Assassin

Alex Hawke is back. In this explosive,jaw-tightening follow-up to Ted Bell's "rich, spellbinding, and absorbing" (Clive Cussler) debut national bestseller, Hawke, fearless intelligence operative Lord Alexander Hawke matches wits with a cunning and bloodthirsty psychopath in a desperate race to avert an American Armageddon.

In an elegant palazzo on the Grand Canal, an American ambassador's tryst turns deadly. In the seamy underbelly of London, a pub-crawling killer is on the loose. And in a storybook chapel nestled in the Cotswolds, a marriage made in heaven turns to hell on earth. Isolated incidents? Or links in a chain of events hurtling towards catastrophe? So begins Assassin, the tour de force thriller that heralds the return of every terrorist's worst nightmare, Alex Hawke.

A shadowy figure known as the Dog is believed to be the ruthless terrorist who is systematically and savagely assassinating American diplomats and their families around the globe. As the deadly toll mounts inexorably, Hawke, along with former NYPD cop and Navy SEAL Stokely Jones, is called upon by the U.S. government to launch a search for the assassin behind the murders.

Hawke, who "makes James Bond look like a "slovenly, dull-witted clockpuncher" (Kirkus Reviews), is soon following a trail that leads back to London in the go-go nineties, when Arab oil money fueled lavish, and sometimes fiendish, lifestyles. Other murky clues point to the Florida Keys, where a vicious killer hides behind the gates of a fabled museum. And to a remote Indonesian island where a madman tinkers with strains of a deadly virus and slyly bides his time.

Hawke must call upon resources deep within himself. He must enter a race against time to stop a cataclysmic attack on America's most populous cities and avengethe inexplicable and horrific crime that has left him devastated.

Brimming with relentless action and stylish detail, and featuring a hero that readers will stand up and cheer for, Assassin is a gripping adventure. And definitely not recommended for the faint of heart.

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Secretary of State Consuelo de Los Reyes asks the grieving Hawke to join Jack Patterson on investigating the assault on the United States diplomatic corps. Hawke agrees. However, in the meantime in Maine a female teen babysitter slaughters Deirdre Slade and her two preadolescent children; the victims are the loving family of a diplomat.

The Sweet killing evidence points to Cuban exile Scissorhand while the ambassador murders look like the work of bin Wazir. Though he prefers to go to "Little Havana" to confront Scissorhand, Hawke lets friends handle that while he tries to stop further assassinations from occurring even as the intrepid ambassador to France Duke Merriman dies from phosphorus fire.

ASSASSINS is an exciting action-packed and nonstop tale starring a terrific series of heroes and an even better band of killers. The story line is chilling in many ways as the assassins are pretty women who one would never suspect as killers yet their loyalty is to bin Wazir or his superior, his father-in-law the Emir, a believer in a Moslem only world. The satirical spoofing of the first novel (see HAWKE) never occurs, as this is more of a straight shooter. The dual plots come together although the Sweet murder seems overkill and pale vs. the more clever kills. Action-adventure readers will enjoy this testosterone vs. estrogen thriller.

Harriet Klausner

21 of 24 found the following review helpful:

A taut, well-crafted thriller?Aug 13, 2005
By Griz
I'll have to say I'm confounded by some to the so-called 'literary' reviews I've read for this book. Poorly written? It is one of the most carefully written books of the genre I personally have ever read! It is written with the authority of someone who clearly knows what he is doing, never labored or tentative. Unlike the paper-thin characters who inhabit most of these cookie-cutter spy books, the inhabitants of this one leap off the page alive and full of humor and wickedness. This book feels like a seamless performance, a fictive dream that keeps you turning pages long into the night, hoping you don't wake up. Some of these puffed up critics have been reading too much Clancy. Sure, he knows where the men's rooms at the CIA are, but give me a break. All I know is, it's been a long, long time since I've been so completely immersed inside a well-crafted thriller. Maybe that's the problem with some of these readers--they stumble across something that's not exactly like what they're accustomed to and it sends them into an absolute tizzy.

22 of 26 found the following review helpful:

Totally disappointed!Nov 22, 2004
By R. Baumgartner "a penny saved is still just a penny"
I also bought this book based on Glenn Beck's hype of it and am now considering ending my Insider account with him. You can't tell me Glenn really thought this book was great. And to tell all of his listeners everyday for the last coulpe months how incredible this book is - what a joke. He's a total sell out. Maybe someone who has never read another book in their life might find these characters interesting, or the story line thrilling - but honestly it read like a bad Steven Seagal movie made into an even worse book.

8 of 8 found the following review helpful:

Alex Hawke jumps into the fray againSep 28, 2005
By Joseph P. Menta, Jr.
The second Alexander Hawke novel isn't quite as engaging as the series debut novel, "Hawke", mostly due to Alex Hawke taking a back seat a little too often to his supporting characters, who are given extended missions of their own. Also, speaking of "extended", the villain's extensive backstory also eats up a lot of pages. Finally (mild spoiler here), the novel begins on a really downer note, as a likable character from the first book meets a bad end in the novel's opening pages.

But with all that said, there are still enough good scenes with Alex, enough entertaining banter between Alex and his buddies, and a satisfying over-the-top final showdown (involving sumo wrestlers, no less) in the villain's lair. I also liked the decidedly non-over-the-top extra bonus showdown, where the President and U.S. military have to deal with a rogue jetliner trying to deliver a very big threat into the U.S. Here, Ted Bell courageously allowed the "good guys" to essentially play dirty pool and arguably act quite dishonorably to stop this final threat by the villain. It showed that war is indeed hell and that sometimes heroes have to act as cold as their adversaries to get the job done.

Though I ultimately liked "Hawke" more than this outing because there was less technology and more humanity, I nonetheless still enjoyed "Assassin" and look forward to seeing what Ted Bell does in the third book of this series, "Pirate".

11 of 12 found the following review helpful:

amateurish and cartoonishNov 10, 2004
By Ig "Ig"
Are you kidding? Mindless drivel is just piled on with no sense whatsoever. Every woman is beautiful, every man is deadly and plot makes no sense and the whole thing stinks. I read this one first and then wanted to read Hawke but now forget it. I'd rather watch paint dry.

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