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Tsar: An Alex Hawke Thriller (Unabridged) | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: audible.com
Category: Audible
List Price: $38.95
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Rating:  203 reviews
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B001GN35GG
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Product Description
Swashbuckling counter Spy Alex Hawke returns in New York Times bestselling author Ted Bell's most explosive tale of international suspense to date. There dwells, somewhere in Russia, a man so powerful no one even knows his name. His existence is only speculated upon, only whispered about in American corridors of power and CIA strategy meetings. Though he is all but invisible, he is pulling strings -- and pulling them hard. For suddenly, Russia is a far, far more ominous threat than even the most hardened cold warriors ever thought possible. The Russians have their finger on the switch to the European economy and an eye on the American jugular. And, most importantly, they want to be made whole again. Should America interfere with Russia's plans to "reintegrate" her rogue states, well then, America will pay in blood. In Ted Bell's latest pulse-pounding and action-packed tour de force, Alex Hawke must face a global nightmare of epic proportions. As this political crisis plays out, Russia gains a new leader. Not just a president, but a new tsar, a signal to the world that the old, imperial Russia is back and plans to have her day. And in America, a mysterious killer, known only as Happy the Baker, brutally murders an innocent family and literally flattens the small Midwestern town they once called home. Just a taste, according to the new tsar, of what will happen if America does not back down. Onto this stage must step Alex Hawke, espionage agent extraordinaire and the only man, both Americans and the Brits agree, who can stop the absolute madness borne and bred inside the modern police state of Vladimir Putin's 'New Russia'.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 198 more reviews...
 Cliche January 9, 2009
If you like thrillers in which every woman is buxom and beautiful and every man is virile and dashing (except, of course, for certain members of the bad guys) then you'll like this one. It is full of explosions, killings, political intrigue, technology from the not-too-distant future and all the other trappings of a James Bond-esque or perhaps James Bond-wannabe novel.
For me, however, I really didn't enjoy it too much. I've enjoyed books by Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton and others. However, this one was just too much. The sex scenes were far too explicit and seemed just too tacked on. The characters were not well rounded. They were all flat and none were terribly likable. It was entirely adolescent. The guy gets the girl, but is still single and, at the end, it is hard to see how any progress was made.
In short, the action was engaging, but the characters weren't. The story line also left a lot to be desired. If you can live with action alone, then go for it. Otherwise, consider carefully.
 It does get better than this, right? January 9, 2009
A wise and old reader once told me: "If you are ever reading a book and think, 'Gee, I'd like to be that guy,' then you know you are reading a bad book." At the time I was in high school and infatuated with whatever the latest Tom Clancy thriller was--probably "Red Storm Rising" or something else. And of course I wanted to be Clancy's Ryan, which, I suppose, says a little (but not much) for my taste, insofar as I never wanted to be James Bond.
There is much to be said, even in favour of, a boyhood novel, or shall we say, a boy's novel? They start us off, in many cases, in a productive reader's life. The show us that you can be gripped by mere words. We fall in love with reticent, battle-scarred male characters and the lithe females that populate the various and often exotic locales. We drink up the fetishistic machine-love ("Decker eased his Sig P220 from his ankle holster, imagining the recoil of the blued monster as it spat a tight group, centre-mass, into his opponent, whose nickel-plated M1911A1 seemed a man's tool in a boy's hand...") and thrill to the glories of the cars and airplanes.
And then we move on.
Ted Bell has not.
It's one thing to be reading the grown up version of A Boy's Own Paper stories--we all have our guilty pleasures--but it's another thing entirely to be writing them. For about 500 pages or so we get moving prose like....like what I wrote up there. For 500 pages. ("He had a rifle slung on his back and a single bullet burning a hole in his pocket. His name was Hawke.") Yes, compact, lean, muscular prose! The author delights in detailing his obsessive workout routines, and his obsession with health in general. Which of course, makes Hawke about as interesting as that competitive runner/marathoner/triathlete you bumped into the other night at a party. Wasn't she a gas!
And of course his name is Hawke. Dark, broody, reticent men who kill without a thought, whose fighting skills are honed to a savage pitch, and who sleep nude on the beach awaiting the arrival of comely Russians ("...She emerged dripping wet from the sea. She was tall, with long straight legs, skin tanned a pale shade of cafe au lait...") are always named Hawke. Or Viper. Or Steele, Tower, or Mach.
The author is quick to tell you that he was once worldwide creative director of Young and Rubicam. (That's one of the world's largest advertising agencies, in case you didn't know. The author thought you should know that. Or his publicist did. Wait. Does it matter?) It makes sense that he knows his target demographic, and is good at selling his creative vision to others.
I gave it a star. After all, it is 500 pages long, and that has to do something for you, right? I mean, you get 500 for just showing up at the SATs! I'll say this, to be fair: It's more entertaining than a phone book. It's more satisfying than a Diet Coke (I've always preferred Diet Pepsi). And it makes an excellent prop--my monitor is a little low, so I've put it just underneath. Really.
Other than that, I recommend not reading this book.
 tsar by ted bell January 6, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Prescient, fast paced yarn told by ex advertising director concerning the topical situation of Russia flexing its oil rich muscles and lack of regard for human life. A page turner that whisks you away to an almost fantasy world. Ted Bell enjoys his imagination & it shows.
Boring Action! January 4, 2009
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is the most boring action book I have ever tried to read. I gave up half way through the book.
An easy read when you need an easy read January 2, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you're looking for an easy read in a not-for-the-squeamish Tom Clancy meets Ian Flemming genre, then this is the book for you. This is a present day cold war style story of Russian attempts to recapture the countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. Lead by the behind the scenes "Tsar", Russia plans to expand beyond the old empire and is considering the rest of Europe too.
Enter Alex Hawke, a James Bond style character whose violence is a little more graphic, yet who womanizes and exudes that British secret agent charm that works so well in the novels. A silent, mysterious man with a tragic past who is back on duty - the only man who can stop the Russians as he did the Soviet Union.
With Vladimir Putin in prison, any voice of reason has been silenced. The West is desperate to prevent their old nemesis from rising again. The Evil Tsar has a flaw: his beautiful daughter...who just happens to have run into Hawke...and fallen for him...
As I said, while there are grains of modern day politics and current events in the book, it's a little far-fetched James Bond style where things come together when they need to...except does Hawke save the day?
You'll have to read more to find out.
If you're looking for an easy-to-pick-up and easy-to-put down novel that doesn't tax your brain too much, this might be good beach / vacation reading.
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