Warlord: An Alex Hawke Novel

Counterspy Alexander Hawke races to stop a madman hell-bent on murdering the British royal family in this latest spellbinding action thriller in Ted Bell’s New York Times bestselling series. Alex Hawke has all but given up on life. The British-American MI6 counterterrorism operative lost the woman he loved almost a year ago and has sought refuge at the bottom of a rum bottle ever since. But late one night at his home on Bermuda, he receives a wake-up call . . . literally. His Royal Highness Prince Charles, an old friend, desperately needs his help. The prince has discovered a not-so-subtle threat directed toward the British royal family. What’s more, the evidence reveals an ominous connection to Charles’s god-father, Lord Mountbatten—the beloved family patriarch assassinated by an ingeniously designed bomb thirty years before. A shadowy figure from the past has the British crown in his sights, and has proven once before that his warnings are not to be taken lightly. Several clues point to IRA involvement, but the authorities have little to go on and answers are scarce. This is just the call to duty Hawke needs to get back into action—if the madman doesn’t strike first. Alex Hawke, one of the most dashing and compelling action heroes in all of thriller fiction, faces his most formidable challenge yet in Warlord, a gripping, white-knuckled adventure told with verve and swashbuckling panache by a master of the art. From Publishers WeeklyBell's fine sixth thriller featuring swashbuckling British spy Alex Hawke mixes action and suspense with just the right amount of humor and old-fashioned boys-book adventure. Hawke, who's been feeling suicidal since a personal tragedy in his last outing (Tsar), snaps out of his depression and back into secret agent mode after receiving a phone call from his old pal, His Royal Highness, the prince of Wales. Someone is targeting the British royal family for assassination, starting years earlier with Charles's uncle, Lord Mountbatten. All clues point to the IRA and the mysterious killer known as Mr. Smith. Meanwhile, a terrorist organization, Sword of Allah, has joined forces with the Taliban and al-Qaeda and is carrying out a string of devastating bombings across the globe designed to establish a worldwide caliphate. Thriller readers looking for an unabashed romp with a patriotic heart and a smart take on modern-day terrorism will be amply rewarded. 6-city author tour. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistAlexander Hawke, the dashing MI6 counterterrorism operative, is wallowing in self-pity after the death of his fiancée and their baby (events related in the previous novel, Tsar, 2008). It takes a phone call from an old friend, Charles, the Prince of Wales, to snap him back into action, and soon Hawke is embroiled in an investigation that revolves around the decades-old murder of Lord Mountbatten, modern-day threats on the Royal Family, an IRA assassin, and an Islamic terrorist organization. With a style that feels more like Trevanian than Ian Fleming (but is imitative of neither), the Hawke novels are full of danger and derring-do, but they’re written in a light, breezy tone: not nearly spoofs of spy novels but not quite completely serious, either. Bell, a former advertising executive, mixes exciting plots with (slightly) larger than life characters. The result: a thrilling adventure yarn that’s a guaranteed winner. --David Pitt