Product Description

With unrelenting excitement and in spectacular style, counterterrorist operative Alexander Hawke returns in this electrifying New York Times bestseller from Ted Bell, "the new Clive Cussler" (James Patterson).

Aboard a ship in the south of France, an American spy faces certain torture and death for the vital, explosive intelligence he possesses. In Paris, a ruthless and powerful descendant of Napoleon has forged an unholy alliance with China for its growing nuclear arsenal, poised to send America and the world to the brink of a gut-wrenching showdown. Now, in a maelstrom of razor's-edge danger, Alex Hawke must enter the nightmare visions of madmen to defuse an axis of evil no historian could have predicted -- and no living soul would survive.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52868 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-27
• Released on: 2006-06-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 640 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781416510796
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"Ted Bell can really, really write."-- James Patterson

"Very Bondlike...."-- The New York Times

From the Inside Flap
"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." - Joe Hartlaub

About the Author
Ted Bell is the former Vice-Chairman of the board and World-Wide Creative Director of Young & Rubicam, one of the world's largest advertising agencies. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hawke, Assassin, and Pirate.

Customer Reviews

The Best One Yet
The third installment in the Alex Hawke adventure series is easily the best book yet, though there were still a few wrinkles that needed ironing out. Sometime spy Alex Hawke is called in to rescue an American spook who has fallen into the hands of the Chinese. The Chinese, who have become close friends with France, are up to something big, and it somehow involves beautiful actress Jet Moon, whose bed Alex is roused from when duty calls. Jet's father, General Sun-Yat Moon, is in league with her dubious boyfriend, Baron "Schatzi" Von Draxis. The French, the Chinese, and the German shipbuilder are up to no good, infiltrating the Arab empire of Oman as part of their plans. While Alex's ex-Scotland Yard investigator pal, Ambrose Congreve, travels to New York to hunt for witnesses to a decades-old murder related to the French-Chinese plot, armoire-sized Stokley Jones rescues Jet from her angry boyfriend and travels the world gathering clues with her, figuring out what the French and Chinese are up to. Meanwhile, Alex has to infiltrate an impregnable fortress to rescue a sultan and his harem from their enemies. There were a lot of loose ends to tie up, and just when it seemed like things were winding down, they kicked into overdrive, and Alex suddenly found himself in a race against time to save New York City.

Though the book wins points for handling a multi-faceted mystery, I have a few small complaints. First, though Ambrose Congreve is a charming character who adds wonderful texture to the back story, he was given far too large a role. Pages that were spent describing his fondness for the finer things would have been better spent on Alex, whose role in the book was minuscule. Alex is recovering from severe heartbreak, which is a challenging aspect to add to an adventure yarn, but merely leaving him alone for the bulk of the book made me feel cheated. I like Alex! This would have been a good time to delve into who he really is, maybe have him get back to some hobbies he had let slide in his grief over his wife's death, but he merely played a bit part instead. Stoke's part was just about right, and I always find myself smiling when he's on the page. My other complaint is about the action. Though Bell can write a pretty good action scene, this book had a tendency to leave the action when it was hot and not return until the dust was settling, cheating us out of the juiciest bits of the story. These scenes are utterly vital in an adventure novel, and he's doing well up to a point, but the final quarter of the important, tense scenes needs work. Two scenes I sorely missed in their entirety were Jet's family dinner that ended badly and the final takedown with Stoke and one of the bad guys at the very end. Shame on the editors for not insisting on a few more pages there.

There was a great deal of character development going on here...for Ambrose Congreve. The rest of the characters, especially the star, needed a little more attention. Bell is still relatively new at this, and he's taken on one heck of a story with this book, which was a smashing success. Its few imperfections mar the overall product very little. He's created a great cast of characters; so it's natural that I want to get to spend more time with some of them. Alex Hawke and friends are climbing the ranks, and they're high on my list of favorite adventure heroes.

PIRATE - It's great!
I picked this book up after listening to the Glenn Beck Program, on which Beck sponsored this book, and even had Bell on for an interview. So, that's the backstory.
The book itself is really a great "summer" read. By that, I mean that you can just turn off your brain, lie in the hammock, frink some cold lemonade and enjoy the thrilling adventure of Alex Hawke. But, trust me, don't start it in the evening -- you may have to call in to work the next day to finish it!

Turn off the brain and enjoy the ride.
Pirate was my second Ted Bell book to read after Assassin and was a better written book overall.

Once again, Alex Hawke is thrown into another crisis in the volitile world in which he lives. Madmen are teaming up with rogue governments to consolidate power and try to regain respect in the world if by way of the sword and the book moves at a pretty fast clip.

The thing that I couldn't shake throughout the entire book was the fact that Hawke is in his early thirties and carries the resume of a cia retiree. It drove me nuts! I'm in my early thirties and started thinking "What have I done with my life?" Hawke is personal friends with the President of the US who utilizes Hawke and his team to figure out this French / China connection; Hawke is trusted enough to fly a brand new design of a US fighter jet where he is known by the US Navy from previous exploits; His friends are Vietnam Vets and senior Scotland Yard detectives; and he travels around in his personal yacht converted over to a personal battleship. Hey, must be the money!

Anyway, this is a fun read that goes well with a beach and a beer, just turn your brain off and you'll do fine.