and contemporary swashbuckling that contain more action and interesting characters than most books do in three. Hawke is brilliant, wealthy and talented; notwithstanding all of that, he is quite believable, even as he executes every task flawlessly, from (almost) single-handedly rescuing a hostage who possesses knowledge that threatens the free world, to carrying off a seemingly impossible escape from a technological grave with the coolheadedness and collectiveness of a Harry Houdini.
The secondary characters are a delight here, ranging from Stokely Jones, who is guaranteed to save Hawke's bacon at least once per novel, to Hu Xu, who may well be one of the most unique villains introduced in recentfiction. Indeed, Xu, a cross-dressing assassin and expert interrogator, is guaranteed to creep out a reader from first appearance to last, as much for what he does as how he does it. His ingeniousness and depravity put me in the mind of Fu Manchu, a brilliant pulp villain from the early 20th century; as bad as the guy is, you can't wait for his next appearance, as he plots to...
Well, yes, there is a plot to all of this, and a great and timely one it is! Luca Bonaparte, the ruthless descendant of Napoleon, plans to seize control of the reins of the government of France in a daring, de facto coup d'etat. His aim is to restore France to its 19th century status as a major world power. Bonaparte forms an unholy alliance with China to achieve this goal. China, with its nuclear arsenal, and France, through the use of an otherwise benevolent alliance, plot to occupy and control a sovereign, oil-rich Middle Eastern nation in order to utilize its most abundant natural resource for its own purpose. Hawke is brought in to provide clandestine support to the CIA in an attempt by the U.S. to thwart this alliance of convenience and the deadly nuclear confrontation it represents.
It isn't entirely all Hawke's show, however. Stokely Jones is heavily involved as well, as he squires a beautiful, enigmatic Chinese actress across Germany while attempting to unlock the secrets of a wealthy German industrialist, hidden away in a mysterious and magnificent fortress near the Untersburg and Waltzmann mountains. Bell, never without his masterful touch, switches back and forth among various and precarious events, keeping the reader consistently off-balance and constantly entertained, from the first page to itsthrilling, countdown conclusion.
Bell easily could be considered the rightful heir to the throne of Robert Ludlum, but he is too talented to assume the chair of another; he brings his own to the table with unique and considerable talent. PIRATE and its predecessors are unbeatable. Highly recommended.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub, (c) Copyright 1996-2005, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
